Eiger Systems says that EigerPAY Gateway, their new product for the BACSTEL-IP marketplace, has received approval by BACS, the automated clearing house that processes Direct Debits and Direct Credits on behalf of the UK banks. This approval confirms that the product meets the functional and security standards required for products supporting BACSTEL-IP, the next generation of BACS technology that utilises the internet for payment processing.
Eiger says the server component of EigerPAY Gateway is available for a wide choice of operating platforms, and the EigerPAY Gateway client can either be installed on PCs as a Windows application or delivered as a web application over an intranet. The solution gives companies both full compliance with the requirements of BACSTEL-IP and a range of additional features that Eiger Systems believes are new to the market.
“The introduction of BACSTEL-IP provides users with an excellent opportunity to significantly improve all aspects of their payments processes” says Callum Johnston, Managing Director of Eiger Systems. “However, for many users – particularly larger submitters or those with complex authorisation processes – the real benefits of BACSTEL-IP will not be realised simply by upgrading existing systems. As a new entrant to the BACS marketplace we had the opportunity to develop EigerPAY Gateway from scratch, freeing us from the constraints that legacy offerings would have imposed on our development program and product architecture. Instead of bolting IP technology onto an existing BACS solution, we’ve developed a whole new solution from the ground up that goes far beyond the BACSTEL-IP specification laid down by BACS. These additional benefits include finger-scan biometric security, extensive workflow functionality, and a fully scaleable operating environment that supports everything from manual operation to full automation.”
BACS is currently undertaking a major technology renewal programme called NewBACS to meet the growing demand for more efficient electronic payment services, including salary payments and Direct Debit collections. The technology renewal programme will be introduced in four phases, the first of which includes an upgrade of the existing telecoms based customer delivery channels BACSTEL and replacing them with the latest proven technologies. This new delivery channel, which provides BACS customers with a secure, and direct online telecommunications access to BACS, is called BACSTEL-IP.
BACSTEL-IP aims to offer users faster payment confirmation, the ability to track their payment status, highly secure Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security standards and online payment reports. By the end of 2005 all 50,000 companies that use the existing BACSTEL service directly will need to have implemented new BACSTEL-IP compliant software to manage their electronic payments. Businesses can begin migration as soon as their sponsoring bank is live with BACSTEL-IP, which is expected to commence from 2003, with completion in 2005. BACS encourages their customers to start planning their BACSTEL-IP migration as early as possible.