I recently managed to upset a large, well-respected company by declining to respond to their eBilling RFP, following a specific request from their Executive Vice President for Striata to participate. Our decision to decline certainly took them by surprise. However, based on our 11 years of experience as an eBilling specialist, we feel this company is fundamentally not going down the right strategic path. While Striata has had a great deal of success convincing companies to broaden their thinking on eBilling, many RFP's are just too far off the "strategy" that we would advocate for their customer base.
Most procurement teams tasked with creating an eBilling RFP are in a very tough spot because the market information on successful EBPP solutions is limited and adoption results are mediocre at best. As such, the majority of RFP's request a thorough analysis of how to build an eBilling website. I'm not saying the portal model is completely the wrong approach. However, in our experience, if this is the ONLY eBilling option you're offering your customers - even with extensive marketing - you're unlikely to achieve critical mass. Without critical mass, all the rich functionality that your proposed solution will offer is wasted.
What most companies don't understand is that eBilling is not about systems and technology as much as it is about providing a customer-friendly replacement for paper communications. Striata has a growing base of more than 250 clients achieving exponentially higher adoption success than the industry average. Why? It is our ability to generate significant ground swell within the client's customer base by giving them an intuitive customer experience, rather than repeating the same mistakes of every other eBilling portal project. Many of our clients globally tried the portal model first (and failed) before enlisting Striata's help. Those who selected Striata achieved a rapid ROI, together with substantial ongoing savings, dramatically reduced payment cycles (DSO) and enhanced customer experience.
eBilling success is measured by adoption and resultant savings, not by features and functionality offered. The majority of your customers are always going to take the path of least resistance. They DON'T want a complicated enrolment, log-in and search process in order to "access" their bill. That just doesn't constitute a convenient replacement for the paper copy. In order to achieve maximum customer adoption, you have to make their lives simpler in terms of viewing and paying the bill.
Another key success factor is working with an eBilling specialist with a proven track record (like Striata) to develop a clear customer-centric adoption strategy that is specifically tailored to your audience.
As an organization, it's essential that you start thinking like a "customer" and adopt a customer friendly strategy and experience that drives the right paperless behaviour.
Barrie Arnold
Vice President of Sales
www.striata.com
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