The City of Billings sees an increase in e-payments after partnering with InvoiceCloud and VertexOne WaterSmart

By Edlyn Cardoza

InvoiceCloud, an EngageSmart, Inc. solution for online bill payment services, recently announced that since partnering with Billings Public Works and VertexOne WaterSmart™ to offer residents expanded options for paying bills online, e-payments have increased by 262%. Since its implementation in April 2020, Billings has seen a steady increase in online payment adoption and a steady decrease in payment-related calls. 24% of Billings’ over 117,000 residents are now enrolled in AutoPay through InvoiceCloud, and paperless adoption is at an all-time high.

For Billings Public Works, having a reliable and user-friendly payments portal is a top priority. With InvoiceCloud and VertexOne WaterSmart, Billings was able to give customers more self-service payment options online, including the ability to pay bills via GooglePay or ApplePay, and a payments portal that customers have found easy to use. Improving self-service has decreased payment-related phone call volumes, meaning that many of Billings’ elderly residents who pay via phone experience shorter wait times when making their payments.

“Now that more residents are paying online, our staff has more time to spend on cross-training and handling other important customer issues,” said Billings Utility Business Manager Christina Fox. “We spend a lot less time troubleshooting, and no longer have outage issues so payment processing can happen smoothly and quickly. InvoiceCloud and VertexOne WaterSmart™ have saved both our employees and residents a lot of time.”

Prior to working with InvoiceCloud, the City of Billings used on-premises payment processing software. Now that payment processing is cloud-native, Billings residents have instant access to the latest payment features InvoiceCloud offers, including Pay by Text, AutoPay, and online billing.

“Making life easier for our customers and their customers is at the heart of what we do,” said InvoiceCloud Vice President of Alliances and Business Development Paul Applegate. “Whether it’s offering convenient payment options or partnering with companies like VertexOne WaterSmart™ to provide customers with a simplified user experience, we believe that even paying your utility bills can be—and should be—delightful.”