Knowledge Centre - Case Study

Direct Debit expert™ Helps Institute of Physics Reduce Rejected Payments

Charity Looks for Cost Savings

The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity that aims to help people understand physics and its applications. The membership team at the institute collects subscriptions from around 36,000 members. It had been using a bureau service to collect Direct Debit payments. However, the team decided it could save money by collecting Direct Debits in-house. Ewa Uszkiewicz, Membership Officer at the Institute of Physics, says: "We decided to do it ourselves because it was costing us a lot of money. In particular, if there was an error when we sent the data to the bureau, they charged us for that error."

Training Provides the Answers

The team encountered some initial challenges when it started to collect Direct Debits in-house. "We were getting lots of rejected items and we didn't know why," says Uszkiewicz. To remedy this, she looked for a training course to help the team understand the Direct Debit scheme better. Uszkiewicz contacted payments specialist Direct Debit Limited (now part of Bottomline Technologies) – an organisation with more than 20 years' experience in Direct Debits – to provide a training course at the institute. "The training was so good", Uszkiewicz says. "The information Bottomlinegave us was mind blowing." The team was so impressed with Bottomline that it decided to evaluate Direct Debit expert™ (DDe™), the company's market-leading payments-management software.

Minimises Set-Up Time

The team decided to implement the software once it saw how easy it was to process Direct Debits with DDe™.Bottomline installed the software quickly, so the institute experienced minimal disruption. Uszkiewicz says: "The support team was fantastic. They helped me through the set-up and ensured it was all straightforward." Staff at the institute found DDe™ so easy to use and understand that even team members who weren't at the initial training picked it up easily.

Reduces Time Spent on Administration

In the past, staff spent lots of time dealing with rejected payments. With DDe™, the organisation has significantly reduced the number of rejected payments. DDe™ has a built-in modulus checker that validates sort codes and account numbers, which means the institute can identify incorrect details early on in the process and can contact members to get the right information. Essentially, DDe™ saves the institute time because it automates Direct Debit processes. Even something simple such as importing payers' details is quicker with DDe™. Uszkiewicz says: "Whereas it used to take us a couple of hours to import details, it now takes about 10 to 15 minutes."

Provides Members With a Better Service

The Institute of Physics has improved the service it provides to members since implementing DDe™. The majority of members now pay by Direct Debit and find it easier because they don't need to submit any paperwork to the institute. And if there's an issue with a payment, the team can respond faster with DDe™. Uszkiewicz says: "Everything's simpler, quicker and more efficient with DDe™."