“We are happy to see that our solutions are more and more being delivered as a service.  In addition Basware Connectivity services make invoice processing more efficient and lower costs. Our solutions also scale up easily when the customer’s volumes grow,” says Ilkka Sihvo, CEO, Basware Corporation.

Basware’s e-invoicing services enable automation of purchase and sales invoices as well as allow organizations to immediately shift to 100 percent electronic invoicing. The services include the transaction of e-invoices, data recognition services for scanned invoices, a printing service, supplier portal as well as supplier and customer activation. The service sends invoices in electronic format from the invoicing solution, transfers the documents to the desired format and transmits them to the buyer’s invoice processing solution or printing service, depending on the preferred solution. Additionally Basware activates suppliers to start using e-invoicing.

Basware

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Basware delivers invoice automation solution to a supplier of pipe systems as SaaS.

Approval by over 100 public agencies and 16.000 supplier
Action item 2.4 of the draft vision states the Government should “increase the automation of services  – Automate processes to improve the interactions between people, business and government” from 2011.

So vendors like Basware said that this action as well as the new carbon tax, could open the door to e-invoicing. The Australian government states that they are “always open to considering the adoption of new technologies, such as electronic invoicing, where it improves productivity and efficiency.”

Continuing:  “when undertaking such consideration, the operational needs of over 100 agencies and over 16,000 suppliers to the Commonwealth have to be taken into account”.

Expert’s view: Paul Turner
In this discussion Paul Turner states that there is no question that they (Australia) are a long way behind Europe and elsewhere with thinking on e-invoicing. He puzzled over why this is and suspects that there are several factors.

First: tax compliance
The first is related to tax compliance. Australia has an extremely high level of compliance and so the Australian Federal Government has not been drawn to e-invoicing to ‘solve’ a problem that doesn’t exist.

Second: “the tyranny of distance”
A second factor has to do with our (relative) geographical remoteness and that “We do not have international trading partners on our doorstep like our European friends do”, Paul Turner says.

He continuous:  “A very important historical work (written in 1966) entitled “The Tyranny of Distance” argues that Australia’s relative distance from the ‘old world’ had significant and long-lasting impacts on our history. In a way, Blainey’s thesis still holds true today. We don’t have other countries ‘next door’ (in the sense of shared borders) and so issues of streamlining ‘international trade’ in this context is not there. In more recent times, Australia’s trading ‘future’ is seen resting with our Asian neighbours. Neighbours who of course are also lagging in the adoption of e-invoicing (with notable exceptions).”

Third: extremely low corruption
A third factor involves the extremely low incidence of corruption in public administration. According to Paul Turner fraud remains low due a highly professional (and professionalized) base of public servants (civil service) and a robust compliance regime.  Thus another potential driver for e-invoicing is removed.

U-turn approach
Nonetheless he believes that Australia will very quickly get on board, because of  massive ‘nation-building’ projects that point to the speedy adoption of e-invoicing:

• the National Broadband Network (NBN) roll-out, motivating to use the huge bandwidth becoming available by government and industry;
• implementing a carbon trading scheme/carbon tax on large emitters in Australia committing Australia to ‘cleaning up their act’;
• apply an efficiency dividend to public entities: budgets are cut every year at a set rate in order to promote efficiency in government administration.

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This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Should the Aussies promote e-invoicing?.

OB10′s end-to-end e-Invoicing solution will aim to streamline Centrica’s accounts payable function; by automating the ability to accept supplier invoices in a wide variety of international invoice data formats. Adopting this approach may help Centrica to maintain its position as a leading supporter of the Prompt Payment Code.

“We are delighted that Centrica has made the decision to join our e-Invoicing network”, said Luke McKeever, CEO of OB10. “Our continued growth in the provision of e-Invoicing services to utilities companies has seen a dramatic increase in the number of associated suppliers who are using our platform to send invoices to their customers in this sector.”

OB10

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Centrica turns on e-Invoicing with OB10.

