Note 56: Notification Channels

Posted: 10 August 2008

Electronic Alternatives

Paper bills self-notify the customer when the bill arrives in the customer's mailbox. However, when a digital channel is employed without an alternative (physical) channel, the customer needs to be actively notified of the digital bill's presence. The same channel may be used initially to notify when the bill is produced, and later to remind if the bill remains unpaid. Examples of notification channels include:

Email: A brief message sent to the customer possibly containing an internet URL to the biller's billing website. The customer can click on the URL and be taken directly to the new bill (after signing into the internet portal).
SMS: A brief text message sent to a specific mobile phone number. Due to the limited characters available, an SMS may include only limited billing information such as the customer's name, bill reference number, balance and due date.
Inter-system notification: Email and SMS are notification methods appropriate for notifying individuals, but mechanised notification can be required when billing data is ready to be exchanged between IT systems. The customer's, vendor's and biller's systems can then initiate the processing required to collect (or receive) the billing data.

Internally, the biller's staff may also need to be notified when billing cycles have completed to flag when additional inquiries can be expected as customers query their bills. Account managers may also be notified to review their customer's bill details to anticipate any questions that may arise and to remind them when bills remain unpaid.

Distribution Information

When consolidated bill details for many customers are sent (e.g. to the printers for paper bills), additional operational information must be sent to enable the separation of each bill, supply the bill's address details, and provide audit totals to confirm all bills have been processed. In common with all inter-system interfaces, the specifics must be agreed between the producer (biller) and the recipients (whether customer or vendor).

Proprietary formats may be employed to improve the end-to-end processing of the bills. For example, to assist the printing process, bill details may be provided to the printer in a 'print ready' format. This reduces the need for additional processing by the printer, but since this format may not be used by other printers, this approach may bind the biller to the specific print / distribution vendor.

Bill details provided in a vendor-neutral format, such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language), may receive additional processing before being printed/distributed. Standardised XML formats have been agreed within different industries enabling files to be exchanged with fewer interface (format/content) negotiations and reduced systems development.

Smaller volumes of bill information may be exchanged in formats that can be loaded by less technologically sophisticated customers. These include CSV (comma separate values) and fixed format text files. In these circumstances, the fields included can depend on the customer's choices, the purpose in providing the bill details, and the amount of further processing that will be performed.

Bills and other documents

Along with bills, the billing system may produce other documents that, though generated separately, can share the same distribution and notification channels. Other documents that might be produced within, or at the same time as, the billing cycle include:

Reminder notices: Customers whose bills remain unpaid past their due date may be reminded to pay their outstanding debts. The notice may include information about how to pay their bill, the outstanding amount in question and the consequences of non-payment. There may be different version of notices worded differently depending on the severity of the reminder and / or by market segment.
Inventory reports: For larger customers, these non-financial documents can list all the products, plans (rate, discount) and services a customer has provisioned within the billing system. The report can be used by the customer to audit details of what they are being charged for.

Tags: Billing, SMS, Email, Paper Bill