ACI Worldwide is bringing text-to-pay technology to billers courtesy of a new partnership with Solutions by Text. ACI will integrate Solutions by Text’s Pay-by-Text software into its UP Bill Payments solution, enabling businesses to receive payments from customers via SMS. The new option will give customers new payment flexibility, make on-time payments more likely, and keep collection costs low.

Pointing to the high open rate of text messages (98%) and the positive response customers tend to have toward text billing reminders, Solutions by Text founder and CEO Danny Cantrell highlighted the way the partnership will improve the “overall digital experience” for the customer.

“As smartphone use continues to advance,” Cantrell said, “offering customers the option to pay-by-text is quickly becoming a necessity as it improves the payment experience through payment reminders and mobile-enabled payment systems.”

ACI business leader for biller solutions Andrew Sajeski echoed Cantrell’s sentiments. He called the smartphone “the device of choice for digital payments,” and said the integration with Solutions by Text would “increase consumers’ ability to pay their bills on time in a more convenient way.”

A division of Marketing Response Solutions, a multi-service consulting firm which was founded in 1995, Solutions by Text was launched in 2008. The company streamlines and improves client communications by creating advanced, mobile-enabled business solutions using SMS. A member of the Inc 5000, the company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

ACI Worldwide presented Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next Generation API at FinDEVr SiliconValley 2016. The company also demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2011, partnering with MShift to offer mobile delivery of ACI Enterprise Banker.

Last month, ACI Worldwide announced that it had agreed to acquire Speedpay, the U.S. billpay business of Western Union, in a deal valued at $750 million. Back in December, the company teamed up with fellow Finovate alum BioCatch to help provide enhanced online and mobile fraud detection using BioCatch’s behavioral biometrics technology.

ACI Worldwide has signed an agreement to acquire Speedpay, Western Union’s U.S. bill pay business, for $750 million in an all-cash transaction, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

This news follows ACI’s acquisition of technology assets from RevChip and TranSend, both developers of terminal payment apps and management platforms.

The ACI and Speedpay bill pay solutions aim to serve more than 4,000 customers across the US, and targets such sectors as consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utilities, government and mortgages.

ACI will bring together the Speedpay and UP Bill Payment platforms into a unified bill payment platform.

“Divesting the Speedpay business allows us to concentrate our resources on our cross-border money movement strategies and monetise a non-core asset for our shareholders,” said Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union. “Our strategy remains focused on expanding our digital services, leveraging our platform to unlock new cross-border, cross-currency payments opportunities, and generating additional operating efficiencies.”

With more than 15 billion transactions in 2018, ACI reckons the US bill pay market continues to grow at steady mid-single digit rates. This growth is driven by factors such as increased consumer adoption of digital and mobile payments, the move to real-time payments and digital subscription billing.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2019.

In separate news, ACI has released its results from the year closing on 31 December 2018. To sum up, the year’s new bookings are up 22% from 2017, the total bookings are up 15% from 2017, and its cash flow from operations are up 26% from 2017. Good times.

ACI Worldwide demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2011, partnering with mShift to offer ACI’s Enterprise Banker solution via mobile. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next Generation API at FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016.