Electronic Billing System Enhances Security

A leading car rental company has worked with OTM to develop an e-billing system, which will meet Europe's tightest data security regulations.

A leading car rental company has worked with OTM to develop an e-billing system, which will meet Europe's tightest data security regulations.

An electronic invoicing system, which is claimed to provide ease of operation along with maximum security for customers, went live in Germany last August and will be live for the rest of Europe in April.

The brief for OTM was to develop a method of e-billing that would be a 'push' mechanism and not require the car rental company's customers to pro-actively log-in.

It needed to meet Germany's data security regulations - the strictest in Europe - that overcome concerns that invoices could be altered or interfered with during transmission.

OTM's e-billing system works by delivering to the car rental company customers an email containing two attachments, the invoice in PDF format and a digital signature.

The data in the digital signature verifies that the invoice has been produced by OTM on behalf of the rental company and acts as proof of authenticity.

In addition, the digital signature, when presented with an associated invoice allows the car rental company to validate the invoice, said OTM.

The company said that much attention has been paid to the email carrier to reinforce the car rental company brand.

The email engine allows the user to incorporate advertisements and to apply rules to target marketing campaigns at specific groups of customers.

The system also provides the car rental company's customers with access to a website that enables them to verify the digital signature and access copies of their invoices.

Each customer is sent a link to the website, which varies depending on their status.

The customer's staff are given access to facilities that allow them to search for and view electronic documents.

The electronic invoicing system is the latest in a series of services that OTM has developed for the car rental company, who have a presence in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, serving almost eight million customers a year, added the company.

The car rental company's adoption during 2004 of OTM's 042 application, which prints individually customised messages on bills, increased customers' response to marketing promotions to more than 10 per cent.

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