Why Companies Choose Paperless Billing
As e-mail and the Internet have become more and more mainstream in the past decades, companies have learned to use these technologies to their advantage. Small and big businesses alike have created websites, mailing lists, social media sites and have also incorporated paperless billing, allowing customers to pay bills online and receive e-mail alerts instead of receiving a paper bill in the postal mail. Paperless billing helps the companies in many ways.
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Savings for the Company
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Doxo CEO Steve Shivers said, according to an article in TechCrunch, that U.S. businesses combined spend around $35 billion annually on postage, paper and supplies to send out billing statements. According to ConnectedPlanet, it costs between 75 cents and $2 per document printed and mailed, which turns into quite a lot of money when companies have thousands or millions of customers. Paperless billing eliminates these costs.
Savings for the Customers
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Not only does paperless billing eliminate some spending for the company, it also eliminates spending for the customers. According to ConnectedPlanet, each paper bill resulting in a customer mailing a check back to the company for payment costs the customer an average of $1.25 because of the cost of the check, envelope and stamp. Also, if a company can save itself, the savings can be passed down to customers.
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Helping the Environment
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Before a bill ends up in your mailbox, it first has to go through a rigorous process: printed on paper through a machine, shipped from the business to the post office, and shipped from the post office to you. The bill isn't alone in the envelope and many people then end up throwing away much of the paper received. The energy and trees used for paper bills is a drain on the planet. According to Reliant Energy's website, the company's customers who have gone paperless are saving more than 31 tons of paper (or over 750 trees) and are saving enough energy to give power to 13 average houses for an entire year. Reliant's paperless customers also save enough gas equal to over 15 cars' emissions and nearly 600,000 gallons of water annually. Not only that, but because customers throw so much paper away when paper bills are received in the mail, paperless billing by Reliant's customers is saving three garbage trucks full of trash a year. Paperless billing eliminates excess waste and helps the environment and everyone living in it.
Overall Ease
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While it's not too difficult to send a paper bill, receive a bill or mail a bill, it's become easier to do all of that online. With more and more people gaining daily access to the Internet, it's become much more convenient for businesses and for customers to pay a bill with a few clicks of a button and to receive e-mail confirmation that the bill has been paid. Email and computer filing with drag-and-drop technology takes up less time, energy and space than home-office filing cabinets, which makes the entire system of paperless billing easier overall.
Options
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While companies have started moving more toward paperless billing, they haven't truly eliminated paper bills because companies like to have options. Whether or not a company really wants to go paperless, it may implement the option simply because many people prefer it and other companies have it. Businesses need to stay competitive and have the same services as other businesses in order to keep all customers happy as best they can.
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References
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- Photo Credit computer keyboard image by Tom Curtis from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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mountainscanner
Jun 21, 2010
Using technology to streamline business process not only appeals to customers it also appeals to existing or oven new employees. Staff retention and the hiring of new staff should be a concern for companies that want to stay competitive. The use of ShrePoint and a product like Laserfiche will position your company for growth internally and externally.
