Mobile imaging software company Mitek Systems and Allied Payment Network have announced that they are partnering to make it easier, if not more pleasant, to pay bills. Allied Payment Network will be adding Mitek Mobile Photo Bill Pay to its offerings so consumers can simply snap a picture of a bill to pay it.

"With Mitek's Mobile Photo Bill Pay, Allied Payment Network enables regional and community banks and credit unions to offer their customers the ability to pay their bills with the snap of a picture," said Michael E. Diamond, senior vice president, business development for Mitek. "Our partnership with Allied extends our reach to deliver Mobile Photo Bill Pay to financial institutions of all sizes."

Using Mobile Photo Bill Pay, a bank or credit union customer can take a picture of a bill using the embedded camera in a smartphone or tablet. The technology then extracts relevant information from the paper bill and auto-populates that data into the FI's bill payment app — there's no need to type in all the data. The customer can then schedule the payment and click "pay."

According to Allied Payment Network president Ralph Marcuccilli, the future of banking is picture pay. "Giving customers the ability to pay a bill in seconds from a mobile device is critical to attracting and retaining the rapidly growing market of mobile customers," he said.

Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Mitek Systems makes mobile imaging software solutions for not only bill payment, but also remote deposit capture.

Allied Payment Network offers banks and credit unions a number of bill payment technology solutions. It is based in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Read more about bill payment.