ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 addressed business models for billers (issuers of statements, bills, and invoices) and payers. Features of value-added solutions were outlined in Chapter 4. This chapter targets solution providers who can support one or more business models. The following groups of solution providers are of interest (Hill, 2001):
Software vendors: Back-end technology drives all electronic systems, and EBPP is no exception. Software developers such as Avolent, Bottomline, and CheckFree (with its i-Solutions) will establish the technical direction of both B2B and B2C sectors, including settling on common standards for information transfer (open financial exchange [OFX] and interactive financial exchange [IFX] are examples). Whether or not the smaller firms will continue to pursue ventures in other areas of EBPP, such as bill consolidation and payment processing, remains to be seen. It appears likely, though, that industry giants such as CheckFree will continue to span vendor categories by offering a range of software solutions and services.
