Carrying a virtual train ticket or repaying a friend with your mobile phone, buying your groceries online, paying with your debit card abroad – the way European citizens shop and pay is radically changing.

A secure and transparent integrated payments environment throughout the EU could create more efficient, modern and safer means of payments – for the benefits of consumers, merchants and payment providers. At least, that is what the European Commission believes.

Green Paper Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments

Based on a Green Paper consultation adopted earlier this month, the Commission seeks the views of stakeholders as to which obstacles hinder further market integration and how these could be resolved.

The main issues identified in the paper concern:

• Market access and entry for existing and new service providers
• Payment security and data protection
• Transparent and efficient pricing of payment services
• Technical standardisation
• Inter-operability between service providers.

Consultation on an EU market for card, internet and mobile payments

Everyone is very welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from market participants, national governments and national competent authorities.

• If you are answering this consultation as a citizen, please click here to submit your contribution
• If you are answering this consultation on behalf of an organisation, please click here to submit your contribution.
• If you are answering this consultation on behalf of a public authority, please click here to submit your contribution.

Reference documents and other related consultations

• More information of card, internet and mobile payments
• Press release
• FAQ

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Towards an integrated EU market for card, internet and mobile payments [CONSULTATION].

Businesses that produce a large number of paper invoices but conduct their banking and tax declaration transactions online are also encouraged to use e-invoices.

Banking, telecommunications, electricity and airlines businesses have applied e-invoices in their operations and gained significant advantages, according to the General Department of Taxation (GDT).

Using e-invoices helps them save costs on printing, delivering and storing paper invoices and makes accounting easier.

To be eligible to issue e-invoices, product and service providers must have declared their taxes online with relevant agencies or conduct their banking online.

An e-invoice is considered valid if it meets two conditions: the information integrity in the e-invoice must be ensured and it should be fully accessible and able to be used like a paper invoice.

Source VOV News

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Vietnamese Businesses Encouraged Using E-Invoice.

The motorist, Melissa Torres, actaully filed a lawsuit against Mainland Medical Center in Texas City. Her claim? That  the hospital increased its bill fivefold and made a claim against her insurance settlement. In return the hospital filed a lien on her property in Galveston County to settle the outstanding bill.

What the **** is going on here?

This is what happened:

1. Melissa Torres was hurt in a collision with a wrong-way driver last April
2. She went to the ER for a 4 hour stay
3. The stay in the ER cost her $4,850
4. After her short-stay in the ER Torres hired an attorney
5. The attorney filed a claim against the wrong-way driver, which settled for the driver’s insurance policy limit of $30,000.

Now here comes the messy part:

1. The Hospital learned that Torres was involved in an automobile claim.
2. It simply updated the online billing records to show a new balance of: $20,211.

So there you go. Make sure you have an online billing system. And change the bills on the fly if you think you can get more out of your clients. Or steal some money. Or create a security breach in hospital e-billing system.

Perhaps it is time that their came some quality control on the products and implementations of e-invoicing, e-billing, invoice automation and so on.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Hospital ER visit racks up $20,211 bill [Messy business].

Fundtech is one of those leaders in global transaction banking solutions. Dataline, on the other hand is a big Australian payment solution & services company.

The deal in detail

Dataline’s products complement Fundtech’s compliant ‘Accountis EIPP’ service as they both enable corporates to automate complex financial processes, increase transaction visibility, reduce costs and eliminate paper.

By working together Dataline and Fundtech will offer a complete range of financial supply chain solutions, which includes outbound (AR) and inbound (AP) e-invoicing, AP workflow automation, data scanning, e-payments support and online expenses management.

How do Asian Pacific corporates benefit from this EIPP deal?

For corporates in the Asian Pacific region the Fundtech-Dataline cooperation has the following advantages:

• Corporates who implement these services can benefit from replacing slow and costly paper-based processes with a quicker, more efficient and greener technology.
• For example, within the Accounts Receivable (AR) department, corporates can speed up the billing process by sending their invoices electronically rather than on paper and then manage them online. Instant delivery together with query management tools can lead to faster settlement and reduced ‘days sales outstanding’.
• On the Accounts Payables (AP) side, corporates can accept supplier invoices in any format straight into their e-invoicing hub, which reduces manual input, eliminates errors and helps to drive down costs.
• There is also the option for AP departments to make an instant switch from paper to electronic by utilizing a ‘Paper to Data’ service.Whether a company processes invoices by mail, fax, email, EDI or other electronic channel, the data is captured, validated to agreed business rules and finally uploaded to an ERP or accounting system.

Comments from Dataline and Fundtech

Of course Fundtech and Dataline are very happy with this new cooperation. Underneath are there comments to the deal:

• Ken Swanson, Managing Director of Dataline:“Fundtech and Dataline already have many customers in common and look forward to growing our joint customer base further. We share the same vision and values. Both companies want to take the pain out of finance and reducing unnecessary manual work by taking AR and AP processes online.”

  “Together, our services provide busy finance staff with the ability to view, manage and process all their finance documents in one secure location. This real-time access to data gives them greater visibility of the financial supply chain so that they can better optimize their working capital.”

• Gil Gadot, Managing Director of Fundtech’s Financial Supply Chain Services strategic business unit:“Dataline is an established software company with whom we share a passion for providing innovative and cost-saving financial services that eliminate paper from the process. Fundtech already has a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region and our partnership with Dataline will help us to further expand our e-invoicing network, which already has around 200,000 corporate connections worldwide.”

Interested?

• Corporate Contacts Fundtech
  George Ravich – Fundtech Ltd.
  +1-201-215-6530
  george.ravich@fundtech.com
• Corporate Contact Dataline:
  Ken Swanson – Dataline
  +6129882 6301
  ken.swanson@dataline.com.au

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Fundtech and Dataline partner up to deliver EIPP to Asian Pacific corporates.

It is an easy to understand overview of the legal requirements for electronic invoicing and archiving for all the EU countries and selected countries outside EU.

What does this white paper has to offer you?

1. The White Paper explains the current legal situation in an easy to understand, simple and clear manner and provides an overview of the respective national requirements for sending and receiving electronic invoices throughout all EU countries and selected countries worldwide.
2. It includes detailed information about legal requirements in countries like Switzerland, Mexico, United States and others. These countries are relevant for most international companies for setting up electronic invoicing processing.Within selected countries thereof the use of electronic invoices is mandatory and has been stipulated by the governmental authority.
3. In addition, the specific national requirements for electronic archiving are laid out for all countries.
4. The AuthentiDate White Paper provides each reader, even those without special prior knowledge, with a simple guide for implementing electronic invoicing and archiving.

   This enables virtually anyone implementing quickly and pragmatically country-specific requirements when exchanging electronic invoices throughout the European Union and beyond. For example, special compliance requirements such as the use of a qualified time stamp for electronic invoices in Italy and Hungary are portrayed.

5. The extent to which the individual European countries have already converted the new EU Council Directive 2010/45/EU regarding electronic invoicing into country-specific laws is also comprehensively explained. I.e. Germany most recently converted the directive into national law through a tax simplification act.

Two versions. Premium and free of charge

The White Paper, including an overview of the legal situation in the European Union and selected countries worldwide, is available freely in English language at no charge.

The free version includes an overview of the requirements of each EU country and selected countries worldwide and may be downloaded www.authentidate.de/en and www.signamus.com.

An extended, detailed – over hundred pages – version may be ordered anytime by submitting the order form, which is located in the free version.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: FREE DOWNLOAD: Compliance Requirements in the EU, and beyond.

Pollux Systems is a revenue cycle management solutions company for hospital and office-based practices based in (Newburgh, Indiana) US. Pollux provides revenue cycle management services to more than 40 hospitals and office-based practices in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Pollux has decided to renew its contract to license software from Zotec for another five years. Pollux Systems began licensing Zotec Partners’ software five years ago following an 18-month search for a billing software alternative to its own proprietary software.

Pollux Systems selected Zotec Partners’ billing technology—and continues to license the software—because it affords the best solution to automate reporting, denials management and claims processing, and allows it to reengineer any stalled claims.

Billing service provider MedData acquires MedDirect

MedData is a provider of medical billing services. It announced the acquisition of MedDirect. MedDirect is based in Michigan and focuses on:

• patient services
• revenue cycle management services and
• advanced personalized patient communications to healthcare organizations.

This way MedData Enhances its medical billing innovation with patient-centered communications and reimbursement technologies.

Parties say that “This acquisition further strengthens MedData’s leadership position in the billing services sector by putting us at the leading edge of patient-pay and patient communications services. This capability will be critical to the viability of our clients’ practices for many years to come”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Medical E-invoicing News: Pollux Systems extends contract with Zotec | MedData Acquires MedDirect.

Sek Teong Lim, Global Ariba Buyer Deployment Manager for Caterpillar, returns in this second webinar to update you on how they have:

> Reduced global AP headcount by 80 percent
> Achieved 90 percent e-invoicing in the U.S., UK, and Switzerland combined
> Reached 98 percent invoice automation in the U.S. alone
> Expanded global footprint by entering Mexico and China

Listen to this recorded webinar to learn how your organization can:

1. Establish a common global e-invoicing platform
2. Implement change management within your organization
3. Duplicate Caterpillar’s outstanding results
4. Achieve 100 percent supplier adoption

Download now

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Put Caterpillar’s global automation success to work for you.

Christopher Elmore wrote The 8 Pitfalls of Accounts Payable Automation to make the transition to the future less risky. Between 2000 and 2006 I personally managed 79 AP Automation projects. With that experience he was able to identify 8 areas where his clients had trouble. Some did better than others, but if the 8 areas were not addressed they all were in trouble.

So read the book… Take the advice… Give some love to Christopher….and And stay out of the PIT!

The eight pitfalls of Accounts Payable automation

There are 8 sections of The 8 Pitfalls of Accounts to your  company’s specific needs:

1. Your Current Environment
   Understanding who your company is  and where you are – will keep you out of the pit
2. The Selection
   Making assumptions with service providers  will put you in the pit.
3. The Organization
   Doing your homework before the project will keep you out of the pit.
4. The Project
   Perception is not reality, keeping the project organized and in control will keep you out of the pit.
5. The Vendors
   Poor or misdirected communication can put you in the pit!
6. The Training And Going Live
   Keeping training in the proper  perspective will keep you out of the pit
7. The Evaluation
   AP Automation is not an event! In order to stay out of the pit you need to be, continually improving.
8. The Future
   Having an idea of what is to come will keep you out of the pit.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Book: The 8 Pitfalls of Accounts Payable Automation.

And what is one of those key conditions? Exactly: “PAYMENT”. You agree to suppliers payment conditions. So these payment conditions are part of the contract. Easy, right? Nope!

Because, what do you do when you receive the invoice from this supplier that serviced you all the way to the end? You single-handedly changed the contract! WTF? How? Well by simply deciding that you now suddenly don’t agree to the payment term you both had agreed to and delay payment for another 30 or 60 or 90 days. Sounds all too familiar?

And here comes the best part: you don’t even inform your supplier that you, on your own, decided to change the terms to your favour. In fact, he won’t learn about your little legal twist until he sends you a reminder that his invoice wasn’t paid within the agreed time. But more probable: when he calls you after quite a few reminders…..

I know it is naive: but why are we doing this? It causes trouble from both a legal perspective as well from a relational point of view. If you don’t have the money, why still buy and shift the burden to your supplier?

• Can e-invoicing come to the rescue an help me to prevent my suppliers from extending their payments terms?
• Or should I just set up a different business model?
• Or should I just quit with customers that are reluctant to pay.

What is your opinion?

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing to the rescue: customers extend their payment terms [COLUMN].

As a result:

• The over 800 eGovernment applications of the Central Government, Autonomous Communities and Local Government (cities, municipalities) which are connected to @firma now support the eID documents issued in their home countries to the nationals of these countries who reside or work in Spain.

• Also nationals of these countries who reside or work in Spain can use with their eIDs all Spanish eGovernment services requiring eAuthentication.

• Moreover, as part of the STORK project, eAuthentication services are offered to the citizens of 15 European countries.Currently at a pilot stage, STORK provides European public administrations with a cross-border eAuthentication service for EU citizens, and it is able to manage more than 100 types of eIDs issued in the 15 countries.)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eSignature platform @firma accepts eID from other EU countries.

There’s hope. When manufacturer NSG Pilkington decided to focus on improving end-to-end processes, they too recognised that the process to bind all stakeholders would be conversion to e-invoicing. Their strategy worked.

Listen to this recorded webinar to hear how they:

• Aligned Finance and Procurement on a common goal
• Implemented e-invoicing in the UK, Germany, and Poland
• Improved their PO conversion rate from 50 percent to 90 percent
• Leveraged high-quality invoice data to drive touchless processing
• Encouraged suppliers to use Ariba’s PO Flip service

Speakers:

• Jonathan Fallows, NSG Pilkington
• James Tucker, Ariba

Download the webinar

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: How E-invoicing helped with procurement and PO compliance.

That is, according to the representatives of the paper industry: TwoSides. So what is their argument? This is:

“The message that “going paperless saves trees” is misleading because it links paper to deforestation, i.e. the permanent removal of forest. In the United States, however, the paper industry encourages and depends on sustainable forest management practices that regenerate billions of trees annually.”

They are right you know!

In fact, they are right. The paper industry does need sustainable forest management to survive. Even with recycling of old paper, they still need trees for proper paper production. And they actually succeeded in maintaining and boosting sustainability, because:

• The US and Canadian forest has actually grown over the last 100 years
• The European forestation grows with four times the square size of London each year.

Now, who would be willing to claim that these achievements were possible because of the uptake of e-invoicing?

How green is your solution?

There are several types of green approaches:

• Brown disguised as green
  - You send your customers digital images or PDF documents that can’t be copied from.
  - Your customers have to print it and manually enter the data in their financial software.
  - You fine them if they don’t swallow the consequences of your changed behaviour
  - RESULT: unhappy customers
• Glaring green
  - You send them e-invoices in a digital format that allows them to copy the contents
  - You fine them if they don’t swallow the consequences of your changed behaviour
  - RESULT: not so happy customers
• Green
  - You send them e-invoices in structured format: UBL or in a similar data format
  - They can get the invoices, after logging in on an online portal
  - RESULT: indifferent customers
• Bright happy green:
  - You have a self service portal where customers can enter their preferences
  - You send them e-invoices in the preferred data format.
  - You also send them the invoice in a WYSIWIG format
  - RESULT: jackpot: recurring customers that experience fast savings too.

So next time your here someone speak of going green, try to figure out what shade of green it actually is. Because the consequences can be huge.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The claim that going paperless saves trees is misleading [OPINION].

That is why we love infographics like this and this one. But also video’s that delivers the message accross the world can really make our day.

E-invoicing – the rest is history

In a tweet from Vincent Wouters, a Dutch Exec from iCreative, mentioned a video from Basware, that lets you experience the power of electronic in under 30 seconds.

Hold on to your hats, because here it comes:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing explained in under 30 seconds [VIDEO].

By cooperating we (The E-invoicing Platform and sharedserviceslink.com) want to help facilitate the adoption of e-invoicing in Europe.

Now the very elegant Susie West, founder of sharedserviceslink.com, wrote a post on the 10 top Key Performance Indicators – KPI’s-  in Purchase to Pay. Aka: things you should pay attention to.

Susies’s top 10 Key Performance Indicators

So what are these top 10 KPI’s that Susie is talking about? Here they come (The whole story is downloadable in PDF after registration via the post we mentioned above) :

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Susie West’s top 10 KPIs in purchase to pay [LIST].

About Tanita Europe

This is what we know about Tanita Europe:

• Tanita Europe is a leading ethical healthcare product manufacturer
• Tanita Europe operates in an international competitive market and serves customers throughout Europe.
• Tanita products are widely used within the scientific research, healthcare, fitness industries and more recently experiencing rapid growth within the slimming, pharmacy and occupational health markets.

Why Tanita Europe chose the Anachron InvoicePortal

These are the benefits that TanitaEurope generate by using Anachron’s InvoicePortal:

• By making the invoicing process more efficient Tanita Europe is able to improve the customer satisfaction, cut back on delivery times and reduce the administrative costs involved with paper based invoicing.
• From SAP, Tanita is able to submit the invoice data securely to the platform.
• Buyers and suppliers can access their invoices 24/7 through the portal and download the invoice data in various formats.
• The platform supports audibility of electronic invoices, as each invoice is digitally signed and thus VAT-compliant for Europe.
• All invoices are stored online for the required legal storage period.
• Anachron is not only able to deliver e-Invoices through the InvoicePortal, but also via Interoperability connections with other providers, to ensure direct delivery.

Interview with Tanita Europe and Anachron

If we were to interview Tanita Europ and Anachron, this is what they would say:

Peter Drake, Project Manager at Tanita Europe.

• “Our company strives for a paperless and efficient way of working. Decreasing the printing costs and delivery times is a critical factor in our business. The InvoicePortal enables us to deliver our invoices instantly throughout Europe, in accordance with the VAT regulations and improve our customer satisfaction.”
  
• “The online query tool within the platform provides us with the possibility to realize a more-effective settlement of disputes and a significant reduction of administrative costs in credit collection. Next to that, E-Invoicing helps us reducing our ecologic footprint and is coherent with our mindset.”

Frank Hoekstra, CEO of Anachron:

• “We are proud to partner with Tanita Europe and enabling both Tanita and their customers to enhance the invoice process. Our experience in delivering e-Document portals for large companies enables us to provide a standardized VAT-compliant solution for European companies, which includes advanced functionalities for both buyers and suppliers.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Tanita Europe to use Anachron’s InvoicePortal EU wide.

On the surface, saving money for a long period of rainy days makes sense.  And companies around the world are doing so in record numbers, sitting on several thousand billion dollars of cash, according to calculations by financial analysts.  Balance sheets are as healthy as they have ever been, with the proportion of debt to equity at its lowest in at least 20 years, according to analysts at HSBC. It appears this trend will continue, as large companies sell corporate bonds in an effort to increase their cash holdings.

