Providers are moving away from paper billing to leverage the efficiency and cost benefit of electronic invoice delivery. Processing paper invoices is costly, uses valuable staff time and is prone to human error. Electronic delivery is faster, more efficient, and providers get paid sooner. Currently, the CostGuard system has the capability to track whether an account should get a paper bill; however, until this release, it has not provided the ability to incentivize subscribers to opt for paperless billing by providing a discount when paperless billing is chosen (or apply a charge when subscribers opt out).
Overview
Paperless billing incentive can be set up on an environment basis. Customer Service Representatives can view an account’s paperless billing incentive on the Customer Care account summary and view charges/discounts related to paperless billing on the invoice summary.
Quick Tour
Walk through setup in Product Catalog and viewing the result in Customer Care
Prerequisite Setup
Configure Products for Opt in Discount/Opt-out Charge
This is required and done in the Desktop Client Product Catalog.
Charge product. Add a SKU as an NRC product with a charge cycle of once.
Discount product. Add a volume discount. Your configuration options are not limited; however, the recommended best practice is to set up a simple volume discount as a flat amount discount with no dependencies. Also set Contributing Products to All.
Creating and Assigning Account Tags
This is optional, and only needed if you need to exclude specific accounts by this method. In Customer Care create tags via MANAGE > Account Tags, and then assign them to individual accounts as needed to mark the accounts for special handling.
Creating Tags
In Customer Care:
Choose MANAGE > Account Tags..
This displays the Create Tags page.
Click + Create Tag.
Add a tag. Give it a meaningful name that associates it with the intended purpose, for example, Paperless Billing. Then enable it to make it available for selection in Customer Care and the Product Catalog.
Click Create Tag to confirm.
Below shows the create tag result.
You can edit and remove existing tags as needed via the associated kebob. Note: You cannot delete a tag if it is present on an account. In that case, the tag must first be removed from all accounts where it exists.
Adding a Tag to an Account
This is done via a new Tags tab in the Account Summary Info Center.
Click the tab to display a form for managing tags on the account.
Click + Add Tag. This displays a Tag Selector. Any tags created via MANAGE > Account Tags will be available for selection.
Select the applicable tag and then click Add Tag.
Below shows the tag added.
Once added, you can remove the tag from the account as needed by clicking Manage Tags and then clicking the red delete (X) icon.
Configuring Paperless Billing Incentive Options in the Web Product Catalog
The Manage Paperless Billing Incentive page in the Product Catalog web module lets enable and configure this functionality for the current environment. Once enabled you can:
Select the form of incentive:
Discount for opting in
Charge for opting out
Select a SKU configured in the IDI Desktop Product Catalog that applies the discount or charge
Exclude one or more account types, account statuses, and states from the Paperless Billing Incentive.
Exclude tagged accounts from the Paperless Billing Incentive.
To set this up for the current environment, in the Product Catalog web module choose MANAGE > Paperless Billing Incentive.
When you select this option, the initial view will indicate this functionality is not yet configured and provide a button to start the configuration process.
Clicking that button displays a form for configuring the paperless billing incentive. Check Enabled, then configure the paperless billing parameters as described below.
Field | Description |
Enabled | Check this box to enable or uncheck to disable. |
Incentive Option | Choose to apply a Charge when subscribers opt out or apply a Discount when subscribers opt in. |
Require AutoPay | Check to make Autopay an additional requirement to receive a discount when that is the selected Incentive Option. |
SKU (Product or Discount) | This menu is labeled according to the selected Incentive Option. Choose the SKU as configured in the IDI Desktop Client Product Catalog to apply the charge or discount. Note: The SKUs listed in this drop-down menu change depending on the selected incentive option (Charge or Discount). |
Omitted Account Tag | This lets you select a tag (configured in Customer Care). Accounts marked with the selected tag will be excluded from the Paperless Billing Incentive. Note: This requires you to create a tag for excluding accounts from Paperless Billing Incentive and then assigning the tag to applicable accounts. This is done in Customer Care and is covered in the Customer Care user Guide. |
Omitted tabs | There are three tabs that let you exclude one or more Account Types, Account Statuses, and/or States from the Paperless Billing Incentive. Clicking on a tab provides the corresponding selector. The selected items will not be charged for opting out, nor will they receive a discount for opting in. Omitted items (if any) are listed below the selector. |
Note: If paperless billing is already enabled, you’ll skip the first step and go directly to the Configure Paperless Billing form with an option to edit.
Click Edit to begin and refer above for a description of the configurable fields.
Omitting an Account Tag
Click the menu and select a tag.
You can remove the selected tag by clicking the Delete icon (red X).
Using the Omit Tabs
Click the applicable tab. The operation of each is basically the same. Below shows selecting states to omit on the Omitted States tab.
Below shows several states selected.
Once selected, you can remove an item from the list by clicking the associated remove icon (X).
Note: To see other omitted items, click the applicable tab (e.g. Account Types).
Managing Paperless Billing in Customer Care
Toggling the Paperless Billing Setting on an Account
On an account, you can toggle the paperless billing flag to opt in or opt out. The previous Suppress Invoice Print setting has been renamed Paperless Bill. This setting is available in the Billing Information section when you add/edit an account. Check the box to opt in or uncheck to opt out.
You can also toggle this setting in the Billing section on the Account Summary and see whether a discount or charge applies.
The charge or discount status (applicable or not) is based how the incentive options are configured for the environment and the status of the Paperless Bill setting on the account.
First, if the account type is selected to be omitted, all other incentive criteria for the environment and the Paperless Bill setting on the account are ignored. Neither a charge nor a discount will apply.
If the account type is not omitted, whether a charge or discount applies is determined by evaluating the other incentive criteria for the environment and Paperless Bill setting on the account as indicated below:
Incentive and Paperless Bill Settings | Charge or Discount Status |
|---|---|
| Charge is applicable |
| Charge is not applicable |
| Discount is applicable |
| Discount is not applicable |
| Discount is not applicable |
The information icon lets you see the reason for applying or not applying a discount or charge. Examples:
In this example, the environment is set to apply a charge and the account has opted out of paperless billing:
In this example, the environment is set up to apply a discount and the account has opted in; however, the environment is also set up to require Autopay but the account is not on Autopay.
Paperless Billing Details on the Invoice Summary
Charges or discounts for paperless billing are presented on the Invoice Summary when applicable.
Charge example:
Discount example:
Clicking the View Details link displays status information (charge applicable shown below).
