More than three-quarters of Australian bill payers made a BPAY payment last year, creating increased demand for businesses to offer BPAY as a payment option for their customers.

BPAY and its members have now made it even easier for small businesses to join the 16,000 billers already offering the service with the launch of a simplified sign-up program.

The program has been developed based on small business feedback to account managers, and includes a short-form agreement, CRN generator tool and step-by-step guide, making the process from application to implementation quick and easy.

A number of financial institutions, including NAB, CUSCAL and St George use the short-form agreement, and CBA, ANZ and BankWest began offering the complete program in late 2008.

CBA has seen the number of small business sign-ups double each month since the launch of BPAY for Small Business, in November 2008.

The service not only gives customers another payment option, it also helps business owners improve their cash flow, streamline processes and eliminate unnecessary costs.

One of the first companies to benefit from the CBA program was online start-up company, Biz Buy Sell, which lists and markets Australian businesses for sale.

"The process was very simple, there was no set-up cost and the bank was really good with the processing and support information," said Biz Buy Sell Managing Director, Robert Meisel.

"These days you?ve got to make it really easy for customers to make payments, and BPAY is the way to go."

"The association with BPAY also gives the business added professionalism and credibility, which is an important consideration for start-up companies," he said.

For more information on how you can benefit, please contact your financial institution.