Electronic Billing Software Steps Up

Software for electronic bill presentment and payment is quickly maturing. Doculabs reviews seven software products that IT groups or operations groups can use to build robust EBPP solutions in-house.

Telco executives couldn’t have imagined electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) 20 years ago, but now, EBPP is the most important strategic marketing, bill payment and customer relationship tool to come down the pike in a long time. Increasingly, telecom and billing mangers are realizing the powerful role EBPP can play in e-commerce and customer relationship management (CRM). Need to inform your customers of new products? Instead of stuffing notices in with customers’ bill envelopes, you can instantly inform your customers via the Web. Other examples of the power of EBPP abound.

Organizations that want an EBPP system should ask themselves: What capabilities are most important to our business plan? Which software products offer the functionality and the flexibility to address the sophisticated needs of customers who use online billing?

With these issues in mind, Doculabs recently tested EBPP software products from Alysis; BlueGill Technologies; BroadVision; edocs; Just in Time Solutions, Inc.; Sun-Netscape, and TriSense. The EBPP software market has matured considerably in the past year. Many vendors offer systems that meet the expectations of a widening range of functionality. However, different tools provide varying levels of flexibility and require different skill sets for effective development, integration, and system implementation.

Looking at the Products

Although many software products claim to handle the entire EBPP life cycle, most require the integration of third-party tools to handle certain aspects of the process. The following figure identifies the functional scope of the software products we evaluated.

Figure 1 – Capabilities Analysis: Software

As the figure shows, the most complete software packages came from Alysis, BlueGill, and edocs. These systems handle the upfront data definition and data extraction, highly complex functions that some other products lack.

Other products, such as those from BroadVision, Just in Time, Sun-Netscape, and TriSense, require the integration of a third-party tool for data extraction.

All of the systems can enroll users and capture information from them, design and generate bills based on the templates, and present data to users and notify them via e-mail. However, all systems require integration with third-party systems for payment processing.

The real difference in the products is the level of sophistication they bring to each phase. Products such as those from Just in Time and edocs provide strong capabilities for presentment and one-to-one marketing. BlueGill focuses on providing good core functionality at every stage, but integrating with more advanced third-party tools for specialized needs. BroadVision and Netscape provide EBPP modules that are part of their larger e-commerce products, allowing organizations that use their platforms to incorporate e-billing into their applications.

The following table summarizes what each vendor can offer in the various areas of the EBPP life cycle.

Table 1 – Looking at EBPP Software

Alysis Technologies (WorkOut Server) In September 1999, Alysis purchased @Work Technologies and its WorkOut Server product for EBPP. WorkOut Server handles parsing and rendering of print data streams, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) data, and structured text data feeds.

This product is entirely based around a distributed architecture using CORBA, and is written in Java. The WorkOut Server stores extracted indexes in an Oracle database that uses partitioning to improve performance and scalability. The bill detail data itself is stored in XML format as compressed files on a file system. This storage approach should keep the database size manageable and scalable, but it requires the administrator to manage both an index database and bill storage.

To set up the extraction rules and map the data to the HTML templates, WorkOut provides an impressive utility called Visual Trainer. The utility not only presents a WYSIWYG view of the data stream, it also breaks down the data stream into its core pieces, enabling developers to quickly write extraction rules and map the data to the template.

For processing, administrators configure the WorkOut server to poll a watched directory and initiate processing based on file name. When WorkOut recognizes a complete data stream, it will begin to parse the data into individual bills and extract the billing data and index data, based on the mapping schema defined in Visual Trainer. For data extraction, WorkOut supports AFP and text data streams only.

For presentment, the WorkOut Server allows organizations to control the look and feel of the bill. Developers can design HTML templates using design tools such as Microsoft FrontPage. When retrieved, WorkOut dynamically creates Java servlets and passes the servlets to the Web server.

With WorkOut, consumers can use any standard HTML browser to view the bills. WorkOut can also send richly formatted HTML e-mail messages containing bill details or summaries, as well as hot links back to the biller’s Web site.

