What's it like to use SmartPay?If you're not yet one of our happy customers, you might have wondered.

Jennifer Rise shared her experience at last week's seminar, and we're glad to share it with you here, too.

702 communications provides broadband and phone service here in Fargo and Moorhead. They provide data and network solutions for businesses, and digital TV as well as VoIP services for residential customers.

702 used to send out all their invoicing communications on paper. This meant that they prepared and mailed out paper bills, of course, but they also had to manually key in recurring bills each time and send them out, send out reminders, and even make reminder phone calls. 

Automating much of this has allowed the staff to turn their attention to more important and more satisfying tasks.

SmartPay provides the level of security 702 needs (very high) and also helps with customer integration. These factors give SmartPay additional value beyond the obvious one of getting the invoices out. 

Here are the results 702 has seen now that they use SmartPay:

•  Payments received have increased by 21% since they began using SmartPay in August of 2009.
• They're saving an average of $1.11 per statement.
• They have the complete security their industry demands.
• Their response rates are faster.
• They can upload payments and invoices daily, because the process is so fast and easy.

We asked Jennifer "Why SmartPay?"

"Very few systems out there have the type of billing we need," she explained. SmartPay is clean, simple, and modern. The customization gives 702 the look and feel that they want, and integration with the other systems they use was easy.

 We appreciate 702's willingness to share their experience with us, and with you. Now, you can contact SmartPay to find out just how it would work for you. 

Everyone can be a publisher now, or a filmmaker, or a recording company. Thanks to the internet, anyone can also now be very much like a bank or a credit card company, using computer code to create a means of accepting payments online.

Where banks and credit card companies used to be the only ones that could process payments, there are now many other options. 

There are advantages to this. Just as it can be very liberating to let everyone in on the opportunity to create books and films and recordings, it can be liberating for everyone to have the chance to accept payments.

But, let's face it, there's a lot of very poor quality content on the internet. It used to be that a writer, filmmaker, or musician had to be good enough at least to convince a company to make the investment to produce their works. Now, the increasingly level playing field lets amazing independent artists reach their audience easily -- and also lets untalented people send their stuff out into the ether freely. 

Just so, the increasing number of options for electronic payments opens the door for small companies -- and for scammers. People get more accustomed to the convenience of paying their bills online, but also more nervous about who they're dealing with when they make those transactions.

How can your company  get the benefits of the new possibilities in e-invoicing without suffering from the new dangers associated with it?

At SmartPay, we've chosen to stick with credit card and ACH bank transfer payments. You can choose your own merchant account, or go with our partner InterceptEFT, as you prefer. The level of security remains as high as if your customrs dealt directly with the bank or credit card company.

You also have a secure custom portal, so your customers know who they're dealing with and where their money is going. They can check their records easily, and they aren't shunted around from one site to another. They can feel completely confident when they trade with you.

But you also have the degree of control that you want and need. You get the fast turnaround that lets you keep costs down and the high efficiency that keeps your systems lean. That's good for your customers, too. 

We at SmartPay are keeping up with the new advances in EIPP, and we'll make sure that our system remains agile and responsive to these new opportunities -- without sacrificing the security and confidence we're known for. 

 

Chances are, you're thinking about switching to electronic billing if you haven't already done so -- most companies are.

You may have questions, though. How much will it really save? How difficult is it? When's the best time to make the switch? What are the up-front costs, and how quickly will we recover those costs? How much of a difference will it make for the environment? What about security?

Fargo businesses can get the answers to these questions and all the others we haven't mentioned, directly from the people who know the answers.

SmartPay, in partnership with InterceptEFT, will present a seminar next week. "Save Money, Save Time, Go Green: Learn how paperless billing will benefit your business" is the theme of the presentation, and there is no charge. 

When: Wednesday, February 24^th, 2010, noon to 1:00 p.m. Registration begins at 11:45
Where: Hilton Garden Inn, 4351 17th Ave So, Fargo, ND map

Onsite registration begins at 11:45, but you can register online.

