Leeds-based digital agency, Headland has launch Payzu – a bill delivery and payment solution that it says has the potential to save utility companies upwards of £1/2 million a year on print and postage costs.
Headland has a strong track record in the financial services market, having previously developed Santander’s internet bill payment system, BillPay, which at its peak generated £1billion of online payments in one week alone. Payzu has been designed and developed with the intention of streamlining the billing and payment process for those who still prefer to pay for utilities and other services on receipt of a monthly or quarterly bill.
Ken Heptonstall, Headland’s managing director, said: “Utility companies have very significant annual print and postage cost associated with bill generation, which continue to grow and grow. Payzu has the potential to make this cost a thing of the past, while still delivering regular bills and generating payments.
Research from UK Payments*1 states that due to the established nature of Direct Debits, they expect only limited growth over the next ten years. Whereas the same report states that over the same period, consumers and small businesses will double their use of online and mobile payments.
“Payzu will allow companies to electronically deliver bills to customers who will be able to view and pay them quickly and easily – and its opt-in couldn’t be simpler,” explained Ken. “Customers will see a new option on their paper bill and can follow the link or scan the QR code to download their own free, personalised app onto either their Apple or android device.”
“From there the user adds their preferred payment card detail to their own private digital wallet and then it’s as easy as click, click, pay or click, click, save when bills are presented as notifications directly to Payzu. This removes the need to print and post the bill – thereby unlocking significant savings for the bill issuer, and saving trees and reducing carbon emissions produced in bill production. In addition, when customers have the Payzu app the bill issuer can send service updates or marketing messages directly to their customers.”
Headland recently received European Regional Development Funding for the Payzu project through the University of Hull and Spark Fund.
The launch of Payzu will created four jobs that will cover technical and business development roles.
“Nobody else is offering a solution that so perfectly addresses the business and cost reduction challenges of bill issuers,” added Ken. “Payzu is therefore that rarest of propositions – a unique piece of new fin tech that we truly believe can have an enormous impact both at home and abroad.”