Fiserv Survey Shows More Billers Meeting Mobile Demand

The financial tech player Fiserv said Thursday (March 3) that billing organizations are seeing growth in mobile visits, spurred by greater use of mobile devices. The higher incidence of device usage is also leading to a higher rate of mobile payments, said the firm, as evidenced by a study of 130 billing enterprises.

The results were tallied in the fourth annual Biller Mobile Bill Pay Benchmark survey, with notable presence among mid-sized and smaller billing outfits. The findings showed that visits to biller websites were up 42 percent through the past year and now are roughly a quarter of all website visits. Ranking activity, bill payment is first, then bill views, then customer self-service.

Billers ran the gamut from insurance to utilities to financial services. Of those 130 firms, more than half offer mobile bill payments, and another 23 percent are likely to deploy such services through the next 12 months or less. That is up 40 percent year over year, measured by the percentage that offer such services. The trends are in place, respondents said, for paperless eBilling and payments.

A whopping majority (83 percent) of respondents said it remains important to offer responsive design, and concerns that continue to grow center around security, even while these billers are ever more receptive to mobile technology.

In a statement that accompanied the release of the study, Jim Lester, senior vice president of product management and biller solutions at Fiserv, said: “Consumers want financial services that fit effortlessly into their lives; mobile offerings provide that compelling convenience. Mobile bill pay offers the proven ability to draw customers to the mobile platform on a recurring basis, leading to a more engaged and satisfied customer. These benefits also bring elevated customer expectations, technology demands, complexity and risk. Billers need to act by implementing a comprehensive MBPP strategy that incorporates simple and easy user experiences, robust security, compliance protocols and payment cost optimization.”