Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2014
City of Virginia Beach is achieving a rapid paperless adoption rate with Striata's PUSH e-billing solution. Starting off with zero e-mail addresses in its database, the public utility has already achieved 13.79% adoption in only one year. This compared to industry averages for e-billing, where utilities usually fail to go beyond 20% after five-plus years.
"Getting customers to adopt e-billing and turn off paper is a challenge for most companies. Our e-mail billing model, however, has the highest customer adoption rates, as it closely mimics the traditional paper bill process that it replaces," explains Mia Papanicolaou, Chief Operating Officer at Striata, Americas.
Customer convenience is key to achieving paperless adoption targets. Striata delivers the electronic bill to customers via e-mail - the most frequently used digital communication channel, and the one with the highest comfort level in terms of use.
Papanicolaou explains that customers don't need to login or remember any usernames or passwords. Striata's secure electronic documents can only be opened with a shared secret.
Striata's eBill includes rich features, such as the ability to make a payment from within the document. "This payment option, powered by Western Union, offers customers the ultimate convenience, while reducing City of Virginia Beach's Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)," says Papanicolaou.
"Our customers were asking for a paperless billing option and we found Striata's eBill solution to be the best option as it meets our customers' needs and maximises their engagement in paperless billing. Customers can switch to e-billing in a single click and e-bills are securely delivered to their inboxes, where they can be viewed and paid in seconds. Customers don't even need to remember a username or password. We can't think of a better way to do business," says Bob Montague, Business Manager, City of Virginia Beach.
The key to achieving successful adoption lies in combining an e-billing solution that delivers an optimal customer experience while driving quicker payments and greater cost savings. "City of Virginia Beach has proved this with its impressive paperless adoption rate and it has realised an average cost saving of 77% per document, meeting its expectations for a rapid ROI. It's clear that eliminating the enrolment barrier, delivering e-bills directly into customer inboxes and enabling payment from the PDF are significant drivers of paper turn off. We are looking forward to helping City of Virginia Beach achieve further significant results and they are well on track to do so," concludes Papanicolaou.
Mia Papanicolaou
COO at Striata, Americas
Mia heads up North, Central and South America operations, overseeing sales, client services and operations management. Mia is passionate about ensuring that all solutions implemented meet the best fit criteria for each client and deliver the best user experience for their customers. She is a regular blogger and speaker on the subject of email communication and has built a reputation as a thought leader.
Share