Here’s the problem with that strategy: Companies want to hold cash as a hedge, but that cash is not earning a reasonable return. And when it comes to profitable, secure, short-term investment vehicles, there aren’t many options out there right now.

Official interest rates in the US and UK are at or close to record lows, meaning the returns on cash are close to zero, providing a powerful incentive to use that money.

Historically government debt has been seen as a safe haven for investors, but the eurozone sovereign debt crisis has changed all that. This has led some investors to shun government bonds and load up on corporate debt, with the resulting demand leading to interest rates paid by companies to hit record lows.

Using Cash to Create Value

Companies looking to maximise their returns on otherwise idle cash would do better by thinking in terms of the value that cash can create. Cash that’s hoarded in traditional, low-return liquidity vehicles is cash that’s losing value. And potentially creating risk.

As the gap between low-quality and high-quality borrowers grows, more suppliers will experience cash flow problems. And many will ultimately fail, creating disruptions in the supply chain that can negatively impact operations. Buyers with cash on hand can head off such problems by investing their stash in their supply chain.

Every company has an interconnected web of buyers and suppliers. Smart companies can use the transactions they make on a daily basis with their suppliers to their advantage.

Here’s how it works: In return for a discount, you can accelerate payments for approved invoices to key suppliers. You earn an immediate return on your cash. And your trading partners can use that cash to fund their daily business needs and ensure they can meet your ongoing demands.

Dynamic Discounting

The process is known as dynamic discounting. And it’s gaining popularity. On the Ariba Network, an online supply network used by more than 500,000 buyers and sellers, over $4.5 million in discounts have been captured in the past year.  Buyers receiving these discounts saw average annual returns of anywhere between 10 and 36 percent – far greater than the returns available through traditional liquidity investments.

Getting buyers to agree to pay early and sellers to offer a discount might seem like an impossible task. But new technologies actually make it quite simple. Delivered in the cloud, such solutions provide buyers and sellers with all of the tools necessary to fully automate the process of offering, negotiating, and agreeing on early payment terms. Buyers can capture discounts

at any point between invoice approval and the net due date and automatically present offers to lock them in. Suppliers can automatically accept offers or control the acceleration of payment on an ad-hoc basis according to their needs.

“In today’s volatile economy, two things are crucial to the success of any organization: collaboration and flexibility. This is particularly true when it comes to managing cash,” said Tom Piersa, vice president, procurement and supply chain management, Republic Services, Inc. “With the help of Ariba’s technology and services, we have been able to engage a significant number of our suppliers in a dynamic discount program that gives us visibility into our options for early payment, the ability to make more informed buying decisions and allows our suppliers to choose alternative payment terms that meet their needs.”

And by creating a reliably efficient and completely automated process for managing discounts, Republic gives its trading partners greater control over their cash acceleration options and visibility into payment status so that they can improve their planning and forecasting.

“It makes sense for any buying organizations to do the best they can with their cash flow, and getting a discount does more for them than letting it sit in a low-interest-bearing account,” said Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. “But for the suppliers, it gives them a chance to really analyze the fulfillment timing that best works to their advantage, and then incentivize using these discounts in ways that benefit them.”

Joy Stoelting, Studio Manager for Big-Giant, a US design firm that participates in an early discount programme with a major sport equipment manufacturer, agrees.  “We can get our invoices paid as quickly as four days – it’s like gold,” she says.

Adopting a Creative Approach

During tight times, the tendency for most organisations is to shore up costs and adopt a myopic approach to conducting business. This is not the way to prepare for, or pull through, a market slowdown. As the perception of recession looms large over today’s economy, it is more important than ever for buyers and suppliers to work more closely together, share the economic burden of the times, and embrace innovative ways to ensure their mutual health. The supply base offers short-term investments with higher returns that are effectively risk free. Companies bold enough to embrace such a creative approach can successfully navigate today’s rough waters and sail smoothly once the economic storm passes

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Fears about a double dip are leading companies to hoard cash.

Purchase to pay and social media

• Companies are at the beginning of a new era of purchase-to-pay and business to business cooperation.
• Companies should prepare for a change of the traditional customer/supplier model.
• Better collaboration with strategic suppliers through fast, transparent and accessible communication channels has the future.

White paper

This document analyzes the benefits of a better network for social media, including the ability to:

• Broaden your horizon
  With a communications platform to analyze new partner and supplier, including customer reviews and a collaboration platform.
• Make your entire company stronger
  Promote an open and spontaneous cooperation between partners and encourage new ideas.
• Maximize existing knowledge
  Use the extensive proprietary knowledge, and manage it efficiently.
• Transparency in your business
  Open channels of communication that lead to a quick solution of disputes and sharing of decision-making.

Download the whitepaper

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: How Social Media will give Purchase to Pay a new dimension [White paper].

This new service allows senders to simply convert an electronic bill into a text message and send it to customers via WhatApp, SMS or social media. The bill can then be paid quickly and safely via credit card, debit card such as Maestro, PayPal or via mobile banking.

About FinovateEurope

• Finovate is a demo-based conference for innovative startups and established companies in the fields of banking and financial technology.
• The 2012 conference will be held on February 7th in the heart of the Financial District in London.
• Finovate offers an insight-packed glimpse of the future of banking and finance via fast-paced 7 minutes product demonstrations.
• There is a competitive application process to get a demo slot at the event.

AcceptEmail. On stage. Congrats

Peter Kwakernaak, CEO AcceptEmail is looking forward to go on stage for the second consecutive:

• “After the successful launch of our international platform last year, we are looking forward to go on stage at Finovate again.”
  
• “This time we will demonstrate our innovative Short Invoicing Service. This new extension of our service allows senders to simply convert an AcceptEmail into a text message and send it to customers via WhatApp, SMS or social media. The bill can then be paid quickly and safely via credit card, debit card such as Maestro, PayPal or via mobile banking.”
  
• “We facilitate companies to digitally send bills through multiple communication channels, while maintaining a safe and prompt payment by their customers. The threshold for switching to digital invoices is thus further reduced or even eliminated.”

Some other presenters: http://www.finovate.com/europe2012/presenters.html

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Two times in a row: AcceptEmail selected to demonstrate at FinovateEurope 2012.

Using Ariba^® Discount Professional^™, buyers are accelerating payments for approved invoices to key suppliers in return for discounts, earning an immediate return on their cash. And sellers are gaining increased visibility into future cash flows, certainty in payment timing and the ability to use cash sooner to fund daily business needs.

“In the face of renewed market volatility and economic uncertainty, companies are tightening their grip on cash to hedge against financial risk,” said Drew Hofler, Senior Manager, Working Capital Management Solutions, Ariba. “But with little prospect of earning a return on parked capital, many buyer organizations are increasingly seeing their supply chains as a more viable opportunity for investment. Likewise, suppliers are seeing large, cash-rich customers as a better source of faster cash for their receivables.”

Leveraging Ariba Discount Professional, buyers can achieve a greater return on their cash that is effectively risk-free because they are investing in their own suppliers.

Collaboration and flexibility

“In today’s volatile economy, two things are crucial to the success of any organization: collaboration and flexibility. This is particularly true when it comes to managing cash,” said Tom Piersa, vice president, procurement and supply chain management, Republic Services, Inc. “With the help of Ariba’s technology and services, we have been able to engage a significant number of our suppliers in a dynamic discount program that gives us visibility into our options for early payment, the ability to make more informed buying decisions and allows our suppliers to choose alternative payment terms that meet their needs.”

And by creating a reliably efficient and completely automated process for managing discounts, Republic gives its trading partners greater control over their cash acceleration options and visibility into payment status so that they can improve their planning and forecasting.

“It makes sense for any buying organizations to do the best they can with their cash flow, and getting a discount does more for them than letting it sit in a low-interest-bearing account,” said Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. “But for the suppliers, it gives them a chance to really analyze the fulfillment timing that best works to their advantage, and then incentivize using these discounts in ways that benefit them. There is a huge efficiency potential for these suppliers when they exercise this dynamic discount capability.”

Joy Stoelting, Studio Manager for Big-Giant, a Portland-based design firm that participates in an early discount program with a major sport equipment manufacturer, agrees. “When we submit paper invoices, it can take a long time to get them approved,” she says. “Through Ariba, we get our invoices paid as quickly as four days, and the visibility into payment status is like gold.”

Delivered in the cloud via the Ariba Network^™, Ariba Discount Professional provides buyers and sellers with all of the tools necessary to fully automate the process of offering, negotiating, and agreeing on early payment terms, including:

• Prorated discount terms through which buyers can capture discounts at any point between the invoice approval and net due date.
• Dynamic discounting that lets suppliers control the acceleration of payment on an ad-hoc basis on individual invoices
• Automatic presentation of discount offers by buyers
• One-button acceptance of accelerated payment by suppliers
• Ariba Cash Flow Optimizer™ offering suppliers insight into cash flow opportunity and single-click acceleration of cash.

Hear more from Hofler and Gardner on dynamic discounting

Learn more about Ariba Discount Professional

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Companies maximize cash and minimize risk with Ariba.

The new tools are: surveys, legal documents, video’s and 5 new ROI calculators.

So take a look at the list, head over to the E-invoicing Toolbox, create your selection and download the tools you need. And best of all. It is free!

Documents

1. Tax-compliant global electronic invoice lifecycle management
   TrustWeaver, Whitepaper, 2011
   
2. Explanatory notes on VAT invoicing rules relating to Council Directive 2010/45/EU
   European Commission, document, 2011
3. GS1 Standards: EANCOM and Simple Invoice 2.0.2
   GS1, standards

Survey

1. Global Survey on Barriers to Next-Generation Billing + Global Survey on E-Billing Adoption
   BillingViews, Survey, 2011
2. Global Trends in Automated Data Capture in AP
   The Institute of Financial Operations, Survey, 2011

Video

1. Components of an electronic invoice
   PaySimple, video, 2011
   
2. Module for OpenERP to add Electronic Invoice through Web Services (WSFEv1) in Argentina
   Software, open source, 2011
   
3. Argentina’s e-invoicing requirements, part 1
   Kevin Benedict + Crossgate, video-interview, 2011

Calculators

1. AP/AR Calculator [Warning you have to leave your contact details]
   Corcentric
   
2. AP ROI Calculator [A must try]
   ReadSoft
3. Purchase to Pay ROI Calculator [A must try]
   Basware
   
4. Invoice Automation ROI Calculator [A must try]
   Basware
   
5. Bruno Koch extensive calculator (XLS) [Warning: German language]
   WKA + Billentis [Bruno Koch]

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 5 ROI Calculators + 9 other great free new tools added to the E-invoicing Toolbox.

OB1O has now set the benchmark and decided that you Accounts Receivable thoughts are worth at least an iPad. But also a FREE pass for Fusion 2012. Or a VISA gift card. Goodie.

What is going on here?

Well, the Institute of Financial Operations and OB10 are partnering to bring you the third annual Accounts Receivable Survey, designed specifically for AR professionals. And for that they need survey results.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes for you to complete. Your responses will be confidential and you are welcome to respond anonymously. However, you should complete the contact details section in order to be entered into the drawing for the Apple iPad2 and the other goodies.

So what is in it for you?

First and foremost, this is an opportunity to share important information about current practices and trends that will help you benchmark your own functional area while also enhancing the knowledge of your peers. So, a moral responsibility.

Hold on, hold on, there is more. They will also analyse the survey’s results and provide you with several valuable outputs, including:

• A comprehensive report with this year’s findings
• Interpretive analysis and articles on critical outcomes
• New resources added to The Institute of Financial Operations Resource Center to provide additional tools tailored to meet your needs.

Once you complete and submit the survey, you have an opportunity for a chance to win one of the following:

• First prize: An Apple iPad2, Wi-Fi + 3G 16GB (your choice of carrier)
• Second prize: A FREE pass for Fusion 2012 – The Institute of Financial Operations’ 22st Annual Forum (equivalent 2012 event in the UK)
• Third prize: Visa gift card (100 USD/65 GBP)

Be swift

The survey closes on Tuesday, January 31 at 5:00pm EST.

On behalf of OB10 and IOF, we thank you.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: An iPad for your Accounts Receivables thoughts [SURVEY].

You can find these and 10 other jobs in the “Jobs” section of our E-invoicing Platform LinkedIN Group:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 5 Recent Jobs in E-invoicing, Online Billing and Purchase to Pay.

Now this is all very vague. We have really no clue of what exactly is being offered to customers of Basware.

However, Benedikt Schröder, Managing Director at Euroscript Systems can explain the WHY behind the partnership:

• “The number of transactions has more than tripled over the past few years, paving the way for more and more unstructured information. In addition, business operations being run from many different parts of the world make it all the more difficult for organizations to secure their processes”.
• “This alone forces a growing number of organizations, to resort to solutions enabling them to generate reliable data on the one hand, and to optimize and monitor more effectively their processes, on the other”.

Frank Wuschech, Country Manager Central and Eastern Europe at Basware also states the why:

• “We have chosen to team up with Euroscript as they have an extensive knowledge and a clear vision of the IT architecture organizations are now resorting to, so as to efficiently manage their content. They understand the growing need for interoperability more and more companies are experiencing, and how to integrate and align our solutions to help customers reach this goal”

However, as Basware and Euroscript seem to know what the offering exactly is, we recommend you to contact them.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Basware and Euroscript cooperate in financial operations and procurement.

These NACHA’s Councils are incubators for new ideas, developments, and solutions in the payments industry, said Janet O. Estep, NACHA president and CEO.

Who, what is NACHA?

Never heard of NACHA? NACHA stands for National Automated Clearing House Association. Nacha manages the development, administration, and governance of the ACH Network. The ACH Network is for the electronic movement of money and data in the US.

The ACH Network serves as a safe, secure, reliable network for direct consumer, business, and government payments, and annually facilitates billions of payments such as Direct Deposit via ACH and Direct Payment via ACH.

As a not-for-profit association, NACHA represents more than 10,000 financial institutions via 17 regional payments associations and direct membership.

Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP): Chris Huppert

The Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) promotes the adoption and use of consumer, business and government billing and payment programs and services across multiple delivery channels.

Through three annual meetings, CEBP provides an open forum for education, resource development, solution innovation, research, and the exchange of information about developments and trends in the electronic billing and electronic payment industries. For more information, visit http://cebp.nacha.org.

Chris Huppert:

• is senior vice president in the wholesale Internet and treasury solutions group at Wells Fargo Bank,
• renews his role as chairperson for the CEBP.
• has 30 years of experience in the payments industry
• serves as a member on NACHA’s rules and operations committee.
• is also active in many industry groups and has been a member of the CEBP steering committee since 2006.

The Internet Council (TIC): Deborah Matthews

The Internet Council (TIC) advances electronic commerce over open networks by enabling digital business in a straight–through, secure, and cost effective manner. Three annual meetings afford council members opportunities to enrich their payments systems knowledge and stay current on emerging marketplace trends. The Council’s focus includes WEB and TEL ACH applications, mobile payments, authentication issues, data security, alternative payments, and emerging payment technologies. For more information, visit http://tic.nacha.org.

Deborah Matthews will take the role of chairperson for The Internet Council. She:

• is director of payments strategies at ProfitStars.
• has been a member of the Internet Council steering committee since 2004
• has been actively involved in several other NACHA and industry councils.
• previously served as vice chairperson, marketing and education communications coordinator, and WEB/TEL work group leader for TIC.

The Electronic Check Council  (ECC): Angie Smith

The Electronic Check Council (ECC) brings together key industry participants and payments experts from the ACH and check worlds to promote better understanding and increased adoption of check electronification, including ACH check conversion and truncation, as well as image exchange. Members design, propose, monitor, and advance solutions to process paper checks electronically and address issues such as payments convergence, mobile device-based check conversion, business check conversion, deposited check truncation, trends in consumer check use, and ACH rules enhancements for electronic check entries. For more information, visit http://ecc.nacha.org.

The Electronic Check Council as its new chairperson Angie Smith. She:

• is senior manager of education at Viewpointe,
• has 24 years of experience in the financial services industry.
• serves on the Board of Regents for NACHA’s Payment Institute
• actively participates in various industry work groups.
• has been a member of the ECC steering committee for four years.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: NACHA councils elect chairperson for Council for Electronic Billing and Payment + two more.

ESCO is a independent, global developer and manufacturer of highly engineered wear and replacement products. These products are used in resource mining, infrastructure, power generation, aerospace and industrial applications. Applications that are essential to the productivity of machines.

Oracle Webcenter for AP Automation

ESCO decided to optimize their Accounts Payable department and automated much of the daily invoice processing tasks. To do this ESCO decided to using Oracle WebCenter. A majority of ESCO’s invoices now go through their AP process with no manual intervention. Oracle WebCenter extracts the necessary information from their invoices and automates the data entry into their Oracle E-Business Suite Financial application Leveraging Oracle’s WebCenter invoice processing solution allowed ESCO to:

• increase the number of invoices they process annually,
• reducing resources process the annual amount of invoices
• add additional ROI to benefiting from by using Oracle WebCenter.

Image Source

Oracle Webcenter was implemented by ImageSource, a certified Oracle WebCenter partner. ESCO has benefited from ImageSource’s extensive experience in implementing imaging solutions with WebCenter.

Unverified news release

Almost every other day we receive news that some customer inks a deal with a purchase to pay, invoice processing, e-billing, e-invoicing or BPO provider.

Because we can’t verify the name of the customer (or we can but are not allowed to publish it) we don’t mention the news here. Because without name it could all be a marketing stunt. It could. But probably isn’t.

