Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment for Private Customers

The digital reality of business transactions in the internet is conspicuous by its absence. Although customers browse around in digital catalogs and use special procurement solutions to procure goods, the issuing and dispatch of invoices is in 90% of cases still done as it always was - by post. The payment is then with few exceptions processed electronically. By using SAP Biller Direct, you can avoid this disjointed method of communicating. SAP Biller Direct allows a company to use electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) capabilties; instead of printing the invoice, the supplier sends it electronically to the customer. It is now convenient for customers to view their invoices on the internet at the website or portal of the issuer or as an alternative receive them using other tools such as WAP telephone. Payment can likewise be made electronically by credit card or direct debit.

SAP Biller Direct also enables the issuers of invoices to interact with their purchasers. Examples include dealing with payment shortfalls and customer care by better communication. In addition, enterprises with SAP Biller Direct achieve competitive advantage, for instance in the form of reduced costs and a more intensive relationship with customers. The new SAP Biller Direct solution within SAP Financials develops these advantages for the customer and enhances the commercial concept with additional aspects. As a rule, existing EBPP solutions have the disadvantage of only presenting invoice data to customers. In contrast SAP Biller Direct allows the recipient of the invoice to view their account balance and consequently the overall position with regard to the supplier through integrating this with contract accounts receivable and payable (FI-CA) or accounts receivable (FI-AR). This way the customer can also see any possible credits in addition to items still open, and can offset these with receivables still open. While FI-AR is the classic accounts receivable accounting application, FI-CA is used by numerous SAP industry solutions to administer large numbers of customers, including insurance companies, the telecommunications sector and public utilities.

SAP Biller Direct supports both Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer scenarios for the biller direct model, meaning the issuer of the invoice sent it direct to the customer. From the practical point of view the software already covers all of the core processes including notification of customers, download of invoices and change of address or bank data; both credit card payments and direct debit are supported as payment methods. The application is also integrated in cash management so that the cash management position and the liquidity forecast are automatically updated when bills are released or paid. You can also integrate the new product in existing SAP.com installations as well as internet scenarios or portals.