Says Michael Wright, CEO of Striata: "One of our key objectives for 2003 is marketing our e-billing application suite initially into Europe and then into the US and Australia. Partnering with InfomArt will assist us in effectively marketing Striata eBilling into the European market."

InfomArt is a German consultancy specialising in Oracle environments. Founded in 1999, the company has customers based throughout Europe.

Says Wolfgang Scherrer, General Manager of InfomArt: "Having investigated the potential customer service benefits and cost savings of e-billing, InformArt went looking for a way of assisting our clients with the implementation of a proven and effective e-billing system. We chose to partner with Striata as a result of the low entry-level costs and ease of use of their Striata eBilling solution."

InfomArt plans to market Striata eBilling to both present and future customers, citing the high ROI and low start-up costs as two of their key selling points.

Says Scherrer: "Striata eBilling is the most efficient e-billing system we have found to date. Not only is it remarkably easy to integrate with existing technology systems, but it is also easily integrated with existing financial systems."

Over the last two years, Striata eBilling has proved its value to many South African clients, including major banks, cellular providers, brokers, retailers and utility industries, enabling them to dramatically reduce billing costs, enhance customer service and introduce a dynamic and flexible marketing channel.

Says Wright: "Striata's technologies can be applied to various vertical industries to address the challenges specific to those environments. Having built a robust and flexible solution, Striata is able to customise its technologies to cater for the unique inputs, outputs and customer requirements of different industries."

A key strength of Striata eBilling is that it provides both push and pull functionality, enabling bills to be delivered to customers by e-mail, fax, or SMS, and allowing customers to view their bills through a Web, ATM or WAP/WIG interface. This architecture places emphasis on customer choice, allowing bill recipients to elect the method which bests suit them for invoice presentation.

Built into the e-billing functionality, is the ability to attach personalised messages based on customer profiles. This targeted marketing capability is an invaluable tool for marketers to increase product awareness and enhance customer retention.

Striata's eBilling solution also extends to full customer self-service functionality, awarding customers direct control over their accounts via e-mail or the Web. This includes the presentation of customer-specific information, analysis and data sorting capabilities, as well as the ability to transact with the organisation online. Self-service can dramatically reduce the cost of servicing a customer, as many processes previously managed by costly human resources are migrated online.

Says Wright: "Striata's business development strategy involves an increase in focus on channels through its value-adding partner programme. We are delighted to be working with InfomArt in assisting companies worldwide in using our e-billing solution to enhance their customer loyalty, grow their businesses and save on costs."