So that is why we added a new item: the ‘Unverified news release’. So here are a few:

• A major European provider of business services for finance and accounting selected Brainware Distiller for the efficient automation of invoice processing, as well as other financial documents.  The contract is valued at more than $2 million and enables the customer to capture and reconcile header and line item data from millions of pages and invoices every year.
• A UK-based global telecommunications provider has signed an agreement with ReadSoft worth EUR 310,000 to expand document and invoice automation. ReadSoft has extended an existing four-year relationship to accommodate centralisation activities and business demands in Europe for the operator.
• Three large UK-based companies running SAP selected ReadSoft to process over 600,000 invoices per year. The three contracts use ReadSoft’s specialist INVOICES and COCKPIT software within the SAP environment to automatically streamline purchase to pay processes.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: AP Automation News: ESCO automates AP with Oracle + Unverified news release.

After reading this through, what do you think: how much/little has changed since 2006?

The Power of Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment

In recent decades, companies of all shapes and sizes have focused significant effort on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their accounts payable (A/P) organization. Yet most finance executives remain unsatisfied with the current levels of correction work, manual processing, filing and matching activities still required within their organizations. As a result, A/P is poised for a significant transformation.

While ERP systems and EDI have made A/P more efficient over the years, they have not done enough to help companies improve performance by reducing paper handling, eliminating errors at the source and enabling low-cost, external connectivity with all suppliers. A/P, it seems, has reached a productivity plateau. But a breakthrough solution has emerged to address this issue: Electronic Invoice, Payment and Presentment (EIPP). And many top performing organizations are embracing it to reach new levels of A/P efficiencies and savings.

The Opportunity

Research suggests that the average organization is losing $15 million per year for every $1 billion in spend from inefficient A/P processes. Transaction costs, lost early payment discounts, and billing errors drive the savings that are possible. Figure 2, below, outlines the dollars that are at stake.

Figure 1: The EIPP Savings Opportunity

EIPP enables A/P organizations to capture much of these savings by leveraging and improving processes, systems, initiatives, investments and capabilities that are already in place.

A New Approach

EIPP is a powerful approach to A/P designed to create a paperless, fully automated process. With EIPP, suppliers can interact with buyers more quickly and cost effectively than ever before. Through a set of integrated capabilities, suppliers can connect with buyers and receive timely, hassle-free payments as source documents are electronically matched.

Suppliers like EIPP because it isn’t a burden for them to use, facilitates rapid payment, and generates fewer error situations that are expensive to research and resolve. EIPP also can significantly reduce the cost of compliance-related efforts. To understand the types of results that are possible with EIPP, consider the case of a global telecommunications provider, who was able to capture 95% of invoices electronically after a 10 week deployment.

The implementation reduced paper invoice volume by 60%, and cut error rates by over 50%, enabling the finance organization to redeploy A/P personnel (while also improving supplier satisfaction).

So how does EIPP work? Distilled to its core, EIPP comprises four specific solution elements:

Element 1: Capture

The Capture element of EIPP is focused on transforming the paper invoice receiving process and connecting with suppliers. Not all suppliers will want to handle the invoice creation and management process electronically. But the key to EIPP success lies in maximizing supplier participation. So in moving to an automated process, it is important for companies to remain flexible and maintain the ability to flip a PO, convert an invoice and upload an Excel file to accommodate suppliers with varying electronic capabilities. Continuing to accepting paper and incorporating an invoice conversion component for invoice management can also fuel higher adoption rates.

Element 2: Match

The Match aspect of EIPP incorporates contract terms and automates the exception management process by enabling field level, four-way matching. Four-way matching (where an item-level match extends back to the contract) is critical to capturing discounts and reducing error rates. EIPP matching capabilities are highly flexible and configurable based on an organization’s structure and needs, down to the item level. In addition, essential to successful automation and matching is general ledger integration and auto-reconciliation to reduce staff involvement, enabling resources to focus on pressing issues rather than managing paper.

Element 3: Manage

The Manage feature of EIPP focuses on automated routing to accelerate the approval process within an organization. EIPP can dramatically reduce the time spent by A/P personnel managing suppliers by enabling suppliers to track invoice and payment status. At the same time, these types of self-service capabilities can help improve the overall sales and account management process for suppliers, inviting favorable treatment in future discussions and negotiations.

Element 4: Pay

The Pay capabilities within EIPP create a predictable outflow of capital, giving financial executives exacting control over when they chose to pay suppliers. By tightly coupling with an ERP system and financial institution, companies can fine tune invoice payments based on business needs (e.g., reducing costs through taking advantage of early payment discounts). Payment capabilities accommodate multiple payment formats as well as supplier self-service capabilities to enable visibility throughout the process. In addition, EIPP solutions can include capabilities that allow the sourcing of discounts from suppliers in return for early payment.

EIPP: Fact versus Fiction

Without question, EIPP can help A/P organizations take their performance and efficiency to the next level. But identifying and working with the right partner is absolutely essential to success. But there is a lot of misinformation in the market that can lead those considering an EIPP solution to make less-than-optimal business decisions. Perhaps the most widespread myth is the notion that scanning is e-invoicing.

The truth is that scanning only begins to scratch the surface of invoice automation, marginally improving the review and authorization of invoices. Another EIPP fable is that matching is a cure-all. The reality is that basic exception management capability has been a part of A/P processes for over two decades, but has been limited by a lack of internal and external connectivity.

This has led to severe automation limitations such as the ability to match line item level detail. But perhaps the most egregious fallacy in the market is that payment automation is the core of EIPP ROI. In fact, some providers confuse payment automation with having a complete EIPP solution. In the market today, a handful of EIPP providers try to link ROI to concentrated dynamic discounting by connecting a few large suppliers and ignoring the rest. Unfortunately, this approach fails to address compliance and the costs of paper processing.

When these fictions are seen for what they are, the actual truths about EIPP are relatively straightforward. First, supplier enablement is difficult and complex, requiring expertise and economics of scale that few providers can deliver. Unfortunately, a number of companies have faced challenges with supplier enablement in the past and are likely to bury the challenging memories of such initiatives when it comes to EIPP. This is a mistake, and one that organizations can avoid by working with an expert provider who has a proven track record of rapid and cost-effective large-scale supplier enablement initiatives, and the economies of scale to enable low-cost supplier enablement. Second, companies must choose solutions that enable both low and high volume suppliers in order for their efforts to be worthwhile. A solution that delivers maximum payback must take into account high volume suppliers, accommodating existing one-off connections as well as lower volume suppliers through a common network. And third, EIPP must accommodate small, paper-bound suppliers. A disproportionate volume of invoice errors, disputes and costs originate from such suppliers – and every company depends on them. So any solution must address their needs, or the A/P efficiencies that EIPP brings will be severely limited.

Finding the Right Solution

When evaluating and EIPP solution, companies should ensure that it:

• Eliminates (not automates) errors at the source
• Permits suppliers of all sizes to easily and inexpensively connect
• Dramatically reduces the quantity of paper handled, stored and matched
• Improves supplier interactions
• Matches purchase orders, receipts and invoices to contracts
• Accommodates varying degrees of supplier sophistication
• Allows 100 percent capture of invoice volume
• Reduces compliance costs
• Provides earlier visibility into cash requirements
• Removes latency in invoice and payment processing
• Reduces the volume of supplier inquiries
• Offers multi-lingual, multi-currency capabilities
• Provides global, localized support for your company and its suppliers

Above all, companies must look for a partner that can provide a complete solution that focuses on the entire set of business processes necessary to ensure compliance and control. Without question, an EIPP suite should go beyond simple invoice automation, and should eliminate as much paper as possible in the A/P process. This is especially critical to improving performance as paper is the root of high handling costs, error rates, and low discount capture. A solid EIPP solution must possess the ability to handle the “last run” of paper-dependent suppliers (i.e., those that prefer not to do business electronically).

The right EIPP solution will be flexible based on individual needs and circumstances. For example, it should available in both installed and on-demand software models, and help walk-through which model makes the most sense. And the right EIPP partner should be able to help finance and procurement functions rethink what world class A/P should be. With the right EIPP solution and partner, companies can become leaders in the function by addressing core areas for improvement and delivering returns that can become the foundation of future A/P initiatives.

Making the Choice to Invest in EIPP

While the right solution and partner is absolutely critical to enabling EIPP results and maximizing returns, without the commitment to prioritize such efforts, companies will continue to leave opportunity on the table.

Regardless of organizational maturity, existing A/P performance levels, or level of technology sophistication or commitment, EIPP is a one-way ticket to fundamentally improving an ancient business role – getting suppliers paid. Many top performing companies have already realized this, making the decision to prioritize EIPP as a top finance and procurement initiative. What are you waiting for?

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This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Increase Productivity. Not Paper: The Power of Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP).

But there are more sources on e-invoicing and AP automation (in random order): SpendMatters, Billentis, E-invoice Gateway and the E-business Guide.

We didn’t mention them in our previous post as they are ‘less dynamic’ then the ones we mentioned before.

We know there are loads of other websites out there, but in these two posts we focus on sites with kind of a portal approach.

SpendMatters

Just as passionately as Peter Loughlin from Purchasing, Jason Busch manages SpendMatters.

Jason writes good content. In fact his content was so good that we thought we could use it on our website some years ago. However we forgot to give him the credits like we do now. For that we were (and are, Jason) very sorry.

Billentis

Two words: Bruno Koch.

EU: CEN E-invoice Gateway

Instigated by the CEN E-invoicing Workshop, the E-invoice Gateway was intended to serve as an independent platform for electronic invoicing in de European community.

They are currently looking for new ways to exploit this website as we learned from their Request for Information.

EU: E-business Guide

Founded by Anna Bjärkerud, the European E-businessguide deals with e-invoicing, e-procurement, purchase-to-pay, and Order-to-Cash.

So, did we forget a source? Just let us know.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 4 more websites with e-invoicing and AP automation content.

InvoicePortal.com has the following properties:

• Invoices, bills and other documents are presented in a secure online environment.
• User can view their invoices within in the security of the online portal
• Invoices can be downloaded in several leading document formats: UBL, HTML, CSV, XLS, PDF and so on.
• All documents are digitally signed
• Documents and messages are stored in an online archive during the legal storage timeframe.
• End-users receive a notification per e-mail (or via other media), via which they can immediately check their bill or invoice.
• All invoice comply with (inter)national VAT requirements.

InvoicePortal.com snapshot

Niche in the electronic invoicing arena

Anachron developed the InvoicePortal because of a niche in the international e-invoicing arena. Marco Eeman, CTO at Anachron, explains:

• “The international e-Invoicing market is currently growing larger with more standards, but is not getting any clearer. Most companies already know costs that can be saved with electronic Invoicing.With the InvoicePortal we respond to requests for an easy accessible ánd international solution. Next to the basic functionalities the InvoicePortal is multi-lingual, multi-currency and internationally VAT-compliant.”

Frank Hoekstra, CEO van Anachron, continuous:

• “We have put over 10 years of experience and knowledge on e-Invoicing in the InvoicePortal”
• “The solution can be implemented and be fully operational within two weeks. It is a great solution for companies that want a fast and reliable transition to electronic invoicing.”
• “We have standardised all functionalities without compromising to user friendliness and user benefits. We are very happy to announce this service, and hope to expand the Anachron Open Network for more companies.”

InvoicePortal website: http://www.InvoicePortal.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: InvoicePortal.com: the new E-invoicing platform by Anachron [PIC].

A North American based organization has decide to streamline its end-to-end accounts payable process with ReadSoft’s SAP®-certified invoice automation solution. The agreement is worth 340,000 USD and was signed during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Within this press release, ReadSoft’s customer in the transaction or co-operation is not mentioned by name. This is due to the fact that they have requested to remain anonymous.

Basware and a large Finnish industry group renew their contract for another three years

Basware and a large Finnish global industry group renewed their contract for another three years. The allows Basware to facilitate their Invoice Automation solution, Scan&Capture and e-Invoicing services to the entire group: globally. The value of the deal exceeds EUR 450 000.

• The Scan & Capture service is part of Basware Automation Services that enable companies to improve purchase-to-pay process quality as well increase the number of electronic invoices, purchase messages and supplier catalogs while reducing time spent on reviewing, approving and processing.
• Basware E-invoicing Services makes it easier for suppliers to start transacting/invoicing electronically.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Unverified News Flash: US Pharmaceutical selects ReadSoft | Basware and Finnish company renew contract.

Both the E-invoicing Toolbox and E-invoicing Checklist are designed and segmented in such a way that is very useful for organisation. So, regardless of your size and regardless of your role in the broad picture, you can build a version of the checklist and toolbox that fits your purpose. For free.

The E-invoicing Checklist: 100+ hints and tips to successfully start with electronic invoicing

The free E-invoicing Checklist provides you with a practical self assessment when issuing and processing electronic invoices, or as we point out the website:

“What are the requirements set up by your IRS? What will change as from 2013? What does an e-invoice consist of? What is a simplified invoice? Does my customer understand my e-invoice?

Create your own free E-invoicing Checklist to provide yourself with tips and answers to these and many more questions.

Start here »

The E-invoicing Toolbox: 75+ free tools to get you kick-started into electronic invoicing and AP automation

The E-invoicing Toolbox provides you with very practical tools to get kick-started into electronic invoicing.

What free e-invoicing tools are out there? What are the best tips for driving adoption? How much can I and my customers save with e-invoicing?

How to become compliant? What studies and statistics on e-invoicing are available?

Create your own free E-invoicing Toolbox and get kick-started into e-invoicing, e-billing or invoice automation.

Learn more» or Get started»

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Our free E-invoicing Toolbox and the E-invoicing Checklist.

And because e-invoicing and AP automation are very sexy hot topics we see an uptake of sites that publish content on electronic invoicing and AP Automation.

Electronic invoicing and AP automation news sites

Underneath – in random order- are some sites that we think every now and then provide news and backgrounds on electronic invoicing and AP automation.

Let us know if we forgot to mention yours.

Purchasing Insight

Passionately edited by managing editor Peter Loughlin, Purchasing Insight provides thoughts and background articles on purchase to pay, dynamic discounint, but lately most of all on: electronic invoicing.

Sitting in the divide between paper processes on the one and the benefits or electronic processess on the other hand, Peter Loughlin touches on issues to get us from paper to the power of “e”.

Sharedserviceslink.com

The talented Susie West born and raised sharedserviceslink.com from 2007 to its current state. The website contains resources, regularly updated industry news and articles, job vacancies and upcoming events.

Sharedserviceslink.com focusses on: items that are of particular interest to shared service centers. Such as electronic invoicing and AP automation.

Because of shared interest. The E-invoicing Platform and Sharedserviceslink.com decided to become partners.

The Paypers

The Paypers is the brainchild from Innopay. You know, those guys that created AcceptEmail, initiated MyDeal, and organise EPCA.

The Paypers deals with: online and mobile payments, e-invoicing, online banking, e-commerce, e-identity, cards.

Finextra / Bo Harald

Every now and then you can find information on electronic invoicing on the website of Finextra. Most of the items concerning electronic invoicing are hand crafted by Bo Harald. Bo Harald was the chair of the EU E-invoicing Expert Group and is director of TIETO.

EU: E-practice

Just like the website of Finextra, you can find information on electronic invoicing on the website of ePractice.eu. However the ePractice.eu website on only contains Europe-related information.

The Institute of Financial Operations

If you are willing to subscribe for a 15 day free trial and then pay $295 a year for e-invoicing and AP related content, then you could go to the website of IOFM.

Or you could just check out our website. We provide you with the most and latest news and backgrounds, without you having to pay for it.

15 day free trial: Institute of Finance & Management

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 7 Websites that provide e-invoicing and AP automation content as well.

We found this neat infographic from PaySimple on how small business can get big results wit accounts receivable automation.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Get big results with AP Automation [INFOGRAPHIC].

This article was hand crafted b

Problem: there is too much paper and manual processing, filing and matching

In recent decades, companies have devoted significant time and resources to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their accounts payable (AP) organization. And in the current economic environment where cash is king and companies are looking for any and all ways to free up and maximize it, many are stepping up their efforts. But few are succeeding.

With the large-scale implementation of ERP and EDI systems, AP has certainly become more efficient. Yet most finance executives remain unsatisfied with where things stand. Why? There’s still too much paper and manual processing, filing and matching involved to achieve the kinds of efficiencies and savings that they seek – and need – to weather these volatile times.

To remedy the situation, many are warming to the concept of e-invoicing

To remedy the situation, many are warming to the concept of e-invoicing. And with increasing frequency, they are leveraging a new breed of solutions that enable them to execute it. Such solutions attack the inefficiencies that exist between companies – such as sending and receiving invoices and payments – to enable more effective collaboration. Delivered in the Cloud, they can be easily shared and accessed among trading partners, allowing for common business processes in areas like billing, treasury, and A/P.

And they’re delivering results across several fronts. The bottom-line impact of leveraging such solutions comes through efficiency gains in A/P processing. It simply takes fewer staff to process invoices with technology in place. There are also strategic gains driven through more on-time payments, shorter approval cycle times, early payment discount capture and the maintenance or extension of days payable outstanding (DPO), among other things.

According to industry analysts, more than 80 percent of business-to-business commerce transactions are completed manually. And companies still send 85 percent of invoices and payments on paper.

Yet the A/P process remains highly inefficient. What’s holding companies back from automating the process?

• Supplier participation is a key driver of success in any e-invoicing initiative. Many companies fail to invest the time and resources necessary to target, on-board and maintain their partners. The legacy of EDI costs and complexities may also be a detriment to what are now much simpler methods for submitting electronic invoices.
• In addition, country-specific regulations in the European Union have resulted in leaders and laggards. This is primarily driven by different levels and treatment of VAT taxes and requirements related to the storage of paper invoices.

For those companies able to overcome these challenges, the benefits of e-invoicing solutions are substantial.

When done right, e-invoicing can deliver process efficiency gains, typically measured in terms of the number of invoices processed per full time equivalent staff. Organizations with over 10 full-time employees dedicated to processing invoices have reported as much as 70% cost take out. Other hard-dollar savings can be generated through the capture of early payment discounts. Many companies simply cannot process their paper invoices fast enough to capture early payment discount savings – which can be significant. With e-invoicing, they can not only capture these discounts, but ensure they materialize.

