Fiserv Debuts Communication Tools to Boost On-Time Payments

Payments technology firm Fiserv is offering billers new communications tools to get paid faster.

The new capabilities, announced Tuesday (April 30), let billers incorporate call-to-action notifications and alerts into existing workflows to send personalized bill payment reminders or messages using email, texts, phone calls or interactive voice response systems. 

“Billers are seeking effective ways to engage their customers to encourage on-time payments, drive eBill adoption and digital payment usage and provide proactive communications such as reminders and service updates,” Jackson McIntosh, head of biller solutions at Fiserv, said in a news release. 

“Call-to-action notifications and alerts enhance our proven billing and payment capabilities with intuitive, modern and cost-effective communications that are easily integrated with our clients’ ERP systems,” he added.

These notifications, the release said, are powered by an integration with Fiserv’s BillMatrix solution — which lets billers provide “choice and convenience while reducing costs and minimizing operational complexities” — and communication platform Tilli. 

The new offering comes at a time when on-time payments have become increasingly important for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). 

That’s because — as noted here Monday — 80% of SMBs get paid via ad hoc payments for the goods and services they provide to larger companies. 

The PYMNTS Intelligence study “How Instant Ad Hoc Payment Costs Impact Small SMBs” found that, for SMBs, ad hoc transactions represent only a small portion of the payments they make to their vendors and consumers.

“But for most SMBs, these irregular, non-recurring payments have become a central part of their typical revenue stream,” that report said. “Ad hoc payments now make up nearly three-quarters of SMBs’ accounts receivable (AR) volume in dollars, which is up from 65% last quarter.”

But for the SMBs collecting funds, the process of receiving ad hoc payments from enterprises can be difficult, often leading to delays, which can in turn lead to cash shortfalls.

“SMBs receive ad hoc payments for a variety of reasons, with 81% receiving ad hoc payments in exchange for both products and services in a typical year,” PYMNTS wrote. 

The research also found that the portion of SMBs receiving ad hoc payments in exchange for products or services has increased by 5% since September.

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