NCR Corp. is jumping into on-line billing.
The Dayton, Ohio, technology company has teamed up with Cybercash Inc. to offer billers a way to post bills and accept payments through their own Web sites.
This "biller-direct" model competes with the "concentrator" approach in which billers post bills and accept payments through a centralized, Internet-based clearing house operated by a bank or technology company.
For its billing system, known as SmartEC Billing Plus, NCR supplies servers, software, and consulting services. Cybercash, a Reston, Va., payment technology company, provides its PayNow Secure Electronic Check Service, which facilitates payments via the automated clearing house.
Initially, SmartEC is being aimed at telecommunications companies.
The bill presentment and payment process through SmartEC begins with a customer calling up a biller's Web site and keying in a password.
When the amount due is presented, the customer authorizes a checking account debit by clicking on the PayNow button on the Web site.
Cybercash then initiates an ACH item that delivers the bill payment to the biller's bank. The company also posts payments to the biller's general ledger. Cybercash's portion of the transaction uses data encryption technology from RSA Data Security Inc., Redwood City, Calif.
A consumer can get a receipt confirming payment and download it to personal financial management software, such as Quicken, Managing Your Money, or Money.
Richard Crone, a Cybercash vice president and general manager of PayNow, said the system is "important for banks. It replaces paper checks and opens up a new market."
Some financial institutions might prefer to have more control of billing than the biller-direct model allows. But Mr. Crone asserted: "The point of collection is the battleground for the protection of the payment system franchise," and the NCR/Cybercash system lets banks retain control of this point.
Electronic billing helps banks of all sizes solidify relationships with depositors and bolster cash management businesses, he said.
"This is the first entry point to secure payments on behalf of billers," Mr. Crone said. It helps ensure consumers do not "go somewhere else to pay."
SmartEC Billing Plus is the first offering under NCR's Internet electronic commerce program.
Though the system has no current users, NCR is in negotiations with several telecommunications companies in the United States and Europe.
NCR also plans to target small businesses because "today they are not getting special treatment, and they want to do something with their bills," said Susan Woodford, senior product manager of Internet commerce solutions at NCR.
Cybercash was chosen as a partner, she said, because it offered a range of payment options. "However, Cybercash will not be our exclusive partner," she said.