Effective e-invoicing initiatives can also enhance working capital management. With improved visibility and control, finance organizations can pay invoices on-time and ultimately stretch their payables to term, which has a positive impact on DPO. Many companies are able to use the cash freed up from invoice efficiency gains to fund discount programs and the cash savings they generate to drive operational improvements and strategic capital investments. This strategy also helps provide needed liquidity to supply chains that are struggling under today’s tight lending practices

Without question, e-invoicing can help A/P organizations take their performance and efficiency to the next level.

But identifying the right solution is absolutely essential to success.

When evaluating an e-invoicing solution, companies should ensure that it:

• Eliminates (not automates) errors at the source
• Permits suppliers of all sizes to easily and inexpensively connect
• Dramatically reduces the quantity of paper handled, stored and matched
• Improves supplier collaboration
• Matches purchase orders, receipts, and contracts to invoices
• Accommodates varying degrees of supplier sophistication
• Allows 100% capture of invoice volume
• Improves compliance across many dimensions, including contracts, preferred suppliers, and global e-invoice tax regulations
• Provides earlier visibility into cash requirements
• Removes latency in invoice and payment processing
• Reduces the volume of supplier inquiries
• Offers multi-lingual, multi-currency capabilities
• Provides global, localized support for your company and its suppliers

And it should deliver measurable and sustainable results that positively impact your operations, and ultimately, your bottom line, including:

• Compliance with negotiated vendor contracts to drive savings and eliminate fraud related to disbursements.
• Opportunities for dynamic discounting, which helps buying companies reduce spend by maximizing discount savings and earning high-yield (e.g., 18%+) risk-free returns.
• Detailed remittance statements to help suppliers reconcile payments, eliminate inbound inquiry calls and drive down cost per transaction.
• With the right e-invoicing solution and partner, companies can fundamentally improve an ancient business role and achieve new levels of A/P efficiencies and cost savings.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-Invoicing: Your Ticket to A/P Efficiency.

Many larger, high profile corporations in Germany, Europe and other countries have used Authentidate’s solutions for many years, including providing electronic invoices with the legally required digital signatures.

Complexity of electronic invoicing

The complexity of global e-invoicing regulations (even after the 2013 EU liberalisation) often makes it difficult for companies to verify manufacturers’ declarations regarding software compliance with statutory regulations.

Authentidate now has taken a proactive step to simplify this decision for companies by having its signature software solution tested and certified by an independent trusted authority.

Such certification enables Authentidate to offer a new level of trust and further proof of quality to its customers and business partners. Certification gives companies greater protection of their investment in software and significantly increased security in their electronic invoicing processes.

Quotes

Jan Wendenburg, President and CEO of Authentidate International AG states:

• “This is an important enhancement to one of our leading signature-based business process solutions,”
  
• “Authentidate’s electronic invoicing solutions have always provided a leading level of legal compliance for digital signatures. With this software certification from a leading auditing firm, however, we are now able to provide our new and installed customers with a clear and written statement from an independent third party about quality and compliance with statutory requirements of our digital signature software.”

The full text of the certificate, including important terms and conditions regarding the scope of the auditor’s certification, can be found here.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Authentidate Receives Auditor’s Certificate for its Electronic Invoicing Solution with Digital Signatures.

The first of them is to forcing e-bills upon your customers without actually figuring out what the backlash on your reputation will be. Second, you could start with paper bill penalties (and get sanctioned). Third, you could quietly stop discount for paperless billing (and get backfired)

But now we’ve seen a new kid in town: a convenience fee for online billing. Yes, a convenience fee for online billing. I am going to write it down again let you get the feeling of how ridiculous this actually is: a convenience fee for online billing.

Take a look:

Verizon and their weird state of mind

Even though switching out of paper bills has quickly become very trendy. And is especially trendy with companies to push you to opt out in favor of e-billing and e-invoicing.

But what Verizon thought of is really ridiculous. Starting from January 15 2012, Verizon wanted to charge a $2 convenience fee for customers who pay online or by phone. So, everyone who chooses to pay their monthly bill using whatever method will incur a $2 charge.

So why did they come up with this stupid idea. Well they claim that the fee allows them, “to continue to support these bill payment options.”

But then: Verizon kills fee because of public outrage and FCC research.

And then we received an update from Mashable. They state in their post:

• “The public has proven that if a strong consumer backlash is instigated, companies will respond. The interwebs got word of the fee on Thursday. Soon after, many on Twitter were tweeting their outrage about the proposed “convenience fee.”
  
• “The public has spoken and they don’t want to pay fees. Verizon is the most recent company to announce a fee, in this case a $2 fee to pay your bills online, and back-out less than a week after it was reported.”
  
• Then, to make matters more the FCC got involved. FCC officials said in an email shortly before Verizon backed out of the fee plan, “On behalf of American consumers, we’re concerned about Verizon’s actions and are looking into the matter.”
  
• A Verizon spokesperson soon thereafter issued a statement on their website saying they were not going forward with the fee: “The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions,”.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Power of the public: Verizon’s convenience fee for online bills killed [PIC].

We published helpful hints, the latest news on e-invoicing, a list of major acquisitions and several developments from all over the globe.

Here’s every one of those stories from the entire month, waiting for you in an convenient format. So read what interests you, and then go out there and grab the benefits!

HEADLINES

• The Battle: Paper versus Online Billing [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Four AP Automation Trends for 2012
• 5 Key trends and predictions for 2012
• How important is supply chain financing to your suppliers?
• Taiwan: 2 billion e-bills in 2012, 4 billion in 2013 [UPDATE]
• 8 million Shanghai residents will now receive e-bills
• Palette Software welcomed to the E-invoicing Platform
• Ariba joins E-invoicing Platform as a sponsor
• The Economy of Standards: or why old school standardisation will never work
• FBI to investigate security breach in hospital e-billing system
• Why not ad marketing content to your online bill or invoice?
• 6 top reasons to keep using digital signatures forever
• How standards proliferate [pics]
• 6 golden rules to switch to AP automation
• 6 top tips to design the ultimate e-bill

POLICY

• The US have a new standard for electronic health care billing: HIPAA 5010
• AP Automation News: U.S. Government Research Institution Selects Kofax | PWC uses e-Prior for einvoicing to the EU
• Russians start with electronic invoicing as from 1 January 2012
• Compulsory B2G electronic invoicing in Denmark as from 1-12-2011
• Electronic delivery in Finland: Conclusions from a field experiment
• Bulgarion Port Introduces Electronic Invoicing
• EESPA: The European Electronic Invoicing Service Provider Association gets approval [UPDATE3]
• E-billing hits new US high, mobile bill presentment and payment is sky-rocketing

ACQUISITION

• 15 Major acquisitions in 2010 and 2011
• GTCR buys Fundtech for a whopping US$388 million through ‘parent’ merger [UPDATE]

PRODUCT INFORMATION

• US Postal closes 50% of mail distribution centres: effect on Accounts Receivable
• eBay acquires BillSafe: a purchase-on-invoice provider
• Palette strengthens North American presence through EchoVera
• Liaison Technologies Announces Intelligent Mapping Intuition
• SWIFT goals: 800 corporations on the network now. Growing to 5000 in 2015
• CNH America LLC selects Top Image Systems
• Ariba enhances its SMART INVOICING proposition
• McDonalds Norway selects MediusFlow
• E-invoicing News: ArjoHuntleigh selects Version One, Mercedes-Benz Germany selects Pagero
• Qtel forces its customers to e-billing, starting elegantly [UDATE]
• E-invoicing News: ADETEF implements TradeShift | A rationalised framework for e-signature standardisation
• Discover why b-process is so good [VIDEO]
• Skanska extends deal with Basware in Finland
• E-invoicing News: 3i Infotech and ORCC team up | E-invoicing with ShipServ TradeNet platform
• OB10 appoints Paul Frederick as US General Manager
• E-invoicing news: Striata has new Sales Manager Europe | EU e-procurement agency implements TradeShift
• E-invoicing News: Bahrein Batelco starts with e-billing | ORCC expands to India
• Einvoicing News: IBM buys Emptoris | FundTech launches InvoiceNetwork iPad app
• E-invoicing News: Artesian launches free e-billing for customers | KUBRA and Snohomish County sign new contract
• Liaison Technologies Video’s [PICS]
• E-invoicing news: Microsoft Empowers Ariett’s AP Automation Solution | Welsh Counties select ProActics
• E-invoicing News: Image Integration Systems and OPEX become partners | Montage select BirchStreet for Procure-to-Pay Platform
• Tieto wins Financial-i award for the SWIFT e-invoicing solutions
• E-invoicing for Tech Data Europe with OB10
• 9 impressive facts about Ariba buying b-process
• Tayto Group: a single global EDI platform integrated with MS Dynamics NAV!
• DTCE Digital Trust and Compliance Europe
• Itella survey about invoicing in 16 European countries

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 53 E-invoicing and AP automation resources you may have missed last December.

About Ramboll

Ramboll is a leading engineering, design and consultancy company founded in Denmark in 1945. Ramboll offers services in Commercial and retail, culture, education, energy, health, oil&gas, transport and urban development sectors. Ramboll employs close to 10,000 experts with a strong presence in Northern Europe, Russia, India and the Middle East.

Basware Invoice Automation

The Basware solutions are to be implemented implemented in Denmark and Finland in the first quarter in 2012. Solutions sold earlier to Ramboll Finland and Sweden will nog be connected to the solutions delivered to the entire Ramboll Group.

Basware is of course very happy to extend its cooperation with Ramboll. For Basware it proof of the scalability of our products and high customer satisfaction.

BONUS: Basware closes deal with real estate investment trust

And while we were writing the ‘Ramboll’ post, we received word that Basware is to deliver its purchase to pay and scan and capture solutions to a multinational real estate investment trust in Europe.

Now, we almost never mention these kinds of deals simply because they can’t be tracked. And because we see that readers are not very interested in ‘anonymous’ posts.

The facts of this deal are:

• Real estate investment trust.
• One of the bigger investment trusts in the world.
• The value of the deal exceeds €450,000.
• The solutions will be implemented in several countries in Europe.

There you go.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Ramboll Group extends contract with Basware + bonus item.

The Swiss Radio and Television Corporation (SRG SSR) has selected ReadSoft for its invoice automation solution. The agreement is worth EUR 260000 and was signed in the last quarter of 2011.

Invoice Automation and SRG SSR

• SRG SSR is the largest provider of electronic media in Switzerland with an annual turnover of 1.6 billion CHF.
• It has 18 radio stations and 8 television programs, complementary online services and teletext services.
• The SRG SSR plans to centralize its invoice process and replace current work processes by automated workflows.
• This should make the entire invoice process faster, more efficient and transparent and thereby reduces costs considerably.

BRT and GSI announce strategic alliance for JD Edwards AP Automation solutions

BRT and GSI announced a strategic alliance to deliver BRT’s APxCelerator AP automation solution which is tailored for JD Edwards environments. The solution is the result of joint design and development between BRT and GSI and leverages their respective best of breed expertise.

The goal of the partnership is a seamless integration of BRT’s APxCelerator with JD Edwards. This should provide JDE users with a solution:

• that is straight forward to implement and use,
• that enables full AP automation – from image capture through posting for payment,
• with a flexible framework on which a truly optimized AP process may be built.

APxCelerator can address each organizations unique processes and people, while maximizing the use of their ERP investment and delivering best-in-class payable operations.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: AP Automation News: Swiss Radio and Television selects ReadSoft | BRT and GSI partner on JD Edwards AP Automation.

• Producing the invoice
• Marketing costs to produce the invoice: letterhead, branding and so on.
• Marketing costs when looking at it as sales and marketing tool: adds and personalisation.
• Customer service expenses after an invoice run:  particular attention should be paid to the accuracy, timeliness, and informative-ness of the invoice.

Transition to electronic invoicing

The transition to e-invoicing is a significant factor in achieving cost savings. Not only in production costs, but also a lot of other aspects.

Itella offers the iBoost activation program as part of their iBilling service. Combined a joint action plan is prepared to digitalize both consumer and corporate invoices. The program includes:

• continuous activation support
• materializing cost savings of all sorts
• keep/increase customer loyalty
• deep/cross selling

Itella iBoost – adopt electronic purchase invoices quickly

Itella iBoost is the solution for managing your suppliers and encouraging them to start using electronic purchase invoices.

The service accelerates your purchase invoices going electronic faster, while improving their quality. At the same time, you make invoice processing more effective and save money and time. Itella iBoost provides a partnership model for the active management of your suppliers, continuous development of purchase invoice processes and multi-channel campaigns.

Itella iBoost produces the best advantages for organizations that receive large volumes of purchase invoices from many different suppliers.

The benefits of Itella iBoost

• Your purchase invoices go electronic faster
• Improved quality of your purchase invoices
• Saves you money
• Facilitates your suppliers’ information management
• Makes invoice processing more effective

Check out Itella iBoost

Check out Itella iBilling

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Itella iBoost: get your customers or suppliers on-board for e-invoices.

Via LinkedIN we found out that Certipost did a nice little interview with Bruno Koch. The full interview can be found here. Underneath are the key elements from that interview.

Bruno Koch about e-Invoicing

Bruno Koch is a Swiss market analyst and researcher. His subject is electronic invoicing, a matter he has been actively dealing with for the last 16 years.

In his latest market report, Bruno Koch predicts a growth rate for electronic invoices of 30-35%. At the moment, only half of the companies work with electronic invoices, and just a fraction of those work completely paperless.

This is not the future he expected when he started in the e-invoicing business. The end of the paper invoice  was then predicted around the magical year 2000.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 8 questions from Certipost for Bruno Koch on: has electronic invoicing failed?.

Exact Software and Babelway have released a connector to post electronic invoices automatically into an Exact software account (ExactOnline, Globe or ProAcc) from any other external system. Exact Software users access a list of received e-invoices when they connect to their Exact Software account. No more manual input or visit to any other systems.

The connector handles purchase invoices, sales invoices or credit notes. All e-invoices processed by the Babelway connector can be legally and securely archived. You can make changes to your Exact channel to send invoices in another format (XML, txt, EDI, etc.) or via another communication protocol (FTP, sFTP, AS2, http, etc).

The connector is available from the Babelway catalogue. Babelway also developed a short tutorial . The configuration can be done by anyone with a Babelway account.

Eykur expands opportunities via Invinets PEPPOL connections

Invinet has connected with PEPPOL. One of Invinet’s first international clients using Invinets B2B Router in combination with PEPPOL is Eykur. Eykur is a company working on a variety of eBusiness standardisation initiatives for businesses and governments in Denmark, Norway, Austria and Italy.

By connecting to the PEPPOL transport network through an Access Point managed by Invinet, Eykur is successfully exchanging invoices with the Italian Ministry of Finance for its consulting services.

To send an invoice to Italy, Eykur simply drops it into an electronic box, triggering the middleware system to locate the recipient information contained in the document. Automatic delivery of the document follows immediately.

Eykur’s ability to expand its activities throughout Europe is also boosted by PEPPOL.  It began its efforts with e-invoicing. Eykur now sees further potential in e-ordering and e-catologue.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: A Babelway connector for Exact Software | Eykur expands via PEPPOL and Invinet.

But it at least SHOULD give us plenty of time to give attention to threats that at the same time are transformed from the mortar-and-brick world to the bits-and-bytes-sized world.

Examples of e-billing and e-invoicing getting exposed

Underneath are just a few examples we found. The last five or six weeks. And you know how it goes with this kind of news: it is only the tip of the iceberg. Just imagine how many ill secured e-billing and e-invoicing systems are out there.

And then: imagine how many clients’ can get there billing information exposed. This is truly worrying. We really should do something about this. But what?

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 4 examples of how e-billing and e-invoicing gets exposed: fishing mails and security breaches.

EESPA and its current status

This is what we’ve learned so far:

• EESPA stands for European Electronic Invoicing Service Provider Association
• The EESPA received a Royal Decree: it is now a International Non-Profit Association
• [UPDATE 16-12-2011]: Basware Corporation’s CEO Esa Tihilä was yesterday elected Chair of the EESPA. The position will be held for a two-year term.
• [UPDATE 21-12-2011]: Charles Bryant (OB10) was appointed vice president
• [UPDATE 23-12-2011]:EESPA members are defining clear guidelines for technical documents and communication channels within the framework of the so-called PEPPOL collaboration under the EU. This creates the interoperability needed to make it easier and faster for the individual organizations to get going with digital exchange of e-invoices and other data and documents in the procurement process.
• It is devoted to pursue several principles in the promotion and development of e-Invoicing. Including:
  -Agreement and lobbying on public policy and regulatory issues
  -Development and/or adoption of industry standards and interoperability arrangements
  -Communication and services for members and stakeholders
  -Building momentum towards the wide adoption of electronic invoicing
• There is -not yet- a website. As far as we know
• A sister initiative is currently developed by Christiaan van der Valk of Trustweaver, with a focus on digital trust and compliance in Europe. (We promised Christiaan not disclose any more information. So contact him for more information).

What can we say? We’re looking forward to the deliverables of EESPA. Perhaps it can continue the work of the Hub Alliance and boost interoperability.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EESPA: The European Electronic Invoicing Service Provider Association gets approval [UPDATE3].

As a result of these closures, first class mail will no longer be delivered in a single day, adding to the time it takes for checks to reach US businesses. And this could slow Accounts Receivable for US businesses.

Cultural differences

From of our readers this comes as a surprise that this can actually slow down Accounts Receivable. But we have to consider that a lot of businesses in the US (and as a fact a lot of other countries too) still send a lot of checks by regular snail mail.

In fact, in an article for the Associated Press, Jonathan Fahey highlighted concern among America’s business owners: “It’s less of a disaster than it would have been 10 years ago, but it’ll be a cash flow crunch for some companies.“.

Todd McCracken, president and chief executive of the National Small Business Association confirmed this and added: “It’ll be longer to get your invoice, and longer to get a check back.”