Currently, WorkOut does not provide any out-of-the-box payment capabilities. To address this, @Work has partnered with CyberCash to support CashRegister, with Pitney Bowes to support its D3 architecture, and with Electronic Funds and Data Corporation (EF&D) to support its SafePay service.

BlueGill Technologies, Inc. (i-Series 2.1) The BlueGill i-Series is one of the best off-the-shelf packages available, and it has improved considerably in the past year. The base package is robust, with a strong data extraction utility and broad platform support, including AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, and Windows NT (with IBM MVS OS 390 and AS400 versions planned).

BlueGill’s architecture is designed to be scalable to handle high volumes and large bills (as large as 200 MB, with more than 40,000 pages). For statement design and application infrastructure, BlueGill is open to integrating with Web application development tools and servers, such as those from Bluestone or NetDynamics.

The BlueGill engine handles the setup, data extraction, and data management functions. It includes a graphical utility called SmartXpress for setting up data extraction parameters and statement definitions. Based on these definitions, the BlueGill Engine generates XML-like Smart Objects, which are the basis for building applications. The BlueGill Engine also generates e-mail notifications, logs activities, and generates reports.

BlueGill presents bills in HTML or PDF formats. The system provides marketing functionality and the ability to include conditional inserts within the bills. Setting this up requires no programming, as all design work is done using graphical tools. The system offers good features for business-to-business applications, including bill separation, line-item detail handling and data analysis, and EDI interfaces.

BlueGill provides a Web-based Administration Tool that handles many system configuration functions. The tool includes a Control Center interface for performing bulk customer updates, loading statements, loading rules, extracting data, configuring logging, and creating reports. The Administration Tool also includes a Marketing Condition Setup module that enables designers to add marketing rules to the key fields specified in the extraction definition. The interface requires no programming, enabling marketing personnel to set up conditions by selecting from list boxes.

Apart from the core software, BlueGill is particularly strong in terms of its focus on vertical markets such as insurance, telecommunications, financial services, and utilities. These factors, combined with BlueGill’s strong partnership base, channel partners, and support staff, make BlueGill a strong contender.

BroadVision, Inc. (One-to-One Billing)

BroadVision was founded in 1993, and provides Web-based software for e-commerce and knowledge management. The public company’s major offering is its One-to-One Enterprise server layer, which offers a foundation for Web-based applications that require personalization and presentation of dynamic content. BroadVision also provides a number of applications that run on top of One-to-One Enterprise, including One-to-One Commerce for e-commerce and One-to-One Knowledge for knowledge sharing and content delivery.

In the EBPP space, BroadVision offers an application called One-to-One Billing. For organizations that want to include e-billing within their Web and e-commerce initiatives, the overall One-to-One solution is a compelling choice. The core system is particularly strong in personalization, and is a strong offering for building and running Web sites with a customer relationship management or customer service focus.

One-to-One Enterprise includes components for interaction management, transaction management, notification management, user profile management, content management, and page design. A standard set of interfaces allows administrators to configure the system, including One-to-One Billing.

The One-to-One Enterprise system includes a graphical interface for building personalization rules and conditions that can be used in One-to-One Billing applications. The point-and-click interface requires little programming knowledge, allowing business managers or marketing personnel to create rules without IT involvement. All rules are stored in a relational database.

As for data processing, One-to-One Billing offers no out-of-the-box data extraction capabilities, and requires the integration of third-party utilities for this purpose. For presentment, One-to-One Billing leverages the graphical interface of One-to-One Financial.

One-to-One Billing supports customer interaction from a variety of media. The system supports not only Web browser interaction, but also telephony systems, pagers, and even voice recognition systems. We saw a demonstration of bill payments and funds transfers via the voice recognition integration, and were able to immediately verify the account changes from a Web browser.

edocs, Inc. (BillDirect 1.7)

Edocs, Inc., founded in 1997, is a leader in the EBPP software market. Edocs’ BillDirect is a thorough, end-to-end bill presentment and payment solution that has been enhanced in its latest version. The system now supports both Windows NT and UNIX platforms.

