News

25 Oct 2011 -
ebpSource and 407 ETR, Canada

ebpSource improves customer experience for Canadian road-toll users through advanced e-billing and payment web portal

London, UK and Toronto, Canada ... 25th October 2011

ebpSource, the leading provider of high volume e-billing and payment solutions worldwide is proud to announce its involvement in helping the Canadian Tolling Company International Inc. (407 ETR) to go live with a dynamic new customer self-service portal.

Owned by Cintra Infraestructuras S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A., by indirectly owned subsidiaries of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and by SNC-Lavalin, 407 ETR manages Toronto’s 407 Highway, a 108 kilometre barrier-free toll highway that uses video cameras and vehicle-mounted transponders to record an average of 380,000 workday trips which are then processed and billed to customers. The company’s highway infrastructure is widely regarded as one of the most advanced of its kind, anywhere in the world.

Until now most customer bills have been paper-based but through a solution designed and deployed by ebpSource together with 407 ETR, there is now a web-based alternative for viewing and paying bills online. The move to a next generation e-billing and payment experience was part of a multi-faceted customer self-service programme.

Creating a more responsive platform
407 ETR’s main aims were to deliver richer information, a more interactive customer experience and significantly extended customer self-service capabilities, while creating a web platform that would be more responsive to the company’s business needs. This included a focus on the environmental benefits of paperless billing and the cost efficiencies associated with speedier payment processing and reduced call centre activity.

To achieve these aims, new technology was needed that could take raw data from the company’s legacy billing and other systems and transform it into real-time information at the customer portal which, unlike a paper bill or static PDF, could be consolidated, queried, cross-referenced and used for a host of other self-service functions, all in a user-friendly format.

Choosing the market leader
407 ETR wanted a fast-track option for web development and looked at all the main suppliers, both locally and internationally. Key to their project’s requirements was finding a well-proven and highly scalable technology platform and a solid and dependable deployment partner. Both are critical to success when dealing with such a core function as billing and payment.

The combination of product functionality and stability offered by the CheckFree i-Series software and the global deployment experience of ebpSource was an easy choice. The ebpSource team whose work has been highly praised and received numerous international awards, brought to 407 ETR its wealth of domain knowledge in integrating billing and payment applications, across multiple electronic channels.

Enriching the customer experience
The new solution which initially went live this summer, provides 407 ETR with web self-service and e-billing and payment functionality with minimal impact on existing billing, payment and customer service back-end applications. The business and customer benefits are already apparent. When customers log into their account they see an overview page with an aggregated view of what they owe which they can query, adjust and pay online, all in real-time.

For families and organisations with multiple registered transponders and multiple accounts, new functionality allows accounts to be linked and/or consolidated, to simplify the bill review and payment process. Proactive alerts for transponder renewals and approaching credit card expiry dates provide customers with an improved level of service. Extensive bill viewing and download features and a plan to provide access to archived statements for up to 7 years will also give customers peace of mind in the transition away from paper.

Growing adoption, shrinking costs, planning for the future
For 407 ETR, self-service activity and e-billing adoption have been expanding rapidly with a corresponding drop in bill handling and a more efficient call centre, all of which promises a fast-track ROI. Both the ebpSource and 407 ETR teams are already looking at the longer-term strategy for the evolution of the new platform.

About ebpSource Limited (www.ebpsource.com)
The most experienced team in the international electronic billing and payment industry, ebpSource delivers software solutions, consultancy and support to global billers, banks and payment processors. ebpSource also serves as Master International Distributor for CheckFree i-Series, the world's leading e-billing and payment software suite which presently underpins many of the largest global e-billing, e-invoicing and payment applications across the financial services, telecoms, utility, postal, outsourcing, manufacturing and logistics sectors.

Media contact:
Elaine Graham, EG Communications
Tel: +44 845 266 6678
E-mail: egraham@egcomms.co.uk