Both cause and solution

The US Postal Service claiming that the rapid decline in First Class mail revenue is directly due to the conversion of bill delivery and bill payment to electronic means.

So the cause in the decline is because of using EBPP means. But that same transition holds the key to protect and even increase Accounts Receivables. Both weird and great at the same time.

Still, with this decline in service from the US Postal Service, combined with a complementary decline in check writing, businesses who rely on checks in the mail for revenue need to find alternatives. Fast.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: US Postal closes 50% of mail distribution centres: effect on Accounts Receivable.

About BillSAFE: purchase-on-einvoice

BillSAFE is what you can call a provider of purchase-on-invoice technology: customers select the item they want to buy, and then they receive an invoice for payment AFTER the item is delivered.

Security-conscious shoppers can receive and inspect the merchandise they bought online before paying for their purchases. And merchants can sell to customers who were previously skeptical of buying online

Popularity of purchase-on-invoice

PayPal recently said that purchase-on-invoice is the most popular form of payment and presentment in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and said 19.6 percent of payments for German online transactions were billed via invoice. In the U.S., eBay sellers and most retailers insist on getting paid before shipping orders, so the acquisition may not impact PayPal orders in the U.S.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eBay acquires BillSafe: a purchase-on-invoice provider.

Mergers, acquisitions and investments 2011

In November this year, we already the MA&I’s of b-process, Tradeshift, Fundtech, Crossgate and InterCommIT. We can now add to that list:

•  SAP that buys Crossgate, adding 40.000 e-connections to the list
• Bottomline that buys Allegient Systems
• Liaison Technologies acquires nuBridges
• Ogone Payment Services buys Mumbai-based E-Billing Solutions
• Zuora received $36 million in a Series D round of funding
• Iceland Post takes over Unimaze Software

The year 2010

And in 2010 we learned about:

• IBM’s acquisition of Sterling Commerce
• Accenture aquires Ariba’s Sourcing and BPO Services
• Basware acquires TNT Post’s Connectivity operations
• Bottomline buying Bank of America’s PayMode

So, from looking at the MA&I growth rate, this might be a good time to start up your own e-invoicing service.

Please let us know if we missed out on a merger, acquisition or investment in 2010 and 2011.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 15 Major acquisitions in 2010 and 2011.

What is HIPAA 5010 ?

5010 refers to the set of rules implemented and regulated under HIPAA which determines how electronic information is transmitted in the US health care sector.  Version 5010 replaces version 4010. Version 4010 worked with ASC X12 transactions).

This is the impact of version 5010:

• It allows for more efficient, more improved and larger information exchange.
• It transitions the healthcare industry from ICD-9 to ICD-10.
• It is expected to save $12 billion according to The Department of Health and Human Services. These cost savings will come from eliminating inefficient manual processing of transactions and are mandated by the Affordable Care Act.
• It requires electronic transactions:
  - to submit claims,
  - to receive payments,
  - to check eligibility,
  - to check authorizations and
  - to get claim status
• It provides greater uniformity in the transmission of information.
• Any systems not meeting the 5010 transition deadline of January 1, 2012 will no longer be able to communicate with any insurance companies.

Required to comply

Medical practices, payers, clearinghouses and all providers are required to comply with the mandated 5010 requirements. The only exemption is for paper claims filing.

The 5010 requirements are parameters Practice Management Software vendors or electronic clearinghouse need to implement.

This one is interesting: The provider must be LISTED as the billing provider. A medical billing service or clearinghouse is no longer acceptable.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The US have a new standard for electronic health care billing: HIPAA 5010.

This enables users to achieve significant measurable cost-savings and efficiency gains by simplifying daily processing of supplier invoices, purchase order matching and AP related documents.

This enables EchoVera to offer a truly paperless alternative that drives workflow and processing efficiencies, and also significantly reduce environmental impact.

• Ralf Leitner, EchoVera president:
  “Palette sets itself apart with its comprehensive yet easy to use, purchase-to-pay solutions. We have yet to see any other solution that can match the scope and breadth of functionality in PaletteArena.”
• Michael Cichy, Palette’s North American General Manager:
  “Our partnership with EchoVera is another key step for Palette, as we continue to expand our presence across the North American market. The Canadian market offers some unique challenges due to complex tax processing and the use of multiple languages. The team at EchoVera has been helping their customers shape business solutions for over 25 years. This experience along with the Palette Arena platform will help our joint customers realize the maximum benefits that purchase-to-pay automation can offer.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Palette strengthens North American presence through EchoVera.

Kofax, a major provider of capture enabled business process management (BPM) solutions, was selected by U.S. government research institution to provide an invoice processing solution.

The customer is a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science for national security purposes. Does this ring a bell? DARPA?

Facts and figures

• The research institute receives 70,000 invoices annually.
• The Kofax solution enables the institute to route data from each invoice to its Oracle EBS application.
• Employees can easily access the invoice data, resulting in improved efficiency in invoice receipt, approval and payment.
• an integrated end-to-end solution that provides customers with increased processing speeds, improved control and real time performance management.

PwC sent its first electronic invoice to the European Commission via e-PRIOR

PwC say that they are the first to use the e-Invoicing module of the e-PRIOR Supplier Portal. The first in Belgium  that is. Why? Because the first e-invoice sent on 26 Februari 2010 to the European Commission by a supplier. The only difference is that PWC used the new web portal module.

Some facts about the e-PRIOR platform

Here are some facts about the e-PRIOR platform:

• Established by DIGIT, the Directorate General for Informatics of the European Commission,
• operational since 2009,
• allows economic operators – or their service providers – to send invoices electronically through the exchange of structured XML messages.
• targets economic operators with a large number of invoices,
• as from now on, also companies with a limited number of invoices can easily send electronic invoices via the e-PRIOR Supplier Portal.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: AP Automation News: U.S. Government Research Institution Selects Kofax | PWC uses e-Prior for einvoicing to the EU.

In the mean time enjoy the infographic below created by SmartPay. As you can see, they compare online billing with paper billing and corresponding payment methods.

You can read their explanation here.

Thank you SmartPay

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The Battle: Paper versus Online Billing [INFOGRAPHIC].

The document was discussed several months and is now available on the website the Ministry of Finance and Tax Service: www.nalog.ru/

The Federal Tax Service will approve:

• the clear and easy to use formats of electronic source documents, which then will be submitted to the tax authority at TCS (Telecommunication channels).
• a method to correct invoices, to make it easier for companies to switch to e-invoicing.

So from looking at it the Russian Federation will apply a fiscal e-invoicing scheme that has elements similar to those in Latin America, with the difference that you are not (yet) obliged to use e-invoices.

More information (for Russian native speakers)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Russians start with electronic invoicing as from 1 January 2012.

But it was still a bit too long for our liking. So we’ve shortened it even further. To byte size pieces. Here is your snack:

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Four AP Automation Trends for 2012.

This sounds a pretty good competitor for the tool from ECMarket.

Map Intuition

Liaison says that Intelligent Map Intuition is a paradigm shift in data mapping:

• it combines an inference engine with a user interface that rapidly guides users through the process of finding the best mapping recommendations.
• Map Intuition’s inference engine analyses the  sample source and target data and then presents the user with several suggestions for mappings,  based on relevance.
• The user can then easily use the suggestions to look for the correct mappings.
• Learning as it goes, MI uses artificial intelligence in order to rapidly generate more accurate maps in the future.
• This way it increasingly produces better recommendations the more it is used.
• Unlike the more traditional approaches to auto-mapping, which require a significant amount of preparatory work on the part of the user.

The guys behind the innovation

Robert Fox, Liaison’s Director of B2B/EAI Software Development explains: “Integration projects can live or die based on how difficult and time-consuming it is to get translation maps in place. Through the use of artificial intelligence, the inference engine does all the heavy lifting associated with map creation and leads users to the best solution much more quickly than has ever been possible before.”

Map Intuition, the Analysis and Reporting Module, and the Specification Management Framework is available now from Liaison Technologies. For more information, visit http://liaison.com/products/transform/contivo/contivo-map-intuition.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Liaison Technologies Announces Intelligent Mapping Intuition.

Will this be “carrot” to kick-start e-invoicing. Or is it the ‘”whip” tot kick-start einvoicing in Denmark? Even more important: how many companies and public organisations will actually connect to the B2G service?

Why do we ask this question? Why so cynical? Well that is because we’ve learned that these instruments in a liberalised e-invoicing landscape mostly don’t provide the on-boarding statistics stakeholders wish for:

• Dutch B2G e-invoicing adoption falls behind expectations
• Norway shifts to compulsory B2G electronic invoicing as from 1-7-2011
• Finland still lagging behind in e-invoicing

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Compulsory B2G electronic invoicing in Denmark as from 1-12-2011.

But now SWIFT has decided to change its image with some new tools. The ultimate goal? 5000 connected corporations in 2015.

New tools for SWIFT

Today however, SWIFT has a set of new tools that include:

• Electronic bank account management (eBAM), e-invoicing and e-payments.
• Secure Signature Key (3SKey).
• Enhanced core messaging and connectivity solutions.
• Plus service bureaus for on-boarding.
• E-invoicing.

SWIFT target group

These new tools make it easier and less expensive for companies of all sizes to use SWIFT. The main user group of SWIFT are corporations. It is this specific target group that:

• Has many bank accounts around the world.
• Wants to centralize their treasury operation.
• Wants the value-added services like e-invoicing and e-payments that SWIFT offers.
• Gets access to more than 8,500 financial institutions in 200 countries when it joins SWIFT.

And, by using a service bureau approach, companies can now tackle the cost and on-boarding complexities while getting the expertise they need at a much more reasonable price.

SWIFT 2015 goal: 5000 corporations

Currently SWIFT has attracted the attention of roughly 800 corporations. But now, with the new tools SWIFT claims no longer to be just for the largest companies anymore.

That is why SWIFT recently declared the objective is to get to 5,000 corporations on SWIFT by 2015. That is over a 1000 new corporations large organisations. Each year. That is more new connections per year for the next four years than SWIFT gained in its entire existence.

All in all a massive undertaking. But there is a good chance that connecting to other networks will create the economies of scale to reach the 2015 goal. We wish SWIFT a successful 2012-2015.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: SWIFT goals: 800 corporations on the network now. Growing to 5000 in 2015.

As a response to this change Itella developed new, even more versatile solutions for both physical and electronic communication.

Facts and figures

Underneath are some facts and figures on Itella:

• Finnish Postal Service
• Business customers account for 96% of net sales, consumers 4%
• Itella helps its customers to enhance their competitiveness and run their business more successfully
• The decline in volumes continues, parcel volumes increase as online shopping grow

The Itella Field trial

In the rural area of Anttila Itella conducted a field experiment ”Living Lab”, that focused on customer centric development of new postal services.

The Living Lab was started by trying a new service concept during spring 2010. 122 households and 17 small companies participated in the trial on a voluntary basis.

• In the trial mail was delivered both in paper and electronic form
• Mail was delivered twice a week to the mailbox as usual.
• On other days mail was delivered to the post locker located by the village shop.
• Mail that was not retrieved from the locker was delivered to the mailbox twice a week.
• First and second class letters were scanned and delivered electronically to NetPosti. After scanning mail was put back to envelope and delivered in paper form.
• It was also possible to receive letters to NetPosti from selected senders without format conversion.

In December 2010 the trial was extended to digital delivery of a local newspaper

• 15 households and 49 recipients participated in the trial
• the newspaper trial lasted 6 months
• in the trial a newspaper was delivered in digital form to the Netposti electronic mailbox

The key results of the trial

After the trial ended the participants together concluded that:

• In general, diversity occurred in the needs of the participants for postal services
• Many of the participants were satisfied with getting their paper mail only twice a week to the mailbox.
• Digitizing of letters got both positive and negative feedback.
• Receiving newspaper in digital form and reading it with e-reader got really positive feedback.

Download the presentation on the Itella field trial http://www.wik.org/fileadmin/Konferenzbeitraege/2011/13th_Koenigswinter_seminar/S3_3_Rokkanen.pdf

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Electronic delivery in Finland: Conclusions from a field experiment.

Why CNH America choose TIS eFlow

These are the backgrounds on the deal between CNH America and TIS:

• CNH manages more than half a million invoice documents per year, along with over a million EDI files representing electronic invoices.
• eFLOW was chosen over several well-known competitors for its unique ability to offer a fully integrated solution: to manage EDIs and other invoice formats within one solution.
• The solution incorporates innovative EDI visualization functionality along with superior integration with SAP.
• The eFLOW EDI Visualization functionality enables CNH America to identify errors in EDI messages before they are processed, saving significant time and problems.

June O’Donnell, North America Chief Accounting Officer, of course expects that the solution to significantly optimize their invoice management processes and to increase efficiency.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CNH America LLC selects Top Image Systems.

The latest release of Ariba´s collaborative commerce platform. Designed to enhance their smart invoicing capabilities, new features within the release enable organizations to further streamline global invoice processing, support complex compliance requirements, and improve business commerce collaboration.

Streamlined Invoice Processing

Delivered as an on-demand service Ariba’s Invoice Management™ solution features smart invoicing capabilities. Smart because:

• e-invoices undergo an automated validation process upon supplier submission.
• smart validation eliminates errors and rework so only accurate and approved invoices reach AP.
• validated invoices are directly to ERP systems for on-time payment and discount capture.

By putting a smart invoicing process in place, companies can:

• Reduce operating costs by 70% or more
• Enable 98% touchless invoice processing
• Minimize risk of overpayments and fraud

With the new features baked into the latest release of Ariba Invoice Management, companies can take things a step further and:

• Accelerate processing of valid PO and non-PO invoices
• Perform automated, detailed PO-line level matching on any invoice, including scanned invoices
• Simplify management of rejected invoices and dispute resolution

Expanded Global Coverage

As we all know Ariba bought b-process, France’s largest electronic invoice network and one of the largest e-invoicing networks in Europe.

Combined with the latest release of the Ariba collaborative commerce platform, Ariba enables organizations to more effectively execute a global e-invoicing strategy. Supporting VAT compliance, e-archiving, and country-specific e-invoicing requirements.

• Configure up to 40 business rules at the country level and apply them to e-invoice templates, which include default e-invoice configuration by country
• Capture withholding tax support critical in certain countries for specific suppliers
• Prevent header-level taxes and discounts when lines on an invoice are subject to different tax rates
• Automatically select titles for invoices and credit memos that follow country-specific guidelines

Improved Collaboration

With the latest release of the Ariba collaborative commerce platform, buyers and sellers can improve their ability to gain visibility into the timing and status of payments and thereby improve their cash flows. To date, companies using Ariba Discount Management have been able to:

• Increase early payment discount capture from 35% to even 90%
• Expand supplier discount participation to over 20%
• Achieve discounts of 1.95%
• Capture over $2 million in early payment discount savings for every $1 billion spend

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Ariba enhances its SMART INVOICING proposition.

The key trends for 202 focus on the potential changes to the global economy, the potential collapse of the Eurozone, a move to adopt cloud services and continued compulsory e-invoicing mandates across the globe.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 5 Key trends and predictions for 2012.

McDonald is one of the world’s biggest brands, and was founded in 1940 in the United States. Today McDonald restaurants serve more than 60 million guests on a daily basis in 119 countries around the world.

Per Nordling, CEO of Medius is of course very proud that McDonalds selected Mediusflow” . He continues: “We are constantly working hard to make Mediusflow the very best option for existing and future customers, and this is another confirmation that we are on track.”

For more information on how Mediusflow streamlines McDonalds, contact henry.ivarsson@medius.se.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: McDonalds Norway selects MediusFlow.

This is a summary of the post originally written by Susie West of sharedserviceslink.com. You can

As part of a sharedserviceslink.com webinar Peter Lugli (Senior Director of Financial Solutions at Ariba) and Susie West asked this question: “How important is it that your service provider can offer supply chain financing to your suppliers?” to European Shared Service Centres.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: How important is supply chain financing to your suppliers?.

E-invoicing in the ports of Bulgaria

Who would have thought that Bulgaria would pioneer with such an innovation? However, Bulgaria has been looking for ways to boost the international freight traffic through its Black Sea and Danube ports.

And the introduction of electronic invoices is viewed as a measure to achieve this.Why? Because, electronic billing is supposed to make the payment process easier, cheaper, and less time-consuming.

You can download the new electronic invoices of the Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company for free (after filling a request form) on the websites of the company www.bgports.bg and www.vtmis.bg.

• “The electronic invoice provides the client to receive, review, confirm, approve, or dispute online their billing information. The legal requirement for preserving the paper-based archives for a long time leads to high costs. The electronic archive is reducing the expenses and creating an opportunity for easier access to information regardless of how far back in time one would like to go,”
  
• “The electronic invoice is a valid, electronically signed tax document, and is fully identical to the paper-based invoices. It meets the requirements of the Electronic Document and Signature Act, the Accounting Act, and the VAT Act,”
  

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Bulgarion Port Introduces Electronic Invoicing.

The ArjoHuntleigh group sells medical equipment and integrated solutions for patient handling and hygiene, medical beds and therapeutic surfaces, wound healing, DVT prevention, disinfection and diagnostics.

They decided early 2011 to streamline its invoicing processes with Version One’s electronic document creation and automated delivery solutions. So we are talking about issuing invoices here.

In fact, moving to e-invoicing, e-billing or online billing if you may, ArjoHuntleigh:

• sends out invoices in PDF by email
• eliminated the printing and postage of 70,000 paper invoices per year
• achieved an ROI within 10 months
• staff can concentrate on value-adding tasks and not time-consuming administration.
• can support its green agenda and as copy invoices can be sent with just a click of a button, the company is considerably
• can focus on improving customer service

P.S. We just received word that Version One has launched a mobile invoicing system so users can pay their bills on the move using their smart phones.