E-billing saves time and money, it's more secure, and it speeds up payments. It's also a greener choice. Paper currently makes up 40% of the waste stream in America, so anything that reduces paper use is going to have benefits for the environment.

 There are other ways to save paper, too, and we'd like to share some with you. If you like the reductions you've made through electronic invoicing, you may be ready for some more ideas. 

• Use both sides of all papers. Use "duplex" mode for making copies. Put paper with only one side printed into the re-use box before passing it along to the recycling box. Cut up papers you've received with one clean side to make scratch paper for the office. Half-used paper can go through your fax machine and your copier safely, as long as you're diligent about removing staples.
• Choose not to print things. Sensitive information is better off in your password-protected files than on paper. Cover sheets of faxes, agendas that can be projected rather than printed and distributed, and confirmation sheets are just a few examples of written materials that really don't need to be printed.
  
• Help people shift from paper to electronic information by making it easy. Simple things like naming files with transparent names and saving them in folders can make it easy enough to access data that people won't feel compelled to print it. Searching for a file named "something like 1136wassu, somewhere on my computer" is the kind of experience that leads people to make and file unnecessary copies.
• Use thinner paper. Paper is sold by weight. A heavy bond may be needed for certain jobs, but lighter weight paper uses less raw material. Consider switching when you can.
• Use smaller images, or a smaller font size. Your document may take up fewer pieces of paper if you simply design it to fit on one sheet.
• Try to make your decisions before you print. Some of us write a document, then print it and proofread it on paper, and then go back to make corrections and changes on the screen. Instead, email it to a colleague for proofreading, and make corrections on the screen before printing it out. If you have trouble imagining how your document will look on paper, save it as a PDF file and check the look before printing.
  
• Certainly, buy recycled paper and recycle the paper you use. But don't focus on recycling to the point where you don't feel a need to be efficient about your paper use.
  

These habits will become so natural after a while that you won't have to put extra thought into them. You can just enjoy the savings.

Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering released a report last week explaining how he could save the state $97 million dollars. One of the main changes he recommends is a switch to electronic invoicing. He has done this in his own office, Pickering explained, and so he knows the difference it can make.

Even without his personal experience, Pickering could have predicted that. The U.S. Department of Defense found that paper invoices' costs were triple the costs of electronic invoices. Corporations report 40-75% savings when they make the switch. According to Hackett Group, companies that do even half of their invoicing electronically complete five times as many invoices per worker as those that go entirely with paper.

Pickering makes the point that being conscious of costs should be the norm, not something saved for desperate circumstances. "We should not wait for these times," he said of the current economic downturn, "to determine how to save money or spend more wisely." Pickering went on to say that his plan won't work if many state offices decide not to join in.

This is what we're seeing with small and medium-sized businesses. While larger coprorations have embraced EIPP at significant rates, the movement toward paperless offices is slowed by smaller firms that continue to put bills in the mail.

There is widespread agreement that electronic invoicing improves cash flow, increases security, cuts costs, reduces errors, and increases productivity. It's hard to see why anyone would choose not to participate. 

But there are reasons. 

Compatibility is one. While enterprise-size companies choose from a handful of accounting systems, smaller businesses use a wide array of programs to keep up with their bookkeeping and accounting.  An office that has been creating invoices in Microsoft Word and keeping the books with Excel may see the implementation of e-invoicing as a big project to be put off to another time. Choosing a solution like SmartPay which allows you to import and manage customer data from your in-house system is the answer to this concern.

Another reason for dragging feet is that some people just like paper. A local business owner recently shared the story of a client of his who reads email by having his secretary print out emails and bring them to him. He then dictates responses, which the secretary types in and emails out to the recipients. For people this fond of paper, it's hard to shift to a paper-light office. They have trouble believing that electronic invoices will really work. SmartPay offers a first-tier service that lets companies try e-invoicing with just a few clients to make sure it works well in their particular work environment before rolling it out for the whole company. When you're ready, shiftingto larger numbers of invoices is automatic -- no new set-up fees or upgrades required. You can take it at your own pace. 

