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NEWSFLASH #61 | 13th November
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Striata Secure eDocument Delivery and Email Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP) are solution sets - software applications and adoption methodologies - that deliver rapid reduction in operational costs, quicker payments and enhanced customer service.
Striata revolutionizes the way bills, statements, contracts, policies, annual reports, paystubs and other high volume system-generated documents are delivered and paid.
Unlike today's online presentment solutions which insist on customers visiting and registering at a website, Striata's solutions (targeting all customers still receiving paper) deliver feature rich, registration-free, navigable and interactive secure email documents directly to the customer's email inbox and enable 'one-click' electronic payment without them having to visit a single web-page.
This innovative and strategic change from 'pull' to 'push', dramatically increases customer adoption of electronic communication, allowing Striata's clients to compliment their existing self-service and e-communication strategies; to achieve rapid ROI, significantly reduce paper output and achieve their carbon footprint / environment impact targets.
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Case Study: Whitby Hydro benefits from Striata's innovative, secure 'push' email billing solution
SUMMARY
Striata's secure email billing solution offers Whitby Hydro automated and immediate electronic bill delivery and presentment, as well significant cost savings due to paper turn off.
Whitby Hydro can now effectively track and report on all bill delivery and payments, as well as benefit from improved Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and enhanced customer service.
OVERVIEW
Whitby Hydro Energy Services Corporation has significantly reduced billing costs and improved payment times, while elevating their customer service to new levels.
This Canadian public utilities company has implemented Striata's secure eBilling solution, which enables secure, cost effective and personalized email delivery of bills and collection notices.
"Whitby Hydro is continuously looking for innovative ways to improve on customer service, while reducing billing costs. Striata's eBilling solution is ideal; it has successfully met our requirements, while maximizing customer enrolment," says Paul Elliot, Vice President of Customer Services at Whitby Hydro.
THE OBJECTIVES
Whitby Hydro needed an effective, automated electronic bill delivery and presentment solution. Their objective was to reduce billing costs, enhance customer service and improve cash flow by reducing their Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).
To cut costs associated with paper billing (both financial and environmental), they required an eBilling solution that would actively drive customer adoption and guarantee paper turn off.
Whitby Hydro's strong customer focus was driving them to find an eBilling solution that can be 100% personalized, allowing for targeted marketing and other notifications such as regulatory information to be included.
THE SOLUTION
Striata's comprehensive 'Push' email billing solution matched Whitby Hydro's requirements exactly. The solution affords customers the ultimate convenience of receiving a fully personalized utility bill in the form of an encrypted PDF file directly in their email inbox. A key feature is that customers don't have to log-in to a secure website to collect it. Viewing the encrypted eBill is very straightforward; the recipient simply enters a 'shared secret', typically a zip / post code or company tax ID and the complete itemized bill opens as an offline PDF.
Customers can pay their bills immediately. A simple click-through function embedded in the secure email bill enables payments to be made through all eight banks in Canada.
A convenient '1-click print' facility is also available for those who would like a hard copy of their bill.
Multiple invoices can be consolidated into a single email for businesses and other customers with many accounts, and a data file can be included for convenient uploading into customer's accounting system.
The Striata system provides Whitby Hydro with detailed reporting and enhanced bill usage visibility by tracking open rates, undeliverables, customer replies and new subscribers. Effective, targeted, marketing material can be included in both the eBill and the cover email, whilst Striata's eBilling solution tracks all click-through activity, enabling strategic marketing decisions to be made.
THE RESULTS
Whitby Hydro went live with Striata's eBilling solution on 23 March 2006 (16 weeks from project sign-off), and achieved 8% paper turn-off in the first 12 months. It is interesting to note that most utilities achieve 3-5% "enrolment" after 2 years, and even lower paper turn-off.
A staggering 91% of eBill customers are processing their payments electronically - 40% higher than the average Whitby Hydro achieved in the previous 3 years
By following Striata's proven methodology for collecting customer email address and proven adoption techniques, Whitby Hydro is achieving an outstanding paper turn off rate of 95% (for their email based customers) and a massive cost saving in excess of 60% per adopted customer.
The effect of Striata's eBill solution was immediate - 90% of Whitby Hydro's customers open their email bills in less than 1 working day. As a result, Whitby experiences quicker payment times and ultimately an 18% reduction in their Days Sales Outstanding. Striata's detailed reporting and improved bill usage visibility enables the utility to gain valuable insight into delivery statistics, open rates (including date, frequency and time of opening), and which marketing links are accessed most often within the body of the email and secure PDF.
"When selecting an electronic billing solution, we wanted a system that could be implemented quickly and that would capture the greatest number of customers. Striata's solution makes adoption easy for customers, allowing us to achieve our objectives very quickly," Elliot added.
CONCLUSION
The total project ROI was achieved in less than 12 months. Striata implemented the eBilling system at Whitby Hydro on time and within budget, saving the company considerable time, effort and money. As a result, Whitby Hydro can now offer customers a feature-rich alternative to paper billing and a seamless integration to online payments, thus reducing DSO and improving the overall customer experience.
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If you have questions or comments you would like to share on this topic, please send me an email.
Kind regards,
Garin Toren
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Editorial: 48 Wall Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY, 10005.
© 2007 Striata North America. Contact us for reprints/story use at
info@usa.striata.com, or call +1 88 88 USAPAY.
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