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Launching eBill within a company: how to do this in practice

05.11.2020

How do you launch eBill as a company, and what are the benefits of e-billing? We talk to Switzerlend AG, a company that has already launched eBill.

eBill allows companies to directly send e-bills to the e-banking accounts of their customers. Not only does this require minimal effort from the invoice issuer, they also benefit from reliable incoming payments and full control over the invoicing process. As a network partner, PostFinance helps business customers launch eBill. Nils Samuelsson, Developer at Switzerlend AG – the operator of the platforms The link will open in a new window lend.ch and The link will open in a new window splendit.ch that now uses eBill for its investors – gives us valuable insights into this process.

  • We send around 33,000 invoices a year to borrowers, and 9,100 invoices to investors. With our borrowers, what we care about is ensuring regular, prompt payments. As for our investors, on the other hand, we want to ensure they have as little to do as possible, and to give them complete control over the payment execution process.
  • Previously, investors had to use an ISR to make transfers for their investments. However, seeing as they called for a simplified payment process, we decided to launch eBill for our investors at the end of 2019. In combination with robo-investing, i.e. automatic investment in risk classes with a certain volume, eBill provides investors with a very user-friendly service as well as complete control over the payment process, whilst Switzerlend has access to a pool of capital.
  • Firstly, the modern image of eBill suits our fintech company. Secondly, we expect our investors to receive quicker payments with e-bills, which in turn means the credit project is completed faster. And thirdly, unlike PDF invoices sent by e-mail, eBill allows you to trace an invoice and to prevent any spam invoices getting through, which is critical to security.
  • Following a kick-off with PostFinance, we received the necessary documents and saw to set-up and development works in the PostFinance test environment. As part of a soft launch, we initially released the resulting product to a select number of investors. The main launch came a little bit later, and was for all investors. We announced the new eBill feature by blog and e-mail. We now send around 300 e-bills a month to the e-banking accounts of our customers.
  • Our very first eBill meeting was held on 3 February 2020 with our advisors and a technical expert from PostFinance, and the solution was already in use on 25 March 2020. We spent one working month on in-house development.
  • The biggest hurdle was a technical one: a software framework (Spring Integration) we used did not work with the PostFinance testing platform when we attempted the sFTP upload. This was an unexpected problem given the standards used by both sides, but we were still able to solve it very efficiently.
  • The support from PostFinance was phenomenal from the outset, despite the fact that Switzerlend is a small eBill invoice issuer.
  • Not so much in the quality itself, seeing as the error rate was already exceedingly low for inpayment slips by e-mail. With that said, we do find that lenders who have eBill pay five days sooner on average than lenders without it. This is down to the fact that a predetermined due date is shown as a suggestion for each electronic invoice, and this data is then immediately adopted by a number of customers in e-banking.
  • Yes, because investors have been consistently positive in their feedback on the e-bill. For them, eBill is both simple and convenient. What’s more, our own expectations have been met, and the development costs involved have actually been manageable.
  • If it’s something you’re developing in-house, you will need a network partner with access to the eBill network who can provide a solid development sandbox and excellent support. We had all of this covered with PostFinance. If the company uses an invoice issuing solution that already supports the delivery of e-bills (see previous section), the manufacturer/distributor of the application is the first point of contact.
  • Our experts will be happy to help you launch eBill. Get in touch with your PostFinance advisor now.

Useful to know

The main hubs for e-bills with PostFinance is the e-bill platform where invoices are received and delivered. Ninety software providers already have a standard interface with PostFinance’s e-bill platform.

About Switzerlend AG

Switzerlend AG operates these two platforms: The link will open in a new window lend.ch and The link will open in a new window splendit.ch.

  • lend.ch leads the market for personal and company loans. Borrowers are linked with investors, Switzerlend AG takes responsibility for risk assessment, documentation and for handling contracts and any payments between borrowers and investors.
  • splendit.ch connects students who need a student loan with investors looking to make a sensible investment .
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