For data extraction, BillDirect supports major input formats, including Metacode, AFP, and ASCII text. BillDirect provides a graphical utility for defining data extraction rules for specific bill types, simplifying the process of configuring extraction for complex bills. The intuitive interface allowed us to quickly add fields and set up the extraction with little assistance. Good debugging tools help developers verify the setup in real time.

For personalization and targeted marketing, BillDirect is among the stronger solutions we evaluated. BillDirect’s Composer tool simplifies the process of tailoring a bill’s appearance and including conditional inserts dynamically presented at run-time. The tool is designed to be simple enough for less technically oriented individuals to participate in the design. In the 2.0 version, edocs is adding the ability to instantly simulate what the consumer will see.

From a consumer standpoint, BillDirect provides many of the standard features that users expect from an on-line billing application. These capabilities will be further enhanced in version 2.0, with the addition of more robust analysis tools and the ability for consumers to define their own categories for individual line items (such as personal expenses, work expenses, office supplies, etc.). This feature is especially helpful and powerful for those who want flexibility in organizing and classifying their bills and expenses.

For system administration and configuration, BillDirect provides a thick client for Windows NT and a browser-based administration interface for UNIX. Of the two, the thick client was easier to use and more intuitive. Edocs is moving all administration interfaces to a browser-based utility, with the understanding that usability enhancements are needed.

Edocs has also developed a companion product called BillPost. This component simplifies the publishing of summary billing data to multiple consolidators. BillPost “cartridges” will be available to format summary data for different consolidators, including CheckFree and TransPoint, and to support multiple enrollment points. By using BillPost, billers can give their customers the ability to enroll and pay bills wherever they want.

Just in Time Solutions (BillCast 2.0)

Just in Time Solutions is a privately held company focusing on business applications for EBPP and interactive customer care. The software and services company has been in business since 1995, and currently targets large periodic billers in the telecommunications and financial services industries, as well as bill publishers.

The BillCast 2.0 solution consists of four major components that provide the majority of the services required for EBPP applications. The Presentation Server dynamically renders bills into HTML pages; the Notification Server handles customer communications via e-mail; the Integration Server handles data access from business legacy systems, and the Rules Engine drives consumer-facing functionality for personalization. The system relies on the integration of third-party extraction utilities for data extraction.

BillCast 2.0 supports an out-of-the-box enrollment process. Billers can automatically enroll consumers, or consumers can enroll themselves and set up their own payment methods and preferences. Enrollment through consolidators is handled by OFX. The enrollment module is flexible, allowing billers to capture specific data fields that may be needed for personalization or future marketing initiatives.

Bill presentment is driven by templates and business rules. To set up presentation, BillCast provides standard templates that can be modified using HTML programming or third-party editors. The Rules Engine sets up rules and conditions for each bill type. Personalized content can be pulled in from outside systems using the Integration Server.

For payment and distribution, Just in Time provides separate add-on modules that can be integrated into the base BillCast system. The Payment module is particularly impressive, allowing flexible payment setup options for users and supporting multiple payment methods including ACH payments. The Distribution module is an OFX-compliant server that allows billers to integrate with multiple distribution channels and consolidators to present summary data and accept payments.

Overall, BillCast provides good functionality and a modular architecture that allows high-volume billers to add functionality as needed. The system does lack a few components, notably a data parsing and extraction component. In addition, platform support is limited to Sun Solaris, and the system lacks wizards to simplify development and configuration.

Sun-Netscape Alliance (BillerXpert 1.0)

In March 1999, America Online and Sun Microsystems formed the Sun-Netscape Alliance, a partnership in which the companies are collaborating and co-marketing their technologies and services under the “iPlanet” brand name. For EBPP, the Alliance offers BillerXpert, part of the Netscape CommerceXpert suite of packaged applications for e-commerce. The system is built on the Netscape Application Server to provide scalability and reliability, with CommerceXpert providing a common framework for all of an organization’s e-commerce applications.

BillerXpert provides the capabilities for an end-to-end electronic bill presentment and payment solution, through the combination of the native product and integrated third-party software. For data parsing and extraction, BillerXpert uses ECXpert or software from BlueGill, which is useful for high volumes of complex bills.

