This white paper discusses customer self-service in business-to-business order to cash processes through the use of Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP). EIPP allows customers to access invoices and billing information online, reducing costs for companies. The paper outlines strategies for companies to encourage customer adoption of EIPP, such as understanding customer needs, focusing on internal adoption first, and actively marketing EIPP internally and externally to achieve full acceptance and return on investment. Successful EIPP implementation can significantly improve cash flow, lower costs, and enhance the customer experience.

1. White Paper
Finance & accounting White PaPer
customer Self-Service in B2B order to cash
By tanya Johnson, Vice-President, order to cash Products & Solutions, genpact
IntroductIon
Perhaps never in the history of commerce have businesses been required to adapt so fast to changing
conditions as those driven by the introduction of the internet. Of the world’s six billion inhabitants, over
1.9 billion use the internet.1
Conditioned by the convenience of social networking, online shopping,
and instant access to information of every conceivable kind, the “wired”
generation expects the business world to keep up, in the form of tools
individuals can use to manage interactions with the businesses they
patronize. That individual expectation crosses over into business-to-
business interactions, putting pressure on IT departments to provide
instant resolution of billing or other customer issues so that their clients
can keep up with end customer demands.
Just as ATMs and online banking have overtaken face-to-face interaction
with a teller, self-service portals and web-based technologies such
In addition, failure to capitalize on the growing acceptance of internet
as Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) have become
technologies to manage or enhance all aspects of the customer
increasingly important tools leveraged by companies looking to retain
relationship is to disregard the powerful influence of the web and its
ever-more sophisticated customers and lower the overall cost of
distinct advantages in speed, cost and interaction over “snail mail” and
accounting operations. But even with increased acceptance of online
paper invoices that require manual handling at multiple stages of the
services, companies should not take a “build it and they will come”
Order to Cash (OTC) process. With each “touch,” the chance of error
approach to EIPP implementation. Active encouragement of widespread
increases and time is added to the cycle, delaying payment and affecting
customer adoption of such tools remains a critical factor in deriving
cash flow. At the same time, paper invoices are inaccessible to customer
maximum benefit from these cost-saving technologies.
service representatives attempting to answer questions from unhappy
customers, negatively impacting revenue in the loss of customer loyalty
MeetIng custoMer expectatIons wIth eIpp and goodwill.
As Facebook, Twitter, and the millions of emails sent daily have proven EIPP is a web-based technology that automates and streamlines the
in spectacular fashion, the advantage of the internet age is the ability business process through self service, shortening the time it takes to
to connect people—and businesses—at many levels, instantaneously, collect on invoices, a metric measured as Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).
at low cost. Paper invoices and call-center resolution cost 2-50 times as Reducing DSO improves cash flow as well as the customer experience
much as self-service resolution and electronic invoicing. and cuts the cost of customer support. EIPP allows businesses to manage
1
Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com), January 2010 vendor and customer relationships in ways that increase efficiency,
1 customer Self-Service in B2B order to cash

2. Inevitably, however, not all businesses (or their customers) will be equally
acceptant of a shift to EIPP. Worries over data security, a reluctance
Finance & accounting White PaPer
to budget for the required technology, or resistance to changing
well-established procedures can all make senior managers hesitant to
implement an EIPP system. There are steps that can be taken, however,
to encourage customer participation that ultimately will bring significant
advantage to both biller and payer.
Know the needs of Your customer
No two customers are the same when it comes to business needs. Why,
therefore, assume that all customers will embrace or reject EIPP for the
provide wider and faster access to information, and reduce time, labor same reasons?
hours, and money spent on the entire OTC process. Before implementing EIPP, it is
Quite aside from the very real reduction in the cost of ink and paper well to understand the customer’s Adapting your
for hard-copy invoices and postage costs, companies who use EIPP offer current approach as well as their own EIPP system
their customers choices that encourage loyalty and extend relationships. use of and comfort level with
In Genpact’s experience, customer retention is one of the biggest drivers internet technologies. Older
to address
of overall business impact, no matter the type of process improvement. companies with a stable work customer
force may offer greater resistance
Implementing EIPP to meet customer expectations of convenience,
preferences can
speed, and easy management of their business transactions can to changing long-established
therefore be a key factor in preventing customers from taking their processes, demand specialized greatly improve
business to another company that does offer the customer experience invoices, or prove uncomfortable adoption rates.
they want. with giving up paper invoices or
relying entirely on an electronic
Genpact’s experience with a
system that could become unavailable at inconvenient times.
particular client demonstrates Companies who
this point very well. Faced with Fortunately, EIPP provides a great deal of flexibility in addressing such
customer rebellion over multiple
use EIPP offer concerns as creating invoices that provide a branded look or information
invoices for various services their customers of specific value. Overall, surveys conducted with customers have shown
provided by the company’s that EIPP features of interest to customers fall into two general categories:
several business lines, this client
choices that
• eatures that streamline reconciliation (the process of receiving,
F
instituted Genpact’s EIPP solution encourage loyalty approving, and paying an invoice)
to produce a single, integrated
and extend • eatures that improve access to billing data such as supporting
F
invoice for all services, easily
tracked by the particular asset relationships. documents and scanned images of checks or invoices
that accumulated the charges. Adapting your own EIPP system to address customer preferences in these
This proved to be a “win-win” for areas can greatly improve adoption rates. Likewise, understanding how
both the client and its customers. Genpact’s client was able to eliminate customers view the advantages of EIPP will provide insight into their
hundreds of thousands of manually-produced paper invoices, reduce readiness to adopt it or do business with a supplier who does. Companies
errors, and lower costs. The client’s customers were able to instantly who see value in EIPP are more likely to select business partners who
track assets with higher maintenance costs, helping them to reduce invoice using EIPP over those with more cumbersome systems.
their own operating expenses. By capitalizing on the flexibility EIPP offers
in creating customized invoices, Genpact’s client gained a competitive
Focus on Internal adoption First
“Eat what you sell” is especially apt with regard to EIPP adoption.
advantage over rivals still invoicing by business line while winning a
Companies should successfully implement EIPP internally and ensure
great deal of customer goodwill and continuing revenue.
all personnel are comfortable with it prior to attempting to persuade
vendors and customers to get on board. Because EIPP provides visibility
wInnIng custoMer acceptance into invoicing from end to end, sales and customer service representatives
There are few technical obstacles for most companies to implementing a can readily answer questions without referring them to busy billing
web-based invoicing system. Modern business is nearly 100% “wired”, department personnel, an easy way to gain customer goodwill and
with reliable access to the internet at speeds conducive to online deepen relationships. Incentivizing employees to learn and use the
transactions. Devices ranging from PCs to smart phones allow customers system, such as providing cash incentives to enroll customers, is a good
ready access to their accounts. Larger companies especially, juggling way to serve the overall goal of increased efficiency and reduced DSO.
millions of dollars in costs and hundreds of thousands of invoices per
year, have every incentive to shift to a more efficient system now that
technology supports it.
2 customer Self-Service in B2B order to cash

