“Going green using your fingertips”
The City notifies customers that municipal statements will be sent through multi-media service (MMS) channel effectively on Monday 23 September.
We have completed the pilot since the 2nd July 2013 in reaching all the customers with active cellphone numbers. The manner in which these customers were selected, was by use of the city’s customer database, and the response has been positive.
All customers who have not responded during the pilot will still receive their printed statements until they have notified the City of their preferred option being – Post, E-mail or MMS. All three offer an audit trail that can give early indications of non-delivery of statements.
Group Finance Spokesperson, Kgamanyane Maphologela says customer service has been made easier now as customers can now receive their bills immediately on their cellphones. The MMS billing also guarantees instant receipt.
“Mobile bill presentment simplifies admin and helps to ensure that people don’t default on their payments simply because they don’t have billing information on hand and gives an option for customers to view their bill directly on their cellphones so they can make immediate payment or query the account on time.” he says.
A key advantage of mobile bill presentment is that it reduces admin and helps ensure that people don’t default simply because they either don’t know how much to pay due to non-receipt of statement via post. This increases convenience for customers and reduces time delay in postage bills.
Maphologela says the City can be more confident about whether their bills are being delivered and be more proactive about dealing with those that are not. So rather than simply hoping that statements are received and paid on time, the City can use proven electronic presentment, and will be able to manage its billing system better and increase convenience for our customers.
All customers who opt to receive statements via the MMS option will only receive one printed statement every three months.
We encourage our customers to see this opportunity as another effort of the City to improve its customer centricity!