The effects of the September 11th terrorism on commerce in America are being felt in many ways across our country. The moving of cash and checks is curtailed; the distribution of paychecks and pay stubs is thwarted. The fear of opening the bills in the mail is not just because of the dread of having to pay them. These are effects which many government agencies and businesses could never have imagined occurring, much less develop a contingency plan to overcome.

Reporting in an American Banker article on October 11th by Andrew Roth, Patrick Barron, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta responded to the FAA's grounding of all flights by saying; "clearly this was unimaginable-the shutting down of the entire domestic airline industry." The article cited that three-quarters of the 16 billion checks the Fed processes are paper and carried on planes to regional Fed banks.

The Dallas Morning News reported problems of a different nature. Southland Corporation, operator of 7-11 convenience stores nationwide, could not get the paychecks out to their thousands of employees across the country through their usual method of air express carriers. In their resourcefulness they finally authorized managers to utilize the local store's money order stocks to issue payroll. While it was expedient it was also costly since a third party had to be paid for the money orders, and this method of payment did not include the detailed information employees normally found on their pay stub.

Now comes a revelation by an analyst on a national business television news network Monday night, October 15th, that companies are beginning to experience reluctance from customers toward receiving and opening paper bills/invoices sent through the mail. Added is the growing fear of poisons in corporate mail rooms and lock box centers who must handle the receipts of envelopes with payments, all due to the anthrax incidents.

The venerable Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday October 17th that increased postal security costs no doubt will be passed on in the form of even higher postal rates, which substantially increase operating costs to most businesses.

Sensitive that fear and overreaction by business should not be a determining factor in making economic decisions. Brinkman Technologies, Inc. is instead focusing on the cost savings involved in securely transmitting data and funds transfer authorizations back and forth over the Internet. Economic savings result from:

· No printing on paper cost to create the bill
· No labor costs to prepare, fold and stuff envelopes
· No postage costs
· No labor or lock box costs to open payment envelopes, post payments and process funds
· No time delay in sending out statements
· Reduced time to receive payment

Furthermore, customers have cost savings earned from not having to write checks (or pay check fees), add postage and take the added time to mail the payment.

Due to the encryption used on the sending and receiving ends the transactions are secure from prying eyes or interception. Physical mail (called 'snail mail' in electronic circles) is at the mercy of being 'tampered' with or removed from a person's home mailbox. A "statement" sent over the Internet can be a bill, an invoice, an insurance notice, a pay stub explanation of earnings and deductions, or a report of commissions earned. Electronic presentment applies as an improved solution for a whole host of these new, previously unforeseen disruptions to the old methods. Use of BTI's NextBill electronic billing application helps solve some of these issues. Our by-word is: if it comes out of a computer in a printable format, it can be sent over the Internet. BTI's Automated Clearing House (ACH) software can create the electronic flow of funds from the payee account to the payer account, to settle and update accounts on billed transactions.

These are uncertain times and we at BTI welcome an opportunity to visit the particular issues of your business operations as affected by these new disruptions. At your request, BTI will arrange an evaluation of your current systems and recommend solutions to increase security and assure fewer disruptions to key areas of your business operations.

Brinkman Technologies, Inc.
www.banksystems.com
www.NextBill.com
214.550.6118
2245 Keller Way Ste 360
Carrollton, Texas 75006