Posts Tagged ‘online banking’
ISIS works with one of the biggest banks with branch offices in Germany
Read MoreMany of the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority’s (FICORA) fees, such as the television fee, frequency fee, maritime radio examination and certificate fee, can be eInvoiced as of this fall. At first, customers of other banks than Nordea cannot pay FICORA’s eInvoices. The service will be provided by Itella Information. Consumers can still have FICORA’s invoices on paper. The shift to eInvoicing is easy. When consumers next time pay their invoice online, they can notify that they wish to have their invoice sent to their online bank as an eInvoice.
“Consumers can now select whether they want their television fee invoice on paper or sent as an eInvoice to their online bank. We believe that many will opt for the electronic invoice, which is easy, although the paper version will also be available,” says FICORA Development Manager Aulikki Behm. That FICORA now carries e-invoices is part of the cooperation between Itella Information and the State Treasury, which encourages state authorities to introduce eInvoicing. In the spring of 2007, Itella Information Oy won the competitive bidding on the state invoice delivery. The objective of the State Treasury is to have all purchase invoices sent to state authorities online by the end of 2009, as well as a major part of the outgoing invoices.
FICORA has high invoicing volumes. Annually, 5.5 million television fee invoices are sent to consumers and companies, and about 55,000 radio frequency or other fees are invoiced.
“By transferring to eInvoicing, those sending high volumes of invoices set an example to other players. In Finland, the spread of eInvoicing among consumers has not proceeded as predicted. It is important that consumers can select where they want their invoices delivered. Consumers can review the image of the invoice on an electronic invoice produced by Itella Information. They also appreciate that they have the freedom to choose between different alternatives, can save the invoice in an electronic archive, and see the image of the invoice with all specifications,” says Director Jari Annala, who is responsible for the operations of Itella Information in Finland.
The Finnish Vehicle Administration with its 6.5 million automobile tax invoices and FICORA with its 5.5 million television fee invoices send the most invoices within the public administration. The Vehicle Administration will introduce eInvoicing next spring. Approximately 89 per cent of invoices sent by the public administration go to consumers. Nearly 70 per cent of invoices received by the public administration are already now electronic. Of these, nearly 30 per cent are online invoices and 40 per cent of those scanned by Itella.
www.ficora.fi
Source: www.itella.com
Renewable energy supplier Ecotricity has signed up with OneVu to offer its customers a greener billing alternative which will help to reduce the number of paper invoices and statements being produced and sent across the postal system.
Under the agreement, Ecotricity’s domestic customers can now use OneVu’s unique service to view and pay their bills through the secure environment of their online bank, whilst contributing to an initiative that reduces carbon dioxide emissions and lessens the pressure on natural resources.
Ecotricity’s main focus is building new green energy sources, and in 2007 alone, the company invested £25 million in wind energy. This figure, equating to over £550 per customer, is more than 100 times the national average when compared to other UK electricity suppliers. To achieve and increase such levels of investment, the company is committed to streamlining business process and reducing overheads by identifying and using cost-effective and responsible solutions such as the OneVu service.
The OneVu service is free for consumers to use and offers a convenient and secure access to a large and growing number of biller websites, saving the consumer time and providing a greater control of personal finances. For billers there are significant savings to be gained through the reduction in processing and postage of paper bills, a decrease in call centre costs and reduced debtor days.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince commented: “OneVu provides an ideal service for us – a big step on the way to a fully online retail offering. Our customers are already fighting climate change with their electricity bills … taking their actual bills online will reduce the environmental impact of our supply operations and help us on our way to becoming a Carbon Zero business”.
Miles Quitmann, CEO of OneVu, said: “Ecotricity joins over 30 other major billing organisations who have already signed up to our service, particularly in the utilities sector where more than 75 per cent of companies in the UK now use the system.”
