Amcham 2005 Július
AmCham held a seminar on the topic of Electronic Bill-Invoice Presentment & Payment early last month, an event sponsored by Checkfree Software, Magyar Telekom and Triad Computer Services. The seminar focused on the global evolution of electronic billing and payment for both consumer and corporate customers, and
focused in detail on how such global applications are being applied to the specific needs of the local Hungarian marketplace. Traditional paper-based billing for utilities and telecoms service providers is both a complex and expensive process. A process, which is very often coupled with inefficient and inconvenient local payment processes. A survey of the wider European bill payment trends made it clear that national cultural motives drive the vast majority of bill settlements, whether from consumers or corporations.
Whilst some have strived to adopt direct debits, immediate electronic funds transfers and alternative bill payment methods, such as stored value and credit/debit cards, others have maintained the traditional cheque and giro processing methods. As we see a global explosion of online users, fueled by accessible broadband and highspeed Internet services, the results are a rapid growth in online banking, Internet-based bill presentment and payment. This has save billions of dollars in printing and mailing costs and lay the framework for a shift in national bill payment cultures. These methods have removed customer inconvenience and costs at the same time, seminar speakers said.
At the seminar, speeches were made by Péter Racskó, Director of Knowledge Management Center at Magyar Telekom who talked about EBPP Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment, which has been part of Magyar Telekom's strategy since 2001. Steve Wright, Director of Global Marketing at CheckFree Software, showed the two sites of New Business Drives, both from the side of Billers and Financial services talked about the possibilities of paying bills. András Kelen, President of Triad Computer Services answered questions like Why e-bills now?, How does it work?, and said that Checkfree solution is simple, safe and can be ready to go in just a few months. Showing a short video about which is faster, e-billing or the ordinary way to pay our bill by checks, closed the presentation successfully and convincingly.