Mercedes-Benz chooses Pagero

We received a message from Pagero that they have quite a lot of best practices that they would to share. So below are some examples:

• Mercedes-Benz Sweden AB & Denmark A/S
  ”We have achieved our goal of improving control over our flows, which in turn has given us better control over our receivables.” Read more
• Väderstad-Verken
  “There are significantly greater possibilities of simplifying and streamlining the inbound e-invoice flow with Pagero compared to our earlier solutions.” Read more
• EFG European Furniture Group AB
  “The advantage with Pagero’s solutions is that the supplier can send their
  e-invoices in their preferred format and then Pagero automatically converts it to the format we want to receive.” Read more
• Supplier Activation: OKQ8, Luftfartverket’s, Schenker Åkeri’s, Stena Recycling

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: ArjoHuntleigh selects Version One, Mercedes-Benz Germany selects Pagero.

[Update: 26-12-2011] More than 100,000 customers have already switched to Qtel’s electronic billing format, following the service provider’s scrapping of paper bills as part of its pro-environment initiative.

About Qtel

Qtel, also known as Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is the telecommunications service provider licensed  to provide both fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the state of Qatar. Qtel also has a presence in 16 other countries, with an expansion drift in the Middle East and North Africa region and South East Asia.

In total, Qtel provide coverage to over of 560 million people, with 57.5 million consolidated subscribers.

E-billing on-boarding by Qtel

First: award early adopters

Same time ago, Qtel decided to embrace online billing. And what does one do to create a substantial amount of electronic bill adopters? You award the early adopters:

• The first 1,000 customers who joined the e-bill were rewarded with 1,000 Nojoom points.
• Qtel also distributed more than 1,000 prizes in October to show its appreciation to more than 55,000 customers who had chosen to switch from paper bills to its e-bill service.
• Ten customers won iPads, while three winners received 25,000 Nojoom loyalty scheme points each.

Second: full move to e-billing, charging for paper bills

Qtel has now urged all its customers to sign up for electronic billing before 30 November 2011. After that, Qtel will move all clients to paperless options. The reason.  To avoid waste the company said.

Paper bills will still be available after 30 November 2011, but customers will be charged a fee of QAR 5 per bill to continue receiving them.

All funds raised via this charge are said to be invested into Qtel’s e-waste recycling programme, which offers a disposal point for unwanted electronic goods for all residents of Qatar.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Qtel forces its customers to e-billing, starting elegantly [UDATE].

French government agency ADETEF decided to use Tradeshift to demonstrate the benefits of PEPPOL: the Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine (PEPPOL) project. The move of ADETEF demonstrates that one can use PEPPOL via TradeShift.

Electronic invoicing and ADETEF

ADETEF is the French international assistance agency of the ministries for the economy, budget and sustainable development. ADETEF takes up and disseminates best financial and economic policy practices, providing national governments and public authorities with technical expertise from French officials and public sector experts.

From that angle, it is not surprising that ADETEF initiated the project. It demonstrates towards other public authorities how it can use PEPPOL for pan European procurement.

The e-invoicing project itself

The project should enable departments to connect with suppliers and manage all invoicing electronically. The suppliers of ADETEF can use the system free of charge. TradeShift made a connection with the current French ministerial ERP system, Chorus.

The projects aims to on-board 30.000 French suppliers in the first six months.

A rationalised framework for EU electronic signature standardisation

Not too long ago the European Commission issued Standardisation Mandate M/460. And according to this mandate the three European Standards Organisations presented a document.

The three European Standards Organisations are:

• The European Committee for Standardization: CEN
• The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization: CENELEC
• European Telecommunications Standards Institute: ETSI

The document they come up with:

• updates the existing eSignature standardisation deliverables
• establishes a rationalised framework for electronic signature standardisation within the context of the current EU Electronic Signatures Directive and its possible revision.

More specifically the document provides:

• A rationalised structure for future European Electronic Signatures standardisation
• An inventory of existing electronic signature standardisation
• The results of a gap analysis with an assessment of the existing Electronic Signatures standardisation documents
• The proposed future work plan for filling the gaps in electronic signature standardisation identified through the analysis
• An inventory of existing standardisation at the International, European and national/sector level is also available.

Download: A rationalised framework for electronic signature standardisation

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: ADETEF implements TradeShift | A rationalised framework for e-signature standardisation.

We received a video by b-process over b-process. Take a look and discover why Ariba decided to buy b-process. Enjoy.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Discover why b-process is so good [VIDEO].

Update: 100 millionth e-invoice in <1 year

[Update 03/01/2012] The Ministry of Finance announced that the 100 millionth electronic invoice was already issued by a convenience store. The consumer holding the e-invoice will be given an iPad 2.

According to the Financial Data Center (FDC), the MOF began encouraging stores to issue environmentally friendly e-invoices last year, and, to draw the public’s attention to the green policy, the ministry decided to give away an iPad 2 to the lucky holder of the 100 millionth e-invoice.

Convenience E-invoicing in Taiwan

We received some background information on the decision of this major retailer:

• The recent move is in line with the Taiwanese government effort to replace paper invoices with e-invoices.
• The move by Chain Store Corp came after the Ministry of Finance (MOF) wound up its one-year trial issuance of e-invoices, inspiring convenience stores to follow suit.
• Up to 99% of the firm’s stores (including 7-Elevens) kicked off with issuing e-invoices to consumers
• All consumers get e-invoices instead of traditional print invoices
• Customers that pay with icash cards or EasyCards get their transactions recorded on the cards.

The E-invoicing band wagon

Other convenience chain stores are also ready to jump on the e-invoice bandwagon:

• Over 800 OK convenience stores will begin issuing e-invoices on Dec. 26,
• Family Mart system is scheduled to start in early 2012
• Hi-Life chain stores will launch e-invoices in the second quarter of 2012.

4 Billion invoices in 2013

Su Chun-jung, the director of the Financial Data Center (that is resided under the Ministry of Finance) stated that:

• around 100 million e-invoices will be issued in Taiwan by the end of 2011
• that figure will expand to 2 billion (!!!) by the end of 2012
• 4 billion e-invoices will be issued in 2013.
• in 2013 50% of all invoices in Taiwan are e-invoices. Respect.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Taiwan: 2 billion e-bills in 2012, 4 billion in 2013 [UPDATE].

• that 6 million Americans used a smartphone in the past year for bill presentment or payment
• nearly 20% of online consumer households change the way they are billed each month
• 30% of online consumers have visited a biller’s site using their mobile browser to access a monthly bill, typically phone, cable, credit card and utilities.
• 32% of consumers who pay bills at their bank site already receive e-bills
• 38% of non-recipients are interested, the highest in the survey’s three years.

Mobile billing

The new research shows that mobile billing is definitely one of the trends for 2012. Of the 6 million consumers who said they had paid a bill with a mobile device:

• more than 40% used a mobile browser to pay their bill,
• 35% used an app downloaded from a biller or a bank
• 17% used text to pay.
• 60% of mobile bill payments were made with some kind of card, either debit, credit or prepaid

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-billing hits new US high, mobile bill presentment and payment is sky-rocketing.

E-invoicing and AP Automation extended

Skanska is not a new customer. It already uses Basware’s Invoice Automation in Estonia and partly in Finland. With the new deal:

• Basware extends their Invoice Automation solution to the whole Skanska organization in Finland.
• Skanska becomes a customer of Basware’s
  - Purchase Invoice Matching,
  - Order Matching
  - Mobile Client
  - Basware Connectivity Services

Basware Connectivity Services

Basware Connectivity Services enables companies to improve purchase-to-pay process quality as well increase the number of electronic invoices, purchase messages and supplier catalogues while reducing time spent on reviewing, approving and processing. The Basware Connectivity Services also makes it easier for suppliers to start transacting electronically. The scan & capture service is part of this service.

Quote from the Basware CEO

Esa Tihilä, CEO, Basware Corporation is happy to extend the cooperation with a Fortune 500 list company like Skanska:

“This extension is a proof of customer satisfaction. Basware Invoice Automation solution together with Basware Connectivity Services increase the level of automation of invoice processing and make business processes more efficient in Skanska”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Skanska extends deal with Basware in Finland.

3i Infotech Billing & Payments and ORCC announced a reseller agreement to  deliver a complete electronic payment and processing solution to customers. Never heard of them?

Well, 3i Infotech Billing & Payments is US provider of software and solutions for the end-to-end corporate revenue chain. And ORCC can be found on NASDAG and is known as Online Resources Corporation: a financial technology provider.

Introducing both billing/payment providers

First ORCC. It has a proprietary payments network, claimed to be one of the largest in the industry, with direct links to virtually all U.S. banks with more than 8,000 billers. ORCC says they power more than 250 million payment transactions annually.

Second: 3i Infotech Billing & Payments. They claim to be the largest provider of outsourced remittance processing, one of the largest third party billers, and a leading provider of payment processing platforms and technology. They also claim that each year, they manage the presentment of one out of every 25 consumer statements mailed in the US. Pfoei.

The deal

The companies agreed to integrate ORCC Payment Advantage solution with 3i Infotech’s presentment and processing solutions. Now let them do the talking:

• Lynn Boggs, CEO, 3i Infotech Billing & Payments:
  “This joint offering allows organizations to add advanced electronic channels to their billing and payment strategy while at the same time simplifying and streamlining those processes.”
• Eric M. Labiak, Chief Sales Officer for Online Resources:
  “Our collective understanding of customer needs has allowed us to create a joint solution for expanded capabilities without placing additional burdens on internal support resources and infrastructure.”

Major ship suppliers sign up for e-invoicing through ShipServ TradeNet platform

Seven major ship suppliers including leading ship chandler Hanseatic Marine Services have signed up to use e-invoicing services through the ShipServ TradeNet platform.

Over the last few months, thousands of invoices have been successfully transferred through the platform using an MTML translation service. ShipServ expects that many more suppliers will connect the next few months.

With e-invoicing, buyers are able to process invoices faster and better into their back-office ERP system. They are also better able to align invoices with purchase orders and eliminate manual errors.

Using ShipServ’s TradeNet platform gives buyers the power to replace a paper or PDF invoice sent from their supplier with an electronic document capable of loading directly into their purchasing/accounting system.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: 3i Infotech and ORCC team up | E-invoicing with ShipServ TradeNet platform.

About Paul Frederick

• Paul Frederick is a 30-year technology industry veteran,
• He spent the first half of his career with what is now Accenture LLP, specializing in large-scale project and program management in the financial, and health and human welfare application areas.
• He has in-depth experience in customer relationship management and customer interaction optimization.
• He helped companies like Portrait Software and Pitney Bowes Business Insight to meet their goals by focusing on quality customer service and distribution relationships.

Quotes

This is what the stars of the show have to tell you:

• Paul Frederick, new General Manager OB10 US:
  “I am very excited about the opportunity to lead OB10’s operation in the Americas and am enthusiastic about the reception we continue to receive as more organizations realize the benefits of e-Invoicing. By combining our industry-leading methodologies with our blue-chip buyer customer base and outstanding global supplier network, we are uniquely positioned for greater success in this rapidly evolving market.”
• Luke McKeever, Chief Executive Officer OB10:
  “We are delighted to welcome Paul to the OB10 leadership team. The Americas has been a key market for OB10 for the past eight years and many of our Fortune 250 US and international buyer clients and their preferred suppliers are headquartered in the region. Paul will help to make OB10’s aggressive plans for US expansion a reality.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: OB10 appoints Paul Frederick as US General Manager.

Keira Holland has been named to hold the position of Sales Manager in continental Europe for Striata, a global leader in paperless communication.

Holland played an important role during the introduction of a successful invoice automation solution for DICOM (now Kofax) EMEA where she was Business Development Director, and has a wide experience in market penetration efforts for products and solutions.

Quotes

“Europe provides Striata with an excellent opportunity for organic growth. In these times of continued economic uncertainty, agile organizations across Europe are looking for technology that not only provides dramatic cost savings, but that also increases customer satisfaction, loyalty and revenue-per-customer. Striata is uniquely positioned to meet these requirements and our clients and partners in this region, will appreciate the value of a dedicated resource.”
Michael Wright, CEO, Striata

“I’m so pleased to be supporting the Striata organization, which provides world class, next-generation eBilling and eMarketing solutions. These paperless solutions, delivered directly to customer inboxes, cut costs, ensure regulatory compliance and deliver more value to both organisations and customers than last-generation portal solutions. Striata’s business activities are also positive when measured by triple bottom line (social, environmental and financial impacts) standards of accounting – unlike many companies who claim to be green but are, in fact, just paying it lip service.”
Keira Holland, Sales Manager Striata

EU e-procurement agency ADETEF implements TradeShift

In order to support the Pan-European Public Procurement  OnLine (PEPPOL) project, French government agency ADETEF has set up a co-operation with TradeShift. ADETEF will now be able to use the electronic payments system designed by TradeShift.

PEPPOL has been initiated to supply services related to e-invoicing and e-procurement in the EU and works on one  shared infrastructure for all e-procurement transactions processed by EU governments.

Their departments will check in on the TradeShift platform and connect with suppliers to deal with their invoices electronically.  Suppliers can jump on for free and the connection is a time and money saver.

The first target is connecting 30,000 suppliers in the first six months the Aube county.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing news: Striata has new Sales Manager Europe | EU e-procurement agency implements TradeShift.

480 million invoices

The benefits for the Shanghai municipality are clear. An online portal reduces a fast amount of the 40 million bills sent each month to the city eight million households: they receive on an average five bill per month. That is: 480 million invoices per year, in Shanghai alone.

Available public organisations

At present the following public organisations are connected to the platform:

• Shanghai Electric,
• Shanghai Telecom,
• Shanghai Unicom,
• City,
• North and South Water,
• Pudong Veolia Water, water,
• Pudong New Area and Nanhui tap, tap Minhang and Fengxian Water,
• Gas City and North,
• Pudong Dazhong Gas
• 13 other gas utilities,

And it is expected that Shanghai’s communications including Shanghai Mobile will join the platform early 2012.

Functionalities

In addition, the platform also provides residents with several options to pay bills: a single transfer, multiple bills at the same time, the monthly direct debit. There are also several other services like alert via e-mail and SMS. Bills are archived and can be queried nearly two years after receipt.

Finally the online portal will be used for various other types of electronic documents: credit card slips, insurance documents and property documents.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 8 million Shanghai residents will now receive e-bills.

Batelco, based in Bahrein, one of the bigger communication services provider. It  enhancing its e-Services portal and e-billing service. The goal is  to provide more convenience and put a wider range of online services at its customers’ fingertips. That is an customer approach haven’t seen much. But still: the biggest rational is off course: savings.

Thankfully Batelco also mentioned the other well known arguments : secure, convenient, environment. What a relief.

How will their customers benefit from ebilling?

Batelco’s e-Services portal provides:

• ease of access for customers to a range of services such as View and Pay Bills, Managing Broadband or Mobile Accounts, Subscribe or Upgrade to a range of Broadband and Mobile Services, Customise Packages and Reserve Nice Numbers.
• Receive an electronic version of their monthly phone bills by e-mail
• View the bill details and pay online using a credit or debit card
• Download and save bills in PDF format

Probably the best is that the e-services are supported with an excellent customer care via batelco.com and through an helpdesk which operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Now that is a big plus for customers. Really, it is.

ORCC expands to India

Online Resources Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCC) announced their India operations with the inauguration of their technology solutions centre at Bangalore.

The inauguration of the new ORCC centre in Bangalore, shows ORCC’s increased focus on extending its reach globally and its focus on India as a centre of importance.

Facts and figures

• The last 20 years ORCC provided solutions to nearly 2,000 banks, credit unions, billers, credit card issuers, account receivables management providers and other credit providers.
• 1 out of 3 of the 50 bigger US banks and 7 of the 12 major card issuers in US use the company’s services to facilitate the demand of customers.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: Bahrein Batelco starts with e-billing | ORCC expands to India.

On the brink of 2012, the E-invoicing Platform has registered another great company for membership: Palette Grop from Sweden. With now over 40 members the EEI Platform is the largest platform to promote and facilitate the adoption of e-invoicing and invoice automation in Europe.

About Palette

PaletteInvoice, a solution for electronic processing of supplier invoices. As acomponent of the PaletteArena family of products it is recognized as the most advanced and flexible fully web based system in the market today. When used in conjunction with other PaletteArena products, PaletteInvoice represents the industry’s most automated approach to Enterprise Purchase to Payment.

PaletteArenas award winning design allows it to be deployed within your company’s IT infrastructure or in the cloud as a SaaS based solution. PaletteInvoice is easy to implement, has an intuitive user interface and is delivered by one of the leading and most innovative companies in the market.

Profile and info:

Palette profile page

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Palette Software welcomed to the E-invoicing Platform.

Emptoris has more than 350 customers worldwide, including Anglo American, Heinz and GlaxoSmithKline, was not disclosed.

IBM has the intention to integrate Emptoris into its ‘Smarter Commerce’ initiative launched earlier this year. The ‘Smarter Commerce’ initiative provides technology to organisations to automate their buying, selling, marketing and service processes.

The acquisition follows the supply chain transaction technology firm Sterling Commerce for $1.4 billion (£903 million) from AT&T in May 2010. IBM says that the acquisition of Emptoris is complementary.

Emptoris just purchased in May 2011 Xcitec: a German supplier management systems provider to boost its supplier information service. It also bought up the telecom spend management specialists Rivermine in January 2011.

FundTech launches InvoiceNetwork, an iPad app for online invoicing

The app is meant small businesses that need to generate simple quotes and invoices in an instant. With the FundTech InvoiceNetwork iPad App you can:

• you can create quotes and invoices and send them to your customers.
• quickly add line items and the app automatically calculates the tax and totals for you.
• improve cashflow by getting your quotes and invoices out quickly.
• set calendar reminders to make sure you get paid on time. Gone are the days of carrying scruffy, bulky order books.
• send a customer an immediate quote whilst onsite.

