IT services giant Electronic Data Systems Corp is launching what it says is Europe’s first comprehensive electronic bill presentation and payment (EBPP) service, promising cost-savings of up to 40% for major billers. The system, which EDS’s recently formed E.solutions unit will start delivering later this year, allows interactive bills and statements to be sent via a variety of delivery channels. These include e-mail, corporate intranets or other web-based applications, home-banking services and personal finance software. EDS will transition customers’ legacy systems to a web-based equivalent.
Although it will be offered to both, EDS will concentrate its efforts on business-to-business billing, claiming it offers more growth potential than business-to-consumer billing. Initial takers are expected to be existing customers from the telecoms, financial, manufacturing and utilities and government sectors. EDS already provides similar services in the US to customers like MCI Worldcom and Bank One.
The market for e-billing in Europe is potentially greater than that in the US. More than 20 billion bills will be produced in Europe this year with France Germany and the UK leading the way. However, the European take-up of e-billing is expected to trail that of the US. Market analyst, Ovum expects European e-bill payments to reach 7.4 billionn by 2005, way behind the US on 29.3 billion.
Much of the reason for this, according to Duncan Brown, director of e-commerce research at Ovum, is that Europe’s market for phone-based billing services is more mature than that of the US, meaning that there is less imperative in Europe for e-billing. Despite this, Brown thinks that EDS could be in a strong position to take advantage of its early entry into the market. EDS also hopes to capitalize on increased online marketing and sales opportunities,
