Have you ever thought about how much paper is used to generate invoices, bills, and receipts? Consider these statistics:

Australians use 1.7 million tonnes of printing and writing paper. At an estimated 24 trees per tonne, this amount of paper uses up the equivalent of tens of millions of trees (Paperless Alliance, 2010).

A company issuing 100 bills a month can conserve the greenhouse gas equivalent of 7 trees planted and grown for 10 years by using direct debit (PayItGreen, Green Calculator).

If one million people went paperless for just one account, we would save almost 455,000kg of carbon dioxide each year (G Magazine, The Best of Green, 2010).

According to PayItGreen.org, for a business with 100 customers billed monthly, direct debiting fees instead of issuing paper statements for 1 year can conserve the equivalent of:

• 15.2 kg of paper saved
• 41.3 litres of gas saved by not mailing bills
• 271.7 kg of greenhouse gases avoided
• 7 trees planted (and grown for 10 years)
• 7.7 square metres of forest preserved from deforestation.

As a business you can make a positive impact on the environment by using direct debit, web, and phone payments instead of conventional paper bills. Read more about our electronic payment services.

The biggest benefits of using Ezidebit and direct debit in your business are administrative savings and cash flow improvements. And the more customers you have signed up—the bigger these benefits become.

But how can you encourage all your customers to sign up?

We can help. We’ve got a team of business development managers supported by an internal marketing department who can work with you to develop the appropriate strategies to lift the usage of direct debit in your business.

Every business has a unique customer management culture so it's imperative to adopt the appropriate mix of strategies to optimise your business's ability to be paid on time with minimum fuss. We can:

• Analyse and recommend the appropriate billing processes to reduce your debtor days.
• Create the appropriate communication strategy to encourage your customers to use Ezidebit.
• Help train your staff to confidently market direct debit to your customers.
• Provide on line training so you can maximise your administrative efficiencies and standard of customer service.
• Provide simplified signup processes for mass campaigns.
• Review the process with you by helping you monitor cash flow improvements and customer.

If you wish to take advantage of this free service please contact our business development team by completing our enquiry form.

Recent reports from Dun & Bradstreet (2011) have revealed business to business payments are becoming increasing more difficult to collect.

The data shows average payment days have increased to 55.6 days, the highest it’s been in over three years, with prompt payments declining by 10.5% compared to the same time the previous year.

This has the potential to severely affect the everyday running of small business, with cash flow management becoming increasingly difficult.

One way to counteract this trend is by offering direct debit as a payment method in your business. By guaranteeing you are being paid on time, every time, you regain control over your customers’ payments, improve your cash flow, save time, and are able to focus more on business.

If you’d like to find out more about how direct debit can help your business, complete our enquiry form and one of our sales consultants will be in touch shortly.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard was developed by the big credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard as a way to safeguard customer card information from hacking and other security vulnerabilities.

Being PCI compliant ensures a provider uses the highest standards of security possible for the storing, processing and transmitting of cardholder data. We’re proud to say Ezidebit is recognised as a Level 1 PCI compliant provider—the first and only third party direct debit provider to deliver this standard of data security in both Australia and New Zealand.

In accordance with the PCI Security Council (2010), PCI is "a global security standard for all companies and organizations that process, store or transact card holder details".

The goals of the standard include:

• Build and maintain a secure network.
• Protect cardholder details.
• Maintain a vulnerability management program.
• Implement strong access control measures.
• Regularly monitor and test networks.
• Maintain an information security policy.

It’s important to be able to trust your billing provider with your personal banking information—after all they are dealing with your finances. So how do you know if they’re credible?

The first thing to consider is reputation. Do they have a good reputation in the industry? Do they look after their customers?

The next thing is their credentials. Check if your billing provider has:

• PCI compliance to ensure data is secured according to the highest standards in data protection. Level 1 is the highest standard of PCI compliance, and signals the provider adheres to the highest standards of data security.
• An Australian Financial Services License which is monitored by ASIC and only offered to trusted providers.
• Australian Payments Clearing Association membership to ensure compliance with BECS (Bulk Electronic Clearing System) rules and regulations.
• Fair Trading Association membership to ensure they act in accordance with the Fair Trading Act.
• Sponsorships with banks for the provision of direct debit and merchant services.

By checking these factors, you will ensure that you can trust the provider to deliver your payments in a safe manner that lowers risk to both yourself and your customers.

Read more about Ezidebit’s compliance.