3. constantly raise eIpp awareness with customers eFFIcIencY adds up to revenue
Every time a customer In hundreds of customer engagements, Genpact has seen the dramatic
Finance & accounting White PaPer
contacts the business and positive business impact of lowering DSO. EIPP provides a powerful
with a question presents tool for reducing DSO by automating the process, eliminating manual
an opportunity to touch points where errors occur, and providing speedier resolution
promote the use of self- of billing errors and customer questions. For one company, EIPP
service portals to obtain implementation provided $2.5MM in initial annual savings that grew to
answers. Understand $25MM per year,
how your customers with an additional
and business partners $1.5MM per year in
resolve their own billing postage savings, an
issues, whether that is by a call center, the sales representative, or email. achievement touted
A business can encourage adoption of self-service electronic invoicing by the company’s
by providing appropriate reminders at every contact point, such as CFO as “Our
on-hold messages to raise awareness of alternate, self-service means of highest ROI project
obtaining answers; scripts for customer service representatives to use of the year.”
after successfully resolving the customer’s issue by telephone; or auto-
Reducing end-to-end costs for producing, tracking, and processing
responder acknowledgements to emails.
invoices is only one component of the benefits gained by implementing
Make it easy to use EIPP. As technology continues to advance, providing more and easier
Modern customers have become conditioned to speed and ease of access to information, expectations are raised among customers
use in online transactions because businesses have learned the painful that can never be lowered short of some catastrophic failure of
lesson that complexity drives people away. Efforts to encourage use of the entire internet. With the pressure on to have answers to any
EIPP should include making it as customer question at employees’ fingertips, businesses may find that
implementing tools such as EIPP is not so much a matter of choice
simple as possible to enroll in the
Companies must but of survival. In highly competitive environments, vendors may find
system and for enrolled users to
obtain useful information from it. actively market themselves shut out of contracts because their customers no longer
Ensure that current and relevant EIPP internally want to deal with paper. Customers may demand self-service portals
information is readily available rather than require incentives to use them. In either case, both biller and
regarding billing data. Customers and externally payer will benefit from the flexibility, cost savings, and comprehensive
have no incentive to use the to achieve full approach to invoice management offered by EIPP.
system if they cannot access the
information they need to resolve
acceptance and
their questions or complete their maximum return
transaction.
on investment. “Our highest ROI project of the year.”
encourage adoption
through active Marketing
Before customers can participate in the supplier’s new EIPP system
they must first be made aware it exists. As part of the implementation
strategy, a company implementing EIPP should plan to actively market
it to customers. Discounts, offers made on invoice envelopes, customer
training sessions, and notices on customer portals and corporate
websites can all be effective in raising awareness and encouraging
participation. These should be accompanied by clear directions and easy,
click-through enrollment from the portal. Taking the lead in helping
customers train their personnel to use the new system can help ensure
that they see benefits rather than obstacles to adoption.
3 customer Self-Service in B2B order to cash

4. about genpact
Genpact is a global leader in Business Process and Technology
Management, offering a broad portfolio of fundamental
business and industry specific services that focus on process
effectiveness and business outcomes.
contact us:
For more information, Visit: www.genpact.com
For more information on this subject, or additional copies of
Copyright © Genpact 2010. All Rights Reserved.www.genpact.com this paper, please contact: eipp.solution@genpact.com