Global Connect and EPP Partner on Automated Billing and Paying IVR

A new interactive voice response (IVR) solution that will provide customers with automated and after-hours payment capabilities is the product of a recent joint venture between Global Connect—a provider of voice messaging and notification services—and Electronic Payment Providers (EPP)—a provider of payment processing solutions.

Darrin Bird, executive vice president of Global Connect, says the two companies have enjoyed a solid working relationship in the past and sees this new project as an extension of that. "One piece we were missing was the IVR that would link our automated voice messaging piece back to their payment processing center," he says. "About eight months ago, we put a team together and scoped it out and built out the IVR. We have a lot of mutual clients. We have a lot of clients that mutually we can go out and target and get as a sole source solution."

The new IVR system will allow for the processing of payments electronically and result in better tracking and accounting as well as increased payment acceptance efficiency.

"It enables our organizations—both of us together—to add another efficiency or optimization tool for primarily anybody who takes payments," he adds. "Whether it be a utility company, a collection agency, a bank, the list goes on and on, [it allows them] to increase their ability to leverage their agents to talk to maybe the harder-to-reach people, the harder-to-reach payers, and allow a lot of agentless transactions to occur."

According to Bird, the system will also be able to send an outbound IVR message and link the recipient back to the IVR, which "ties our system together with their payment processing system."

"It allows [payees] to segment their overdue accounts with their client profile to find out who are just habitual late payers and instead of putting a live agent on them, they can send out an automated call and have the person make a payment via the phone," Bird says. "So we really see this as a big increase of agent utilization and employee utilization."

And Bird thinks the relationship between Global Connect and EPP will continue to flourish.

"I think the future is pretty bright," Bird says. "We work together. Our products are very similar. Our platforms, as far as how we target our customers, our sales approaches, are pretty similar. We see no reason why together we’re not able to go out and mutually share clients, share relationships that fit each other's business models, and help drive growth."