Black Hills Corp. Selects WAUSAU Financial Systems as Receivables Processing and Enterprise Management Partner

MOSINEE, Wis., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- WAUSAU Financial Systems, the industry leader in receivables processing solutions, announced Black Hills Corp. selected the company's integrated receivables offering UtiliWorks™ to process customer payments, create greater financial efficiencies and streamline operations.

Since switching from an outsourced receivables model to UtiliWorks, Black Hills Corp. has achieved operational savings, gained greater control of the lockbox process and accelerated processing time.  

"The decision to bring processes in-house using the UtiliWorks solution yielded significant and quick return on investment for our business," said Kreg Warrick, data center operations manager at Black Hills Corp.  "WAUSAU's solution covers every step of the receivables process, from opening and processing payments through electronic clearing to analyzing, reporting, and exception item handling, helping us to achieve operational alignment and reduce associated costs."

"UtiliWorks gives us greater control over the payments process in an internal environment," said Warrick.  "The system is scalable and allows us to efficiently add customers as our company grows."

UtiliWorks processes multiple forms of payments – including ACH, checks, mobile RDC, cash and walk-ins – for Black Hills Corp.'s more than 763,300 natural gas and electric utility customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.  The Web-based integrated receivables hub solution, specifically designed for the utility market, is composed of retail remittance, remote capture, digital archive and workflow capabilities and serves as a single platform for the receivables process, which significantly accelerates payment posting, improves labor productivity and increases daily investible cash.  

"Black Hills Corp. sought a seamless, end-to-end payment processing solution that easily integrated with accounting functions and was customized to fit its business needs," said Kathy Strasser, executive vice president of solution management for WAUSAU.  "UtiliWorks is the perfect solution to match those needs, given its demonstrated ability to efficiently aggregate, automate and accelerate the entire receivables process."

Additional advantages of the UtiliWorks solution include:

• Ability to reduce float time by 50 percent or more
• Improved banking relationships
• Improved decision flow with exception processing for payments
• Ability to process 100 percent of payments within 24 hours
• Predictable costs that don't increase, even as companies acquire new utilities and add volume
• Positive return on investment within 18 months
• Improved paper suppression through electronic bill presentment and payment capabilities

More details about the UtiliWorks solution were revealed during a June 10 Energy Central webcast.  To view the webcast, visit http://www.utilityreceivables.com/wausau.htm.

About WAUSAU Financial Systems

WAUSAU Financial Systems is a premier provider of payment and receivables processing solutions, helping businesses of all types move money faster. With its products, services and consulting, WAUSAU works with customers to speed check processing, electronic presentment, ACH payments, transaction processing, distributed capture and enterprise content management. WAUSAU holds the No. 1 market share position in retail and wholesale remittance processing solutions. WAUSAU processes more than $1 trillion in payments each year through its work with more than 650 organizations, and maintains more than 30 percent of all U.S. lockbox volume. The company works with 13 of the 25 largest financial institutions, 42 percent of insurance companies with more than 5 million customers and 24 percent of utilities with more than 100,000 customers. More than 200 financial institutions use WAUSAU's remote deposit capture service, and industry consultants Celent and Aite have ranked WAUSAU's remote capture functionality above all competitors. For more information, visit www.wausaufs.com.

About Black Hills Corp.

Black Hills Corp. — a diversified energy company with a tradition of exemplary service and a vision to be the energy partner of choice — is based in Rapid City, S.D., with corporate offices in Denver and Omaha, Neb. The company serves 763,300 natural gas and electric utility customers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. The company's non-regulated businesses generate wholesale electricity, produce natural gas, oil and coal, and market energy. Black Hills employees partner to produce results that improve life with energy. More information is available at www.blackhillscorp.com.

SOURCE WAUSAU Financial Systems