Unisys and EDIS partner to solve payment problems

Unisys and EDIS partner to solve payment and reconciliation problems

Unisys, a global IT solutions and services leader, today announced a strategic alliance with EDIS, specialists in Business-to-Business (B-2-B) electronic data interchange, to deliver EDIS Payments the first web-enabled e-commerce solution with full invoice reconciliation and reconciled payments solution for bank clients. EDIS Payments solution enables banks to reduce complexities and to provide administrative savings of up to 80 per cent* to their commercial customers, representing an estimated cost saving of over NZ$18 per electronic transaction.

This innovative internet-enabled electronic bill presentment and payment technology (EBPP) with reconciled electronic bank settlements was developed by EDIS in New Zealand. The solution provides full e-commerce capabilities for companies of any size and the capability to manage processes from pre-purchase authorisations to final payment approval, whilst virtually eliminating reconciliation issues. Compatible with standard company accounting packages and enterprise software systems, EDIS Payments integrates with banking software to deliver a seamless solution.

“Previously there was a missing link in B-2-B e-commerce between invoicing and the reconciliation of payments which resulted in lengthy, process-heavy systems with high administration time and costs. EDIS Payments fills this gap to enable banks to offer companies, however large or small, access to a rich stream of information all reconciled on an invoice-by-invoice basis with bank payments,” said Graham Alston, Partner, Global Financial Services, Unisys New Zealand.

“As a Auckland-based company, EDIS sees partnering with Unisys as an integral part of being able to successfully deliver this technology on a worldwide platform to many of the world’s largest banks, retailers and manufacturers,” said John Brabazon, Chief Executive of EDIS. “Unisys processes a staggering 50 per cent of the worlds cheques, and works alongside 22 of the worlds 25 top banks. With over 4000 financial services clients across 100 countries they have created a long-standing reputation for excellence and were our natural choice for this venture. By combining our key strengths with Unisys’ world class IT services delivery and banking sector expertise, we aim to significantly increase the value of service that banks can provide their customers, and raise the bar for the financial services sector.”

Currently around 160 million B2B transactions occur in New Zealand each year. EDIS Payments provides an improved way for banks to enable their corporate and institutional customers to trade with SME suppliers and customers that may currently have up to 20 per cent of errors within their traditional paper-based invoices, which push up transaction costs significantly.

“We believe that banks are ideally positioned to leverage their role at the heart of the payments network to facilitate growth in B-2-B e-commerce and this new solution will bolster banks’ ability to provide customers with genuine value-add services and the potential for huge cost savings,” said Alston. “The interest in EDIS Payments shown by Australasian banks to date has been very encouraging”.

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