And also:

• Turn a quote into an invoice
• Add recipients from your iPad contacts if you wish
• Personalise with your company logo
• Add line items
• Automatic validation of fields (e.g. decimals, dates etc.)
• Automatically generates invoice numbers
• Customise how your invoice numbers start
• What you create looks like what you send
• You can also preview before you send as a PDF
• Send the PDF by email
• Mark invoices as paid
• Create a new quote or invoice from a previous document to save time
• Configure your currency and tax settings
• Automatically calculates totals and taxes for you
• Set calendar reminders for invoice due date so you can send reminders
• Search & filter documents.

Pictures are here

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Einvoicing News: IBM buys Emptoris | FundTech launches InvoiceNetwork iPad app.

We welcome back Ariba as a new sponsor of the platform, and we are proud to have one of the world’s leading providers back as a participant.

About Ariba

Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions. Ariba combines industry-leading technology with the world’s largest web-based trading community to help companies discover, connect and collaborate with a global network of partners—all in a cloud-based environment. Using the Ariba® Commerce Cloud, businesses of all sizes can buy, sell and manage cash more efficiently and effectively. Over 800,000 companies around the globe use the Ariba Commerce Cloud to simplify inter-enterprise commerce and enhance results.

Why not join them? To get on the path to Better Commerce visit:   www.ariba.com/commercecloud/

Some of the latest news articles by Ariba:

• 9 impressive facts about Ariba buying b-process
• Clariant checks Ariba
• E-invoicing news: State vs Lang, ADP Partners with Nextgen, Ariba
• Deutsche Bank implements Ariba
• Gasunie Fuels Better Commerce with Ariba
• West North West Homes leeds builds savings with Ariba
• Rentokil Initial tackles procurement compliance with Ariba
  

Profile Ariba on E-invoicing Platform

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Ariba joins E-invoicing Platform as a sponsor.

Every now and then we get inspired by content from others. Like this time. We received an alert that a newsletter from the European Payments Council contained high quality analysis on the ‘standards discussion’.  All credits go to Prof. Dr. Knut Blind.

As we just can’t get enough from standards, we had to check this out. And though very abstract the article discusses the standardisation discussion at a must read level. Yes it is still boring and not sexy, but this article contributes big time to the way we think of standards.

1a. The research question: way too difficult

The article in the EPC newsletter poses an actually very interesting question. But it is way too difficult:

”How can multiple and parallel existing standards within the same technological area be
fundamentally evaluated in terms of theoretical static efficiency and with respect to their dynamic effect on innovation and competition?”

To be honest, I had to read this question a few times to understand.

1b. The easy version of the research question

Thankfully, the article contained an easier version of the research question:

“Instead of a competition between two or more incompatible standards, why not investigate the compatibility between these standards in the cooperative space?”

2. What is a standard?

A standard represents an agreement in respect of the standardisation of products, procedures or practices. We know of formal, industry (or consortia), company specific and de facto standardisation. Sometimes a standard is based on a strict consensus process. And sometimes formal standards organisations and bodies also publish specifications, not developed by consensus.

In this research the term ‘standard’ the term standard will be used because the development process is of secondary importance for the general analysis (Sorry guys).

3. Old school standardisation: standards competition

The old school (also called: theoretical, static or industrial school) assumes that:

• standards in competition are not compatible with each other.
• it is not possible to achieve a stable equilibrium in the competition between two incompatible standards.

Furthermore the old school of standardisation:

• determines that a market decision on one of the two standards is required for the complete network effects to materialise.
• highlights the significance of actors using a technology:  it is these actors who make the market decision.
• does not address an economic efficiency assessment of the selection of a standard.

And this is how old school standardisation can take place (we all know of the Betamax-VHS story):

• through the forces of network effects a dominant standard emerges, which captures 100% of the market in the long-term.
• Since the company, which – in the commercial environment – holds the ‘winning standard’ anticipates a strong and long-term monopoly position, the incentives to come out on top of the ‘winner takes all’ game, are intensely pronounced.
• the opposing standard loses its attraction very quickly and therefore disappears from the market (Often, the technical advantage of a standard is not the decisive factor driving the market decision, rather the expectations generated with respect to the future possibilities of using the technology or the equipment.)
• The investments made by commercial competitors to win the standardisation game exceeds the expected return several times over.

4. In comes the new standardisation school

So why such as static approach. Why not let the standardisation approach be determined by effiency analysis based on several parameters. The new school (also called: the dynamic, flexible standardisation school)  assumes that:

• The standardisation approach can be (1) a settlement on one standard, (2) the use of multiple standards in a cooperative space or even (3) competition between standards.
• parameters to determine which approach suits best are:
  - preference for network effects
  - local (national) networks effects
  - heterogeneity of preferences
  - cost of development and maintenance of a standard
  - uncertainty about technical quality
  - length of technology life cycle
  - development potential
  - uncertainty about future user preferences
• the efficiency gains from this approach are much bigger that the gains from the immediate decision for one standard.

And then you get something like this:

5. How this effects the e-invoicing standardisation discussion

From looking at it, the current e-invoicing standardisation contain all the elements of an old school.

Perhaps we should take a look at the new school approach every now and then. And analyse whether the current approach delivers what is actually needed in this arena.

Also the new school approach introduces objective parameters and disconnects the standardisation itself from stakeholder interests

But then again that has a flipside:  there is a fat chance that the current old school “stakeholders” are not all that enthusiastic about the new school approach. (Because stakeholder interests are not part of the equation.)

So, what school are you in? The Old? The New.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The Economy of Standards: or why old school standardisation will never work.

Officials at the US Lawrence Memorial Hospital said they are anticipating a federal investigation and possible fine after an online security breach potentially compromised 8,000 patients’ financial information.

Ouch!

The breach apparently occurred around 20 September when a company that hosts the hospital’s online bill paying service was upgrading its system. The company apparently left a portal open that contained payment records from only 28 patients. That information was crawled by Google. But not only that. The results were also cached and kept public. Ouch!

That hurts even more!

Officials from the Lawrence Memorial Hospital also believe there was a way to access a database that contained information on every patient who had used the online bill pay system since it was first offered in 2005 from that portal.

Please stop!

The hospital learned about the security breach on 28 October. And guess how: a patient using Google to search her husband’s name found his own financial information online. Just imagine…

Some more background information

• the hospital did not own or maintain the computers that operated the online bill pay system.
• the hospital wasn’t hacked and the hospital described the situation as a “self-inflicted wound” by the company that hosted the billing service.
• if a federal investigation leads to a fine, the vendors most likely would be responsible for paying it because the contract required them to keep patient records private.
• the hospital has been advising patients to take steps that would make them feel more comfortable — whether it be putting a lock on the account or obtaining a new bank card.
• Two patients have contacted the hospital so far about charges to their accounts they consider suspicious.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: FBI to investigate security breach in hospital e-billing system.

Artesian Resources, American provider of water, wastewater and engineering services, has made it possible for customers to view, print and pay their water and sewer bills online. They have launched a free and secure e-Billing service on the Delmarva Peninsula (USA).

When the latest bills are published, customers who have started with e-billing will receive an email notification to view their new bills online. These will have the exact look as Artesian’s paper bills and they can be paid online without any costs.

It is possible for Artesian customers to enroll e-billing online at www.artesianwater.com. A ten digit account ID and the mailing address zip code are sufficient to start it all up.

Quotes

Dian Taylor, chair, president and CEO of Artesian:
• “Our e-Billing service provides our customers with a secure, convenient, environmentally friendly billing option,”
• “We continuously reach out to our customers to improve our service, and e-Billing was a top customer request.”

KUBRA and Snohomish County PUD sign a new five year contract

Snohomish County PUD has executed a new five year contract for e-billing and e-payment services. KUBRA, a US management solution provider, announced that they will assist the second largest publicly owned utility in Washington. They serve around 320,000 electric customers and 20,000 water customers.

Snohomish County PUD and KUBRA started their e-billing partnership in 2007 and have built an impressive paper-less billing rate via a comprehensive multi-channel e-billing solution. With the new contract, Snohomish County PUD will continue to leverage KUBRA’s E-billing and Self-Service platform, the i-doxs™ Suite and some additional modules to continue secure email delivery, mobile e-billing, and additional e-document consolidator networks.

Quotes

Rick Watkin, President & CEO of KUBRA

• “Snohomish’s continued commitment to KUBRA clearly demonstrates their level of partnership with us and through the Agreement extension, they will be adding additional modules within the KUBRA i-doxs suite, thus further strengthening the existing partnership”
• “We are elated to build from a strong foundation of knowledge within the people at Snohomish and we look forward to adding intrinsic value to their entire customer interaction management strategy.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: Artesian launches free e-billing for customers | KUBRA and Snohomish County sign new contract.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Liaison Technologies Video’s [PICS].

Ariett provides Purchase to Pay and Expense Management Solutions. And its AP Invoice Automation solution is now available in “da cloud”, combined with a subscription plan to help customers transition as easy as possible. Time for a quote:

“By using Microsoft Windows Azure, Ariett’s AP Invoice Automation Solution offers our customers critical levels of scalability with low capital expenditures and operational costs,” said Glenn Brodie, president of Ariett. “Ariett AP Invoice with our Mobile Approval App for any Smartphone offers visibility to the actual electronic invoice, that can easily be accessed from anywhere in the world, to meet the demands of business approvers on the go. Ariett empowers our customers with flexible cost effective workflow solutions.”

Welsh counties select ProActis for purchase to pay

ProActis announced that Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire County Councils in North Wales entered into an agreement with ProActis for the delivery of an e-procurement platform. So congrats to Simon Dadswell!

Some more information:

• Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire County Councils want to get quick and significant efficiencies by sharing of project management resources
• The three Welsh local authorities are to focus on improving financial management processes. In particular the entire lifecycle efficiency of a transaction: from an order all the way to the moment the final invoice is processed.
• The ProActis eProcurement solution enables the three councils to pay all approved and undisputed invoices within 30 days of receipt and ensures efficiency in the purchase-to-pay cycle to free resources for frontline services.
• ProActis is to be integrated into the finance systems.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing news: Microsoft Empowers Ariett’s AP Automation Solution | Welsh Counties select ProActics.

Bills and invoices are in essence a form of communication. The interesting thing about invoices is that these are the one form of communication that customers always pay attention to.  And this is why:

• Customers will without a doubt be reading the bottom line as they make their payment.
• There is a good chance that they can’t help but notice the rest of the document too.

The theory: why add adds to bills or invoices

This means that you have an opportunity to draw you customer’s attention to something that will be of interest to them and increase their value to you!

If you want to, and if it is alright by your customers. Because in the end the effectiveness of communication (read: e-invoincing/e-billing) is determined by the way it is interpreted by the receiver.

So what can you gain from adding adds to you invoice? Well:

• Up-sell and cross-selling: It is easier and cheaper to sell more to an existing customer than it is to find and convert a new prospect.
• Increase customer loyalty with personalised content
• Increase efficiency by combining offline and online channels (eg: QR codes)

As marketers constantly have to do more with less, it is just mind boggling why we all overlook this one channel of communication that guarantees to reach their existing customer base. More precisely, why not start your on-boarding right from the paper invoice.

The theory put to the test

First, OpenText StreamServe ran a small survey on their customer base, together with independent researcher, TechValidate. Organisations that applied additional marketing content to their (apply StreamServe to their marketing efforts, most are seeing revenue increase.

In fact. Over 80% experienced at least 5% increase in marketing revenues attributable to their usage of the solution.

Second, Open Text created a neat interactive invoice simulator to help you visualize just how this could work.

So what do you think, would this work for you? Do you have experience on this?

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Why not ad marketing content to your online bill or invoice?.

Image Integration Systems (IIS) has entered into a cooperative partner agreement with OPEX Corporation. IIS is a provider of the DocuSphere® solution for accounts payable automation. OPEX is a recognized global technology leader in high-speed mailroom automation and document imaging.

Together, OPEX and IIS offer a solution that goes from incoming envelope to electronic routing all the way through a ready to pay transaction. This:

• offers visibility to invoice documents from the moment they enter the organization,
• allows for improved process efficiencies
• allows for a lower average cost per invoice.

Once the documents have been scanned by OPEX, the images are passed into the DocuSphere system, where they are electronically routed, data is lifted without the need for templates and invoice data is processed virtually “hands-free” incorporating  tight integration with existing ERP systems.

Montage Hotels & Resorts Select BirchStreet for Procure-to-Pay Platform

Montage Hotels & Resorts selected BirchStreet Systems to provide them with procure-to-pay (P2P) platform. BirchStreet Systems a procure-to-pay provider for enterprises around the world. Montage Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hotel brand that manages three world-class properties in the U.S.

The P2P application suite is to be implemented at Montage Laguna Beach, Montage Deer Valley and Montage Beverly Hills.  The rollout includes:

• e-Procurement
• AP Automation
• Advanced Approvals
• Declining Checkbook Drilldown (to monitor budget versus actuals on a real-time basis.

Using the P2P platform:

• Montage’ suppliers are directed to send all invoices to a centralized processing center
• there an OCR and QA process creates electronic versions of each paper invoice.
• The e-invoice are transmitted to an automated 3-way-matching engine (invoice, purchase order and receiving record).
• An electronic image of the paper invoice is also generated and attached to the corresponding record.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing News: Image Integration Systems and OPEX become partners | Montage select BirchStreet for Procure-to-Pay Platform.

In a world vested with awards (we are a co-culprit), Tieto together with Bottomline and Nordea Bank won the joint award for their SWIFT e-invoicing solution.

The Financial-i award recognises Bottomline, Tieto and Nordea for using the global SWIFT Network for the transmission of e-invoices.

To achieve this a collaboration between the joint winners at a technical and business level was necessary. The SWIFT e-invoicing project started back in May 2011 and has gone from a concept to a live solution in that time.

Quote

Markus Hautala, responsible for Financial Messaging services at Tieto:

“We consider all our customers to be unique – the way they are organized, to what degree their processes have been centralized, and how their IT infrastructures have been designed. We go the extra mile to understand our customers’ circumstances and how our services can be customized to meet their specific needs.”

About Financial-i

Financial-i Leaders in Innovation awards recognize those companies that demonstrate an ongoing commitment and investment in innovation, which positively impacts end users. When selecting winners, the criteria considered include:

• innovativeness,
• functionalities,
• differentiation,
• ease of customer implementation
• the extent to which the solution will help companies solve business issues.

The winners are chosen by an awards advisory panel, which includes industry analysts, consultants and practitioners.

To find out more http://www.financial-i.com/awards/

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Tieto wins Financial-i award for the SWIFT e-invoicing solutions.

E-invoicing goals for Tech Data

Tech Data’s goal is to achieve touchless invoice processing. Through e-Invoicing the company aims to

1. deliver accurate data into its ERP system,
2. automate its invoicing process,
3. improve cash flow,
4. increase PO compliance,
5. reduce the company’s carbon footprint,
6. strengthen data quality and compliance.

Quotes from the executive

Let’s get a comment from the executives involved here:

• Philippe Bosquier, VP IT Europe and Managing Director Tech Data IT:
  “Critical to our choice of service provider were demonstrable experience in on-boarding suppliers to the network, and the ability to manage the complexity of cross-border legal and VAT regulations.”” We are committed to phasing out paper and bringing greater efficiency and transparency to our finance function and suppliers through e-Invoicing.”
• Luke McKeever, CEO at OB10:
  “We are delighted to welcome Tech Data, an established supplier on the OB10 network, as a buyer. We are working closely with the Tech Data team to deliver a successful supplier on-boarding programme based on the knowledge and methodologies we have developed over 11 years in e-Invoicing.”

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing for Tech Data Europe with OB10.

When you’re living in one of the Latin American countries and in some Asian countries you have to use advanced electronic signatures. But when you live in the EU, a new VAT directive is about to change al in the digital signature arena. At first sight.

So what is going here? As from 1 January 2013 a new European Directive comes into effect (read: should have been implemented in the national legislation of its Member States). And this new EU Directive allows for e-invoicing in its simplest form in every member state.

That way the benefits of electronic invoices can also reaped more easily by the European SME’s.

No need for digital signatures

The keywords of the new EU e-invoicing legislation now are: liberalisation, simplification, equal treatment, business controls and harmonisation. And also there is no need, no requirement to use technical stuff like advanced electronic signatures. Formally, that is. Because in practice things look very different.

I know, this sounds weird. But it is true. Electronic signatures have their own what we call: intrinsic value. So if after 1-1-2013 digital signatures or no longer required for electronic invoicing by fiscal law, you still keep using digital signatures.

(P.S.: Electronic signatures is a legal term. A form of an electronic signature is the digital signature. A digital signature are based on certificates/PKI and are legally called advanced electronic signatures. If you had to identify yourself to receive a digital signature certificate, you have what is called a: qualified advanced electronic signature.)

6 reasons to keep using your digital signatures

So what are these five reasons to keep using digital signatures?

End of story

So at the end of the story: digital signatures are here to stay and they should. However it would be great if someone made it much easier to get one. Because that is a real pain in the proverbial bottom.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 6 top reasons to keep using digital signatures forever.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: How standards proliferate [pics].

But now that that is out of our way and the dust on Ariba’s exciting acquisition has settled we can present you some very impressive facts that we collected during the last few weeks.

Hold on to you hats because things are about to become very oh and ah.

We were able to create this list by our own research and with the help of the Ariba Market Analysis by Vishal Patel from Ardent Partners. You can download their valuable research here.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 9 impressive facts about Ariba buying b-process.

A short time ago we already discussed another success of B2BE. In our post “Visy selects B2BE for purchase to pay automation [CASE STUDY]” we showed that B2BE is also able to bring AP automation projects to a successful end. So things are looking bright for B2BE

About Tayto

Tayto Group is one of the UK’s and Ireland’s largest snack food producers offering a wide range of potato crisps and snack foods under the brands; Tayto, Jonathan Crisp, Real, Mr Porky and Golden Wonder. The County Armagh based company employs over 1400 people across five sites and since acquisition of the brands the business has seen a 10 fold expansion over the past 5 years from a £15m to a £150m turnover business.

Tayto has a clear business approach to continue expansion in the United Kingdom and abroad, consolidating Tayto’s reputation as a brand builder and quality manufacturer.

