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Backplane
Billing: FAQ |
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General |
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Outsourcing |
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Security/SLA |
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Pricing/Fees |
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Customer
Support |
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Q. |
Does Backplane Billing require any
software or hardware installation? |
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A. |
No, Backplane Billing is an entirely
web-based, hosted application that doesn't require any installation.
Backplane manages your billing and customer care infrastructure so
you can focus on building a successful business. |
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Does Backplane Billing require any
client software to access and use? |
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No, Backplane Billing is accessible by
Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet
Explorer. Backplane only uses Web standard
technologies. |
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Q. |
Can Backplane Billing be integrated
with other enterprise applications (i.e. ERP, CRM, and E-Commerce
applications)? |
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A. |
Backplane provides a software
development kit (SDK) that enables Backplane Billing to be
integrated with other enterprise applications. |
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Q. |
Does Backplane Billing make it possible
for my customers to sign up for services and manage their accounts
on the Web? |
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Yes, with Backplane Billing you can
acquire customers via the Web or through the direct order entry
method. Backplane also makes it possible for your customers to
access and manage their accounts online. |
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Q. |
What's the difference between Backplane
Billing and electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) providers
such as Backplane's partner Derivion? |
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A. |
Backplane and EBPP enablers such as
Derivion offer complementary services. Backplane provides the
billing infrastructure necessary to set-up billing plans, manage
customers and accounts, generate invoices, and accept payments.
However Backplane has forged a strategic alliance with Derivion in
order to expand the number of bill presentment and payment choices
available to customers. The partnership leverages Backplane's
billing infrastructure and Derivion's back-end presentment engine to
allow customers to present bills to their customers via bill payment
aggregators (such as Yahoo PayMyBills). |
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How does Backplane Billing differ from
credit card payment gateways, such as CyberSource and
CyberCash? |
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A. |
Backplane provides complementary
services. CyberSource and CyberCash provide electronic payment
gateways to allow vendors to run credit card and ACH transactions.
These services do not provide a billing infrastructure. To save our
customers time, money, and engineering effort, Backplane has
partnered with and pre-integrated the CyberSource electronic payment
gateway for use with Backplane Billing. |
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Outsourcing |
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Q. |
Why should I trust Backplane to manage
my billing and customer care application? |
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A. |
Backplane, Inc. is dedicated to making
companies of all sizes more successful by providing business
solutions that enable and support rapid growth. The application is
hosted at a minimum of three geographically disparate data centers,
replicated in real time, and backed up offline on a daily basis for
complete data integrity. Our premier service, Backplane Billing, is
backed by a 100% Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantee.
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How does outsourcing a billing and
customer care application offer my company a competitive
advantage? |
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Backplane Billing is built from the
ground up for providers of recurring services. We become your
billing experts, allowing you to focus on your core competencies.
Backplane Billing gives you a competitive advantage by making it
possible to rapidly implement an enterprise-class billing system,
improve the bottom line, introduce new services, focus valuable IT
resources on core competencies, and strengthen customer
service. |
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Q. |
How does Backplane Billing reduce my
time to market? |
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Unlike developing homegrown solutions
and traditional software installations, Backplane Billing doesn't
require any installation and only minor integration to be fully
functional. Backplane doesn't require expensive, custom "modules" or
long implementation cycles. |
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Security/SLA |
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Q. |
How can Backplane guarantee 100%
scheduled uptime? |
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Backplane maintains a robust, fully
redundant system, co-located at multiple, geographically disparate
data centers. 100% uptime is guaranteed outside of brief, scheduled
maintenance windows. Our team of enterprise billing experts is
focused on developing and maintaining the most dependable billing
infrastructure available. We are confident in our ability to deliver
- so much so that we back it up with a Service Level Agreement (SLA)
which provides for both credit and additional remedy in case of any
unscheduled downtime. |
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Q. |
What specific security measures does
Backplane have in place to ensure the safety of customer
data? |
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Backplane provides multiple levels of
security to protect data and block unauthorized access:
Data Encryption - Backplane uses 128-bit secure socket layer
(SSL) technology and digital certificates to encrypt and
authenticate all transactions.
IP Address & Domain Locking - Backplane Billing has an option
that requires all users to sign in from a specified IP address or
domain name.
Physical Data Protection - All servers are privately caged and
locked within a Card Key protected and guarded Exodus facility to
prevent unauthorized access.
Database Logging - The Backplane Billing database logs all
important changes and user access providing a full system history
and audit trail.
Password Security - Backplane Billing limits data access
according to the password-level security set for each employee,
manager and administrator user. |
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How can I be assured my data will be
kept private? |
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A. |
Backplane is committed to keeping your
data private and secure. Backplane does not review, share,
distribute, print, or reference any such data except as provided in
the Backplane Terms of Use, or as may be required by law. Individual
records may at times be viewed or accessed only for the purposes of
resolving a customer support issue. |
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Pricing/Fees |
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Q. |
How are Backplane Billing services
priced? What does the price include? |
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A. |
Backplane Billing is priced as a
monthly subscription fee based on the number of customers your
company bills each cycle. There are also transaction fees associated
with the value-added services, such as electronic bill presentment,
and printing, stuffing, and posting paper invoices. Because
Backplane Billing has pre-integrated end-to-end services, your
company won't have to incur the high costs of integrating custom
modules and other necessary value-added services. |
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Is Backplane Billing less expensive
than developing a homegrown solution or buying, installing, and
managing a traditional billing application? |
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The cost of outsourcing your billing
and customer care infrastructure to Backplane is a fraction of the
cost of either developing a homegrown solution or buying,
installing, and managing a traditional billing
application. |
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Customer
Support |
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Q. |
How do I know that Backplane will
respond as quickly as an internal IT employee? |
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A. |
Backplane has developed processes that
allow us to resolve issues faster and more comprehensively than most
companies can accomplish internally. Our business is dependent on
customer service, and we strive to provide a service that can
provide 100% satisfaction. Our team takes pride in a "fix it first"
policy. We assume that all problems are ours until they have been
resolved. |
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Q. |
How will Backplane respond to any
technical issues? |
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Backplane is committed to customer
satisfaction and technical excellence. We provide support during
normal business hours, and give our customers the ability to track and manage issues 24 hours per day, 7 days
per week, 365 days per year. Customers receive an emergency number
manned by our IT team 24 hours per day. |
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