Lately, I've noticed a new trend in Mauritius; e-bills and e-receipts. I love the idea. The implementation, on the other hand, begs a lot of questions.
Utility bills
Utility bills used to be mailed to customers. The latter would then present these bills to the post office for payment. Nowadays, a link is sent via SMS to access the bills electronically.
Receipts
Receipts used to be printed and handed to customers right after payment. Recently, I've seen some companies send a SMS with a link to access the receipt electronically.
Issues
These links are public and are not password protected, i.e. customers' personal information is available to anyone who has access to the links.
SMS is not encrypted, meaning they can be intercepted and read by unauthorized parties.
Regular people have a tendency to dismiss the idea of backing up data, therefore, losing or having any issue with your phone now is way more stressful.
This also inherently means that everyone needs to have a smartphone and Internet access, which I'm sure the percentage of the population that has is below 100%.
E-bills are not accepted as proof of address. So, customers now have to physically queue up at the utility provider's office to request for one.
Improvements
If e-bills and e-receipts are sent via email, we avoid issue 1.
Customers can be notified via SMS that their e-bill is ready and has been sent via email. The SMS shouldn't include any link.
Having all e-bills and e-receipts on email naturally acts as backup. If people want to take additional backup measures, they can.
Issue 4 can be addressed by implementing an opt-in option where only people who choose to, receive their bills and receipts electronically; others still receive a physical bill/receipt.
Finally, e-bills and e-receipts should be digitally signed to make sure they can be verified for authenticity.
Conclusion
Going paperless is, in my opinion, a great idea, which I'm all for. What I'm against is making the lives of people who can't afford the prerequisites of fully electronic systems harder. I believe we should be more cautious about the implications of any solution and make sure to actively listen to feedback, positive or not and improve the offering accordingly.