Source: Sibos Online
Denmark holds lead in consumer and business e-invoicing
Finland has yet to make any headway with regard to switching to the e-invoicing of consumers, even though we are already one of the international leaders in business-to-business e-invoicing. According to an extensive Itella Information survey, Denmark holds the lead in both consumer and business e-invoicing. The survey was conducted in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany during the spring of 2008. Consumer interviews were used to investigate over 3,300 people’s experiences of e-invoicing. More than 1,600 people were interviewed with regard to business-to-business invoicing.
The fact that Finland is still in last place in consumer e-invoicing can be considered a blemish on our society’s reputation. We compare favourably with regard to b-to-b e-invoicing, meaning that we have all the technological tools to replicate that success in the consumer sector. Finnish people seem to think that being able to pay their bills through their online bank is quite enough. The majority of consumers still receive hard copies of their invoices, while too few people even contemplate receiving e-invoicing. But does the underlying reason lie in our not having been sufficiently proactive in motivating consumers to switch to e-invoicing? asks Director Miikka Savolainen of Itella Information Oy.
According to the survey, consumers in the Nordic countries and Germany receive roughly the same number of invoices ? around 7 to 8 per person monthly. Hard copy is still the most common invoice format, with the exception of Denmark. In all of the countries, however, hard copies’ share of all invoices has decreased since 2006.
Denmark is in a class of its own with regard to e-invoicing. Only 32 per cent of Danish people nowadays report that they receive their invoices primarily in hard copy format. In the other countries around 75 per cent of consumers receive their invoices primarily in hard copy format. The Danes receive their e-invoices through both the online bank and invoice issuers’ websites or invoice and e-commerce portals.
The Danes can be considered trailblazers in consumer e-invoicing, while Finland and Germany lag behind. In Finland, the number of consumers requesting a hard copy invoice has been decreasing since 2006. Presently, 86 per cent of Finns receive their invoices in hard copy format, but in the future, 50 per cent of Finns hope to receive hard copies of their invoices. In Sweden, the number of people preferring hard copies has remained constant. In Germany, as many as 65 per cent of consumers would like to receive their invoices as letters in the future as well, says Savolainen.
The Finns and Danes exhibit contrasting conduct with regard to payment, too. In Finland, online banking is commonly used for payments, while few invoices are received there. Danes commonly receive reminders of their due invoices through an online bank, but favour direct debiting.
The Danish infrastructure makes the switch-over to e-invoices easy for consumers. Direct debiting, common in Denmark, also supports a switch-over to e-invoicing. These factors at least partly explain why Denmark is ahead of us. We have similar experiences in Norway and Estonia, says Savolainen.
Businesses transition towards e-invoicing ? the large followed by the small
In Finland, almost 80 per cent of large companies plan on sending the majority of their invoices in electronic format within 2 to 3 years. Among SMEs, Finnish ones are the most eager to make the switch to e-invoicing. Some 78 per cent of Finnish SMEs believe that they will be solely or partially using e-invoicing within the following 2 to 3 years.
According to our survey, almost all businesses and organisations intend to make the switch to e-invoicing in the forthcoming years. The only exception is Germany, in which only 65 per cent are considering this. The underlying reason for Finnish businesses’ enthusiasm for e-invoicing is the desire to achieve time and cost savings through this invoicing method, Savolainen states.
Finnish businesses to refuse hard copy invoices in the future
Some 75 per cent of large Finnish companies are receiving e-invoices at the moment. Denmark can equal these numbers, while other countries have not advanced this far.
Finnish businesses will be adopting a zero tolerance policy in the near future. Not even one of the respondents believed they would be exclusively receiving hard copy invoices in a few years. In Germany, on the other hand, little progress is expected, since even 42 per cent of the major corporations believed they would be receiving all their invoices in hard copy format, states Savolainen.
According to the survey, Finnish SMEs will be switching to e-invoicing in a more pronounced fashion than elsewhere.
Enthusiasm for switching to e-invoicing in the coming years runs high among small businesses, too. In Finland, more than half of SMEs expected to receive their invoices exclusively or almost exclusively in the e-invoice format in a few years, Savolainen explains.
Source: Itella.com
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