This will enable them to take advantage of the new direct debit scheme introduced by the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). With Logica Mandate Management corporates can improve cash flow, standardise collections, reduce cost and easily comply with the new regulatory requirements. Logica's 'pay-as-you-grow' option means corporates can also keep upfront costs to a minimum and benefit from pricing that reflects usage.

Zilvinas Bareisis, senior analyst at Celent, said: "SEPA Direct Debits (SDD) will allow corporates to further standardise payment collection processes, drive down costs and potentially have greater flexibility in their banking relationships. The enhanced consumer protection offered by SDD is likely to encourage greater acceptance of direct debit amongst customers. With direct debit, corporates enjoy greater certainty of collection dates and more automated reconciliations."

Garry Young, director of corporate services for Logica's Global Products Business, said: "Firms with large numbers of retail customers across Europe - such as utility, telco and insurance companies - are likely to have millions of direct debit mandates. To handle new SDD messages, they will have to change business processes and systems. This will be a vast operational challenge. Logica Mandate Management is designed to make it easy for corporates to migrate to this new SEPA scheme without incurring high upfront costs. Most importantly it will help corporates better control their cash flow and boost payments efficiencies through greater centralisation."

SDDs, introduced by the European Payments Council (EPC), will create a single direct debit payment scheme which will be used for euro collections across 32 countries. This will fundamentally alter the way in which corporates manage their collections. The European Commission is currently proposing Q1 2013 as the switch-off date for domestic direct debit schemes in the eurozone.

Logica Mandate Manageement converts legacy collection files into SEPA-compliant messages, removing complexities and the need for costly upgrades to master data and billing systems. The solution handles the mandate life cycle, enabling both automatic and manual upload and comprehensive tracking of amendments and cancellations. It also bypasses time intensive manual processes, improving STP rates. The solution integrates easily with any enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and can be implemented in the corporate environment in less than three months.

Corporates using this solution will benefit from Logica's deep heritage in payments, ERP and SEPA consulting. The company has over 6,500 ERP and payments experts and manages the billing process for major corporates across 36 countries.