Jun 2010 Financial News

Bill Express looks to strata corps

Jun 15, 2010

GraceKennedy subsidiary Bill Express is exploring a move to diversify its bill payment services to include maintenance payments for strata corporations.

The company recently made the services available to the strata corporation of Long Mountain Country Club and is currently considering a number of others, disclosed Bill Express general manager Michael McNaughton to Sunday Finance last week.

"This happened largely because customers who use the service for their other bill payments, came to us and asked why we can't form an arrangement or some form of alliance with their strata corp," explined McNaughton.

"A number of them have come to us and we are actually working through the process," he said.

Long Mountain residents/property owners can pay their maintenance Fees using Bill Express Online, a service which McNaughton said the company is aggressively promoting.

"We are pushing the online service for people who are looking to do everything from their desk... It's extremely convenient," said McNaughton, who noted that benefits of Bill Express Online include same day updates, transaction history (up to 12 months), convenient email reminders and the ability to make payments to multiple billers.

The Bill Express boss said the informality of most stata corporations makes rolling out bill payment services to them much more challenging.

"You have to be sensitive to the fact that a number of them are not as structured, large or as organised as Long Mountain, so it's a process that takes a little longer," he said.

Bill Express has over 200 locations and 53 client companies across seven Caribbean countries. Currently, the company is in expansion mode, having entered both North American markets -- US and Canada -- within the last six months in an agressive buildout programme targeting Caribbean nationals.


Source:
JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant business co-ordinator editorial@jaamaicaobserver.com
Jamaica Observer
Sunday, June 13, 2010

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Bill-Express-looks-to-strata-corps_7696473