All are developing technology and business plans to enhance relationships with customers by transforming static paper bills into dynamic opportunities for cross-selling and targeted marketing. We believe it's going to grow, and we're passionate about supporting it. They're separate but integral parts. In fact, the ability to pay bills on the Web is already well-established. But the presentment of detailed billing information in a standard format is only beginning to become a force in Internet commerce.
Many consumers pay some bills at various Web sites or dial directly into their bank's computers.
But that process still usually involves ripping open a paper envelope to confirm the amount of the bill and the particular goods and servi ces being charged. Certainly, customers of companies such as American Express can pay and view detailed bills on the Web sites of individual billers, but dialing into the Internet, then jumping to multiple sites to pay bills is hardly more convenient than writing checks and peeling postage stamps. In fact, presenting detailed billing information from multiple merchants in a standard format all at one convenient Web site had, until recently, been impossible. That was due to the challenges of melding data from various legacy systems. Banks and merchants are testing several approaches to providing customers with hubs for billing and other types of E-commerce.