CONFERENCE CALL
By: David Campbell
If you are part of the growing number of people who prefer online banking to paper-based transactions, there’s a good chance you’re using electronic payment solutions provided by Princeton eCom.
Led by President and CEO Ron Averett and headquartered at 650 College Road East in Plainsboro, Princeton eCom (www.princetonecom.com) is one of the three largest companies in the country that execute online banking payments.
The relatively small firm has about 145 employees serving more than 3,000 banking and corporate clients. Mr. Averett, 49, who joined Princeton eCom in 1999 after leading Chevy Chase Bank’s credit card division, spoke about how Princeton eCom is not only succeeding in a competitive and volatile business environment, but also has set its sights on capturing more of the market share.
Can you comment on the size of your business? Last year we processed more than 90 million payments worth a total of about $34 billion, and in 2006 we anticipate processing approximately 120 million payments worth $50 billion to $55 billion. We support 1,450 banks and about 1,600 corporate institutions, which include mortgage companies, financial-service companies, utilities, health care, insurance. Our revenue is about $45 million to $50 million per year. The industry is more than a $1 billion business.
And your business strategy? Because we are a small company, our strategy is to align ourselves with larger relationships we call them channel partners. They resell our electronic solution as part of a broader solution they have. For example, Bank of America’s Treasury Management Group sells cash-management services to the marketplace. Recently, they have included our electronic solutions as part of their cash-management solutions. As you can imagine, Bank of America’s reach is much broader than our reach, giving us more exposure to the marketplace and a broader distribution network. This is a benchmark of how our firm does business we try to seek out these relationships.
Are there benefits to being a smaller firm? In terms of speed to develop products, I would say that is one of the benefits. Another advantage is that because we are small and every customer relationship is precious to us, we probably do a better job of customer-relationship management.
What are some of the opportunities you see in Princeton eCom’s future? With the banks we work with and billers we work with, we’re seeing very strong consumer adoption rates of these payment solutions instead of writing a paper check. It’s growing by 20 to 25 percent a year. 2005 was the first year where the percentage of electronic transactions across banking outnumbered paper checks. It’s a broad trend. Electronic payments are increasing significantly, driven by consumer demands for more convenience.
Is growth a priority for Princeton eCom? We’re very focused on continuing to grow the company. Our goal is to try to grow by about 30 to 40 percent a year. So we’re very focused on growth.
Conference Call, an interview with the region’s top movers and shakers, appears monthly in Princeton Business Journal.