Finally, there's a residual nervousness about the security of e-billing. In fact, your information is much safer in a secure internet portal than your check is in the mail. But there continue to be customers who are nervous about e-invoicing. Just one or two vocal members of this group can be enough to make a business hesitate. Fortunately, SmartPay has solutions for that. First and foremost, the system allows you to make phone payments on behalf of those customers who want them. Beyond that, research has shown that having control over the information reassures customers. SmartPay allows customers to visit their accounts, see their payment history, and update their own information.

The point that the Mississippis state auditor made is a strong one. Envornmentally and financially, we'll all see the greatest savings when we all get on board with e-invoicing. At SmartPay, we're doing our part to make electronic invoicing convenient and comfortable for SEMs. Contact us today to see how easy it can be.

The European Union's Expert Group on electronic invoicing has released a Final Report on the subject.

Our own government hasn't taken a completely hands-off approach to EIPP. Many types of businesses are getting financial incentives to switch to electronic record-keeping and invoicing, in light of government studies concluding that such measures can save the nation billions of dollars.

But the European Union has taken the question very seriously. Here's what they envision for member nations:

• Within 5 to 8 years, e-invoicing will be the norm across Europe.
• Shared standards will make e-invoicing compatible from one country to another.
• There will be "a wide choice of solutions and services to support e-invoicing."
  
• Companies with limited technological skills will not be excluded from the benefits of e-invoicing.
• Solutions will be easy and user-friendly, as well as being affordable to companies of different sizes in different areas.
• E-invoicing will encourage other kinds of paperless office procedures.

This seems like a sensible vision to us. One of the main recommendations of the report is "to ensure that e-invoicing moves towards the top of the agenda, in view of its huge potential benefits to the economy and society."

We agree. We're doing our part, too, by offering SmartPay as a practical, user-friendly, affordable solution for businesses of all sizes. For us, it's part of a move toward paperless offic practices, and we're proud to be part of the wide range of choices available for e-invoicing. 

What's your vision of e-invoicing? Will the United States be ready,in five to eight years, or will we be behind the EU? It's up to all of us. 

SmartPay has some new pricing options.

First, we now give you a choice of merchant accounts.While we still recommend our partner, Intercept EFT, we realize that some companies already have merchant accounts with their banks or as part of their brick and mortar operation. We want SmartPay to be available to all businesses, so we don't require that you create a new merchant account if you prefer not to.

Second, we've created new pricing tiers. Our first tier, at a mere $19 a month, is ideal for professionals or small firms that send fewer than 36 invoices a month. We don't limit you to a particular number of clients, either. You pay for the number of invoices you send out.

We like that first tier, also, for companies that would like to try EIPP and see how it works for them. You can serve a group of customers -- new clients, for example, or those with recurring invoices -- and get the hang of using SmartPay. We're sure that once you try it, you'll want to roll the system out for all your invoices.

The pricing system is great for companies that have variable needs: you're charged for the number of invoices you actually send out each month. If you invoice 100 in January and only 32 in February, your cost is lower in February. It's simple.

Whichever tier fits you, there's always just one low set-up fee. We customize your SmartPay system, including a secure portal. Since this portal will have have your look and feel, your customers can immediately feel at ease with your new system.

SmartPay is even better for your business now. 

The census is a lot of things to a lot of people.

It's an important repository of information. For researchers, census data is the best way to find information about populations. What percentage of the American people could read in 1860? Just how urban were we during the Roaring Twenties, and what effect did the Great Depression have on that aspect of our lives?

It's an essential tool in economic decision making, too. Federal funds are allocated in part on the basis of information gathered in the census. Decisions about and within schools,  business plans, and marketing strategies use information gathered in the census.

Ordinary people use census data about their ancestors to gain a deeper understanding of their families, or practical information about health issues. 

But we're seeing the Census of 2010 as a testimony to electronic record-keeping.