BillerXpert provides tools that allow billers to customize their bills and their EBPP applications. For example, the appearance of the bill can be customized using the Netscape Application Builder development environment. Designers can also customize the application logic flow, including the business rules logic, the presentation logic, event handling, and activity logging. This level of customization will require Java-level programming.

BillerXpert comes with a number of packaged templates that can help make the design process easier. These “stencils” are packaged source code for industry-specific applications. However, any significant customization requires Java programming. We were able to make simple modifications to the presentation and business logic layers of our application, but had to defer to the Netscape personnel to make more advanced customizations.

For marketing functions, BillerXpert includes the RealMedia Ad Server. Banner ads can be individually targeted to customers based on profile information entered in the initial registration process. Alternatively, marketing can be targeted based on information extracted from actual customer usage. For even more granular targeting, a combination of user-entered profile data and usage information can be used.

For payment processing, BillerXpert integrates with CyberCash out of the box, and can support other mechanisms or service providers through an API. Custom development and integration is required to support payment processing.

For system administration, BillerXpert is integrated with Netscape’s Mission Console; all aspects of the system can be administered from a central point, either locally or remotely. The Console provides access to the Netscape Application Server, the Netscape Directory Server, and BillerXpert administration functions.

TriSense Software, Ltd. (PaySense 2.6)

TriSense Software, Ltd. is a private company founded in 1996. The company’s PaySense system is a round-trip electronic bill delivery and payment system for use by direct billers, banks, service providers, and their customers in business-to-consumer scenarios. The system securely transmits bills and payments via e-mail delivery, requiring users to install client software.

The major components of the PaySense 2.6 system are the SmartViewer, used by the consumer; the PaySense Bill Server (PBS), used by the biller or service bureau; and the PaySense Electronic Post Office (EOP), housed at TriSense Software’s data center and used to manage delivery and enrollment.

The SmartViewer client application allows users to enroll on-line, access and pay bills, set up bill payment schedules and parameters, manage bill storage, and generate reports. The SmartViewer also includes an on-line help facility and the ability to send memos to the biller with the payments.

The PBS allows billers, banks, and service bureaus to create electronic versions of their bills and statements for delivery via the EOP and client access via SmartViewers. The PBS performs data parsing from the print files, manages the page formats, maintains user enrollment information, sends bills to the EOP for customer dissemination, and warehouses payments returned from customers. However, the system lacks a graphical utility for data extraction, making the process cumbersome.

The PBS can be integrated with accounting system to post payment transactions and prepare ACH and credit card origination files. All of these events can be scheduled to run automatically, and a graphic tool is provided to set up workflow processing without programming.

The link between the PBS and the SmartViewer is the EPO. The EPO runs on a server housed and maintained at TriSense’s data center and provides secure delivery and transfer of bills, statements, and payment information between the customers and the billers, banks, or service bureaus running the PBS.

Overall, the e-mail-based PaySense system provides extensive capabilities for customers, not unlike personal financial management systems. In addition, the system will allow PaySense to act as an e-mail consolidator for customers, providing them with multiple bills (assuming the billers use TriSense for presentment). However, the system lacks a Web browser interface and one-to-one marketing capabilities.

Jeetu Patel is vice president of research and Joe Fenner is a senior technical writer with Doculabs, an independent advisory firm specializing in helping organizations choose the right technologies for e-business, e-commerce, content management, electronic fulfillment and delivery, and Web-based application infrastructures. To purchase their comprehensive report on the EBPP market and products, contact Doculabs at 312-433-7793, info@doculabs.com, www.doculabs.com.

EBPP Software Vendors

Alysis Technologies
WorkOut Server
www.alysis.com

BlueGill Technologies, Inc.
i-Series 2.1
www.bluegill.com

BroadVision, Inc.
One-to-One Billing
www.broadvision.com

edocs, Inc.
BillDirect 1.7
www.edocs.com

Just in Time Solutions
BillCast 2.0
www.justintime.com

Sun-Netscape Alliance
BillerXpert 1.0
www.netscape.com

TriSense Software, Ltd.
PaySense 2.6
www.trisense.com