With the goal of making it easier for their customers to manage their subscriber accounts and information, this month Cornerstone Billing made several important enhancements to its online billing software.
Version 31 of Cornerstone’s ALARM software allows for different net terms for Recurring versus Service & Installation invoices. This is a significant improvement since many dealers want short-term or ‘immediate’ payment for non-recurring invoices, while often allowing a month or more for payment of recurring invoices, since these are usually billed in advance of the service period. Also new to Version 31 is a user-definable late fee grace period, so late fees don’t generate too soon for an account — reducing the number of accounts getting late fees while a payment is in the mail.
“We constantly ask our customers which features or enhancements will make their lives easier,” commented Jody Schuhart, Cornerstone’s Vice President. “We’ve listened to requests for information that was not available as a report; so we created several new reports in the update. We see where data entry mistakes can be made, and have built in protections to avoid them. We know what to look for to make the recurring billing process be as efficient as possible, so created and enhanced reports to proactively review the upcoming recurring billing to ensure that the bills are absolutely correct.”
Cornerstone has built in protections in the new version that will warn or guide the user if it appears an error is being made. For example, if a payment amount entered exceeds the amount of the individual invoice, a warning pops up. If a user entered the check number in the payment field by mistake, they can click cancel and start over.
Cornerstone added seven new reports to ALARM, and enhanced numerous existing reports. The key Financial and Management Reports can now be emailed as comma-delimited files, easily opened in Excel. The new reports include a Recurring Billing Audit Report that highlights accounts that may need to be reviewed prior to billing to ensure that no accounts get missed. Other reports provide information on all accounts, new accounts added, closed accounts and accounts with stopped recurring — making it easy to check data entry, to compare accounts against a Central Station list, and to track growth and attrition. Enhancements to existing reports include flagging expired credit cards on autopay accounts that are up billing.
For Billing Plus customers, where Cornerstone manages their receivables with first party collection activities, the new software features a Billing Plus module that allows for easy review and management of account aging. “The screen is like an interactive aging report where accounts are listed based upon aging criteria,” added Schuhart, “There are built in features to track call and letter activities, and to set next steps (by date).”
The ALARM software, a powerful, real-time, online account management system, helps the staff of an alarm company efficiently manage high-priority work such as customer service, sales, field service and installations, collections. The software is not sold, but is included with Cornerstone´s billing services; because the software is hosted online, dealers do not have to worry about upgrades or compatibility issues.
Cornerstone offers reliable, affordable billing services and solutions to security dealers nationwide, making account management better, faster and easier. Services include recurring billing, payment processing, an online payment portal, 24/7 system access, 800 number support and training, and much more.
Get a Quote or for more information about Cornerstone’s services, contact the sales department at 224-577-1197