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Customer call-center models and paper-based billing aren't cheap, according to industry analysts. Forrester Research estimates that every customer call that a call center handles costs about $25.
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Paper-based billing costs as much as $2 per residential customer per month, and can be as high as hundreds of dollars for corporate customers. In contrast, some industry watchers estimate that producing and processing electronic bills costs a mere 40 cents, meaning that service providers will have to deploy an effective electronic billing solution to stay competitive. Otherwise, they will spend capital on paper-based billing, while their competitors focus resources on product delivery and customer-retention strategies.
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Customers want control over their account information. Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) systems also allow customers to organize how they receive, store and pay bills, including automatic payment scheduling; extract billing data and load into Excel or Quicken to study usage patterns and track costs; and validate payment with an electronic audit trail.
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MyOffice24x7 allows for implementation of two EBPP models - Biller Direct and Consolidator.
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MyOffice24x7 Biller Direct model places electronic billing capabilities on a service provider's website and lets customers access billing information and pay bills directly from the site. This model allows to strengthen service provider' relationships with customers and maintains control over customer information. It is easy to manage and provides strong branding opportunities.
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MyOffice24x7 Consolidator model uses a central portal site that collects customer billing information from multiple billers and provides customers with a single site for viewing and paying bills. GeoGate Consolidator model has two subsets: thick and thin consolidation. In the thick consolidator model, service providers give both summary and detailed customer billing information to the consolidator. This transfers responsibility for managing the site to the consolidator.
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Electronic Billing For Small Business