The Challenge

Through acquisition of many businesses over a short space of time, Tayto has inherited a number of disparate systems, both from an ERP and EDI perspective.

The most challenging aspect of the project was that it needed to be completed within a six to eight week time frame. Other challenges included:

• Moving all the trading divisions to a single commercial entity, The Tayto Group Limited.
• Changing all the trading arrangements with customers from individual terms across multiple divisions into a single
• trading entity with single terms where possible.
• The removal of disparate ERP systems to a single system, Navision.
• The upgrade of Navision from version 3.6 to version 5.0
• The removal of multiple EDI suppliers to a single supplier.
• Migration of 26 trading partners with multiple trading entities within each and five document types to a single provider, into a single system through a single mailbox under the same commercial terms.

The B2BE Solution

B2BE provided two product based solutions as well as providing managed roll-out services .

The product solutions included two parts:
1.  B2BE Transaction Delivery Network (B2BE TDN)
2.  B2BE Web Portal

1. The B2BE Transaction Delivery Network (B2BE TDN)

With the B2BE Transaction Delivery Network (B2BE TDN), all documents and con­nections are handled by B2BE so any documents an organization receives or sends are in a single agreed format which can follow any number of standards.  B2BE handles the mapping and distribution within the server environment which reduces the layers of complexity for the customer.

2. B2BE Web Portal

The B2BE Web Portal is an online hosted solution that enables users to view and access documents sent electronically between one another and is tailored for each client based on their specific needs and require­ments. The Web Portal has been tailored with the Tayto Group look and feel so all documents sent electronically are available online for a period of three months.

The Result

A complete success!

• All the challenges were met and in many instances exceeded so on the day
• The Tayto Group is now a single entity, on a single Navision platform and have a single entry and exit point to enable electronic trading with the their customers via B2BE.
• The addition of new trading partners and new document types is now a straight forward process
• Tayto can concentrate on their environment and systems which provides a very solid foundation for their continued expansion and growth in the UK, Ireland and globally.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Tayto Group: a single global EDI platform integrated with MS Dynamics NAV!.

The aim is to significantly strengthen the role of ICT trust services by putting together a lobby group that could lead to a bigger and sustainable market for ICT trust and compliance products and services.

The elevator pitch of the DTCE

How the DTCE looks at things:

• The products and services provided or used by DTCE members enhance the reliability billions and interactions on the Internet and other electronic networks every year.
• We believe that Europe can and must be a leading force in the continuous development of ICT trust and compliance as a necessary condition for the sustainable growth of e-commerce, e-business and e-government.
• the DTCE aims to ensure that those who have invested in innovation and high quality delivery of ICT trust and compliance products and services have their views and expertise appropriately presented and taken into account in European policy debates about:
  - e-signatures,
  - e-ID,
  - e-procurement,
  - e-invoicing
  - and many other topics.

EESPA and DTCE

The EESPA and the DTCE have a lot in common, you might even call them sisters, because both organisations:

• by their members have the largest market share in the EU e-invoicing arena: BSP’s and digital signature vendors.
• are a response to the change in European e-invoicing legislation as from 1 January 2013.
• aim to promote the interests of their members against the upcoming liberalisation.
• originated from stakeholders that know each other very well: Charles Bryant (EESPA) and Christiaan van der Valk (DTCE).
• cooperate to achieve their respective missions

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: DTCE Digital Trust and Compliance Europe.

This list post is with courtesy of Basware, that created an e-book that outlines 7 golden rules that can help you transition to Accounts Payable Automation. We ran through them and came up with these 6 rules:

Download the Basware e-book

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 6 golden rules to switch to AP automation.

Itella Information share key learnings of a recent invoicing study that was carried out on over 14,000 consumers and decision makers of companies’ invoice processes in 16 different European countries.

The main target of this research was to examine the present state, future plans and prerequisites of electronic invoicing in these countries. This approach covered the main types of invoicing, from paper to different electronic channels, such as email, Internet banking and direct transfer to the recipient’s invoice processing system.

This key learnings will help you to assess and benchmark your current solutions against some of the most efficient in the industry.

Read the entire survey here

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Itella survey about invoicing in 16 European countries.

Based on that article we present you some top tips in creating a proper e-bill. (So he gets all the credits, the only thing we’ve done is rearranging his article and add some stuff).

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 6 top tips to design the ultimate e-bill.

Fundtech’s shareholders approved, of the merger of Fundtech with F.T. Israeli Mergerco Ltd.. The latter is a full daughter of the company called US FT Parent, Inc. Both companies are formed by GTCR Fund.

In the merger between Fundtech and F.T. Israeli Mergerco Ltd, Fundtech will survive and become an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of US FT Parent, Inc.. Fundtech’s shareholders in the Merger, will receive US$23.33 in cash, with a combined worth of around US$388 million.

Fundtech and Bankserv

The consolidation of Fundtech with GTCR-affiliated BankServ will combine Fundtech’s solutions for financial institutions and BankServ’s SaaS solutions for US community and regional banks. It is expected that that will have an expanded range of wholesale banking and small-to-medium business products. The combined company Fundtech-Bankserv company has an estimated revenue of $200 million in 2011 and 1,300 employees worldwide.

Quote

Fundtech chairman Avi Fischer:

“The deal reflects international recognition of Fundtech’s achievements, and reflects a handsome yield for investors. It is a certificate of honor, especially given the global market conditions. I believe that the company will continue to grow, develop and lead the market together with GTCR.”

About Fundtech

Fundtech was founded in 1993, and is a provider of software and services to banks of all sizes around the world: Payments systems, wire transfers, ACH origination, cross-border payments and remittance, cash management systems and the world’s largest SWIFT service bureau, electronic invoice presentment and supply chain financing.

More than 1,000 clients throughout the world rely on Fundtech solutions to improve operational efficiency and provide greater competitiveness through innovative business-to-business services. For more information, visit Fundtech’s profile on the right.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: GTCR buys Fundtech for a whopping US$388 million through ‘parent’ merger [UPDATE].

We published helpful hints, the latest news on e-invoicing, and several strategies on customer on-boarding. Also the latest acquisitions (paying money for shares) are available. And that’s not even the half of it.

Here’s every one of those stories from the entire month (!!), waiting for you in an convenient format. So read what interests you, and then go out there and grab the benefits!

Headlines

• EU e-invoicing adoption: SME’s in different EU regions perceive different barriers
• How customers experience the go green argument
• 7 reasons to underestimate the EU E-invoicing Multi Stakeholder Forum
• Are 39% of the global AP invoices, electronic invoices already?
• Oh no! Online banking saturation is lurking behind the door
• Can electronic billing actually save lives in Botswana?
• Three step e-invoicing evolution in South America
• OUCH, Irish ComReg sanctions Vodafone for paper bill penalties
• “It’s not brain surgery. US Health insurance billing can also be brought into the Internet era”
• Do you change ebilling if your customer lacks an Internet connection?
• BT quietly stops discount for paperless billing, backfire
• Alaska Communications Services wants to offer a $5 one-time credit for those who shift to electronic billing

Policy

• CEN e-invoicing III draft CWA’s are ready for public review
• Unilateral promotion of E-Invoicing is damaging the printing and media industries and their employees, says that sector
• Call for information: data on the uptake of EU electronic invoicing
• ADDITIONAL explanations on the new EU e-invoicing directive
• EU Banks plan to offer their network as a collaborative e-invoicing space
• European Commission starts consultation on CEN e-invoicing standardisation
• Electronic invoicing switch for Kazakhstan as from mid 2012
• Electronic Invoicing in Mexico is now mandatory, effective immediately
• Electronic invoicing development in Austria & a study by Billentis

Event/Webinar

• Do you want to have your 2012 e-invoicing or AP automation plans assessed for free?
• Global ABB purchase-to-pay automation. Goals, challenges and results [WEBINAR]
• Meet Descartes and InterCommIT
• Webinar: DHL Express Europe Webinar on SSON

Acquisition/Merger

• Funding and partial buy-out of UnifiedPost
• And yet another acquisition: Descartes buys InterCommIT
• GTCR buys Fundtech for a whopping US$388 million through ‘parent’ merger

Jobs

• Do you have what it takes to become the new Basware Director Operations BPO?

Product information

• Visy selects B2BE for purchase to pay automation [CASE STUDY]
• Qtel forces its customers to e-billing, starting elegantly
• John Lewis Partnership selects OB10 for electronic invoicing
• Our new website ~ do not click if you are fainthearted
• FormPipe Software: the third in line of new E-invoicing Platform Members this month
• Learn from Kraft Foods and lead your e-invoicing project to success
• The E-invoicing Platform proudly presents: Itella
• SupplierDNA joins the E-invoicing Platform
• TyMetrix Acquires LEDESense to streamline e-billing for law firms
• CONGRATS: OB10 receives Green Apple Award and Green Supply Chain Award
• Swegon chooses Medius for electronic invoice management
• With the changes in the PPACA, the bill is no longer in the snail mail
• Anachron and Oce enter into a strategic partnership
• OB10 news: from SAS 70 to ISAE 3402, extending geographical compliance, a CQO and the annual buyer user event
• Ricoh unveils Managed Document Services 2.0
• Liaison Technologies Partners with DWG to Create Supplier Enablement Program
• 1Malaysia myemail project provides “push” e-billing

Snippets

• SGS France chooses Iron Mountain, RBS e-Invoicing wins gold Green Apple award
• Avitar and Invoice Cloud partner, 3 Point Alliance chooses Transactis
• Italy exchanges first PEPPOL e-invoices, Bridgestone Europe selects WMD xFlow
• Etisalat ramps up e-billing, PROACTIS & Elite become partners, Celtrino invests $1 million
• Birmingham NHS contracts Tradeshift, E-invoicing packs a punch for estate property owners too
• GE Capital expands e-billing, Metafile and American Digital join forces
•  Zumbox signs up Cash Cycle Solutions, Zuora secures $36 Million
• KUBRA signs up Dakota Electric, SourceLink presents BLINK, Clariant checks Ariba
• Crossgate delivers e-invoicing to System i, Securitas selects Striata
• Pagero and 2C Change cooperate, EDEKA chooses SAP
• State vs Lang, ADP Partners with Nextgen, Ariba
• Narvik chooses Pagero, Deutsche Bank implements Ariba, Kapstone Paper uses Dynamics AX
• Sotreq goes Paperless, Bill.com adds features and SunGard links to Billtrust
• Iceland Post invests in Unimaze, Kareo introduces a medical ebpp solution

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing and AP automation resources you may have missed last November.

SGS France has chosen a business process management solution from Iron Mountain to better manage their AP invoices. Looking back Iron Mountain, was the company that introduced itself by claiming to hire 550 people in a new invoicing unit.

The solution for SGS France was to delegate the invoice processing to Iron Mountain. As a result the processing time has been halved and SGS France achieved productivity savings of €450,000 per year.

Some figures

SGS is a large in product verification, inspection, analysis, and certification services. The company

• employs 64,000 people and has some 1,250 offices and laboratories worldwide.
• In France, the company employs 2,450 people and has 23 specialist laboratories .
• The French finance division processes 80,000 supplier invoices per year.
• 25 SGS people now use the Iron Mountain platform on a regular basis, with another 350 occasional users.

With the AP Automation solution of Iron Mountain in place, SGS can now rely on:

• receiving and scanning invoices
• extracting company information and performing compliance checks
• managing the validation and accounting workflow creating a gateway to e-procurement tools
• providing a remote management tool, including access to all invoices in pdf format
• offering dashboards and monitoring tools
• archiving invoices in paper format and destroying them securely at the end of the statutory retention period

Quotes

Eric Sarfati, Administrative and Financial Director SGS France:

• “We calculate that processing time for supplier invoices has been halved, generating an estimated €450,000 per year in productivity gains.”
• “The ease of working for all users is of immeasurable value. Information exchanges are much more fluid. For example, purchasing department personnel used to have to run from department to department to obtain the data necessary to produce costs studies. That’s no longer the case.”
• “Iron Mountain was the only company that enabled us to manage all invoicing workflows and processes on an open platform that could be adapted to meet our needs. Now we have a single service provider for the whole invoice life cycle from receipt to destruction.”

RBS e-Invoicing service wins gold Green Apple Award for environmental best practice

Not so long ago we mentioned that OB10 had won a Green Apple Award. Again. For the fifth consecutive time. But then we received a phone call from RBS.

They said that they had won the gold version of the Green Apple Award (can you imagine), in its category, Environmental Best Practice, Banking and Finance, because of:

• A comprehensive set of connection methods to ensure businesses of all sizes and varying technical ability can connect with ease
• Commitment to achieving significant adoption by providing dedicated e-Invoicing on-boarding teams
• Future value added banking solutions including Supply Chain Finance and Payments integration
• Completely FREE for suppliers to connect and send invoices

So, congratulations to RBS. You’ve earned them.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing news: SGS France chooses Iron Mountain, RBS e-Invoicing wins gold Green Apple award.

B2BE was so kind to give us a case study. Underneath is a summary. You can download the entire case study here.

About Visy

Visy started 1948 in Melbourne, Australia and has grown to one of the world’s largest privately owned packaging, paper and recycling companies. Visy employs around 5600 people operating from over 100 sites and generates more than $2.3 billion in revenue.

Through its products and services Visy serves various sectors including pharmaceutical, construction, dairy, fast-moving consumer goods, automotive, and building industries in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States.

Visy’s wants to be truly sustainable. A journey of continuous improvement, learning and adaptation success that depends on carefully balancing economic, environmental and social factors.

Visy’s purchase to pay challenge

Visy faced a number of issues in managing incoming invoices within the company’s accounts payable department:

• Every month Visy receives around 35,000 Purchase Order, financial invoices and statements.
• These documents come from more than 10,000 vendors and partners
• Visy receives these documents in hardcopy, facsimile or email attachment.
• The invoice information all had to be manually processed and delivered into a customised workflow approval system called IXOS.
• A staff of 32 people was responsible for this labour intensive task
• Within IXOS the authorisation and archiving of invoices takes place before accounts payable information is migrated to Visy’s back office system SAP.

The Solution

Visy decided to select B2BE for its accounts payable automation, because:

• B2BE had already proved itself as being the partner ‘who could, through past achievements, meet the desired outcome’.
• B2BE lived up to Visy’s requirements
• B2BE’s outsourcing model meant no upfront investment costs and that proved to be a very attractive ROI model for Visy.

Consisting of the following B2BE products: B2BE Transaction Delivery Network and B2BE Document Digitization Service. A closer look at the chosen combination of products reveals that:

• Within the B2BE solution for Visy all scanned accounts payable documents received by email, facsimile and hard copy are transmitted to the B2BE server.
• Subsequently B2BE executes a number of added value services for Visy.
• Through the deployment of the B2BE Document Digitization Services Invoices and Statements are digitised according to the key fields required to enable the upload into the Visy IXOS and ultimately the Visy SAP system for processing based on the supplier terms which also meet local tax authority requirements.
• Furthermore, validation is done on invoice type, vendor, site contact name and duplication in order to eliminate (data) errors.
• In the next step all invoices and statements are converted into an electronic format, placed into directories based on document type for further processing into Visy’s system.

B2BE also provide a range of business intelligent reporting to enable Visy to pro-actively manage the flow of data and documents between the Visy and B2BE environments and which provide error notifications and reporting to manage exception handling based on the pre-defined business validation rules B2BE applies on Visy’s behalf.

The Result

Through the use of the B2BE solutions for the accounts payable document automation project Visy realised positive results through cost reductions and business processes efficiencies. Through these results accounts payable personnel could be redeployed within the organisation to perform more add­ed value tasks.

The specific results:

• The costs for Invoice and Statement handling and management within accounts payable were reduced over 80%.
• Increased efficiencies led to faster document handling process.
• The time for document indexing was reduced to a maximum 24 hours after document receipt.
• Almost full elimination of data entry errors: keying of wrong amounts, invoice numbers, tax details and so on.
• Elimination of duplicate invoices processing.
• Vendors are made more accountable through early error detection via the B2BE validation processes, reducing work effort.
• Increased level of data accuracy.

Next steps

The next steps for Visy will be to start exchanging documents with a growing group of suppliers by EDI instead of e-mail, fax or hard copy. In this way the process can be completely automated on both ends in the supply chain so that not only Visy, but also their suppliers and partners can benefit from future cost reductions and business process improvement.

To find out more about B2BE and how they can help your organisation please visit B2BE or e-mail au.info@b2be.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Visy selects B2BE for purchase to pay automation [CASE STUDY].

Or at least that is what the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) said when they released a new report called A digital agenda for European SMEs .

The lack of on what points of e-invoicing the SME’s are missing out, is remedied by some nice insights of how SME’s from different countries perceive different barriers to e-invoicing

SME adoption of electronic invoicing in Europe

Let’s take a look at the adoption of electronic invoicing by SME’s in Europe, according to ACCA. The figure underneath shows how SME’s look at electronic invoicing. It becomes clear that:

• they are lacking awareness
• there is no need as customers don’t require e-invoicing
• it is perceived to be too complex
• e-invoicing is not cost effective enough

Geographical differences

Interestingly enough there were differences between several groups of countries, loosely divided into Eastern Europe (including Hungary, Poland, Russia and the Ukraine), the UK+Ireland, and ‘other’ countries. And then you get something like this:

Download the rapport

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EU e-invoicing adoption: SME’s in different EU regions perceive different barriers.

The major objective of the Workshop was “to provide support for a continuing technical platform” and to be:

• be open to the participation of any interested party
• be neutral and be without commercial purposes
• reach stakeholder consensus on standards-related issues
• provide the appropriate interface with international and other European standards activities

Target deliverables

The expected target deliverables were described as:

Public consultation and discussion

And now the deliverables are ready for public consultation and for public discussion on 12 December 2012 in Brussels.

Download the draft CWA’s

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: CEN e-invoicing III draft CWA’s are ready for public review.