We advocate electronic records, including electronic billing, as an environmentally responsible change, an important cost-cutting measure, and a way to reduce error and stress.

For the census, it may be what makes the process possible.

Our forefathers and foremothers probably didn't foresee the kinds of numbers we're working with this year. We're expecting 90 million responses to the census. They have to be tabulated within 90 days. Yes, that's a million documents a day to capture and count.

 It'll be done with the assistance of electronic technology. 

The census is still done on paper, so the records all have to be scanned before they can be worked with. By 2020, we should have turned the corner on that and moved on to a paperless census. But even with some paper involved, the 2010 census will still be more  automated, more efficient, and more accurate.

Every one of us counts. Fortunately, we've got computers to help do the counting.

It's nobody's favorite part of the job, but every business has to face it sooner or later: the customer who doesn't pay.

SmartPay can help. Here's how:

•  First, and perhaps most important, using an EIPP solution like Onsharp's SmartPay cuts down on the number of collections efforts you'll have to make. Far fewer people will fail to pay because they forgot, delayed because of having run out of checks or stamps, lost the bill -- all the little things that cause delays among people who intend to pay.SmartPay is so easy for customers that most will pay your bill quickly.
  
• Second, SmartPay eliminates problems on the merchant's end, too. You'll no longer have invoices that don't get sent because you failed to get around to invoicing, thought you had billed someone, or mislaid the stack of bills waiting to be mailed.  SmartPay lets you set up recurring invoices to be sent automatically, too.
• SmartPay keeps track of who has paid and who hasn't. There is no question of a check getting lost in the mail or a payment not being recorded in your office. You can easily run a report of aging invoices at any time.
  
• SmartPay lets you send reminders and messages -- automatically to anyone who falls behind on payments, or individual messages to one customer who needs some extra support. SmartPay won't get tired of sending reminders and give up, either.

We hope that 2010 is a prosperous year for you and all of your customers, and that you don't have any collection issues. However, it's nice to know that SmartPay can help if these issues arise.

If you need some help taking advantage of all the features of SmartPay, contact us and we'll be happy to work with you.

Ever since the early days of the office computer,people have been predicting the rise of the paperless office.

They were wrong. In fact, the amount of paper printed out in American offices has increased every year since  the 1980s -- until 2009.

In 2009, the amount of paper used in businesses in the U.S. finally decreased for the first time since modern offices began. A slight drop was visible at the end of 2008, but 2009 brought a striking 10% drop in the number of pages printed out in American offices.

Some researchers suggest that the economy may be part of the reason. Fewer workers to print papers, fewer contracts being signed, and less work being done might be causing less paper use. Manufacturers of printers and ink certainly hope so. Their dismal reports for hardcopy use generally include a hope that things will turn around in 2011.

But mail delivery peaked in 2006 and has been sinking every since. 

And this brings us to another likely explanation for the drop in hardcopies in offices: we just don't need as much paper any more. 

In addition to the undoubted desire to cut costs, researchers list three other workplace changes that can explain this phenomenon:

• Concern for the environment. The environmental impact of reducing paper use is enormous, and more of us are conscious of the need to do so. A couple of decades ago, it was natural to many people to print out emails and file them, or to make hard copies of papers to share. Now, we're likely to feel wasteful if we do that, and we only print out copies when they're really needed.
• With the rise of web firms and web professionals, we no longer just post paper documents up on the internet. Now, web content is designed to be read online, not to be printed out and read from paper. Look at your SmartPay screen -- it's friendly and easy, and you have no reason to want to go back to the confusing paper bills of the past.
•  The "digital natives" -- people born after 1980 -- are in the offices now. Those of us who grew up with the internet don't worry so much about losing information, and don't find that paper feels more natural.

The paperless office is still in the future, if it's on its way at all. We still printed out thousands of sheets of paper documents this year for every working person in the country. But a 10% drop in a single year is impressive. Let's see if we can't improve on that in 2010.