This announcement coincides with a period of significant growth for OB10 as well as international expansion.

Commenting on this landmark achievement, Luke McKeever, CEO of OB10 said: “We have consistently led the field in electronic invoice processing; delivering large scale projects on a global level. More and more firms are acknowledging the gains that can be made through electronic invoicing and this milestone is a tribute to this.”

OB10 has experienced continued expansion of its e-Invoicing network in multiple sectors; most recently within the utilities and food and beverage industries. This has led to the network now managing significantly more than $100 billion worth of invoice transactions annually.

McKeever concluded: “We have been undertaking extensive projects with an increasing number of global companies. Our corporate sales increased by 53% in the 2010 financial year compared to 2009 and we plan to continue this growth in 2011 both in corporate sales and the development of our supplier network.

Central to our offering is our supplier enrolment programme which enables us to very quickly register multiple suppliers on a global scale. Thereafter, the advantages of e-Invoicing speak for themselves.”

OB10

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: OB10 exceeds 100,000 suppliers on its global network.

Following a new requirement communicated by the Finnish state in early 2010 for state agencies and institutions to receive only e-invoices from their suppliers, the State Treasury of Finland is now leading the way in e-invoicing adoption and uptake. The Finnish State agencies currently handle 13 million sales invoices and 1.9 million purchase invoices annually, and have over 230,000 suppliers on its database. Prior to this initiative, a number of suppliers, especially those sending only a few invoices annually, had no access to tools for delivering e-invoices. However, through the provision of Basware’s Supplier Portal, the State Treasury of Finland has ensured suppliers of all sizes can utilize e-invoicing in their commercial transactions with the government body subsidized by the treasury itself.

The State Treasury of Finland is not the only government agency driving the adoption of e-invoicing. In Europe, there are similar initiatives on-going in Sweden and Denmark. In Mexico it is now mandatory to issue invoices electronically if the invoice sum is higher than 2,000 pesos, and, since 1 January 2011, businesses are required to perform regulatory compliance checks for senders and receivers’ invoices.

The benefits of e-invoicing are clear to see according to a recent Billentis report: the State Treasury of Finland estimates that an incoming paper invoice costs €30-50 for the receiving company. Companies can reduce these costs to €10 by semi-automating the invoice process, and reduce further down to just €1 by fully automating the process – a significant level of savings when applied across all invoices the government sends and receives.

In addition, there are significant time and environmental savings that can be made through the switch to e-invoicing. A recent report from the Federation of Finnish Financial Services estimates that by switching from paper to electronic invoices, there is a 43% time saving per outgoing invoice and 50% for an incoming invoice. In addition, the report found that the carbon footprint for an outgoing e-invoice is less than half of that of an outgoing paper invoice. For incoming invoices, the carbon footprint savings are even more significant – on average, the carbon footprint for an incoming electronic invoice is less than a fifth of that of a paper invoice.

“Our aim is to promote e-invoicing and the benefits that both senders and receivers can gain, both fiscally and environmentally,” said Keijo Kettunen, Head of Payment Transactions at the State Treasury of Finland. “The burden for e-invoicing isn’t solely on businesses – State agencies, such as ourselves, have a significant role to play in promoting and leading the way for e-invoicing, and making it as accessible and usable as possible for even the smallest of businesses.”

“The success or failure of any e-invoicing initiative depends on getting the suppliers on board, regardless of the size, location or industry. The State Treasury of Finland is a forerunner in e-invoicing in Europe for government-led initiatives, and is demonstrating the benefits that companies can reap through its implementation,” said Ilkka Sihvo, CEO, Basware. “The objective is to encourage other governments as well as private companies to take note and to drive further uptake. We at Basware are driving this adoption forward, both by requiring our own suppliers to shift to e-invoicing as well as developing solutions for suppliers of all sizes.”

Basware

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: The State Treasury of Finland Leads the Way in E-Invoicing.

A major advantage CertiONE represents for Cegelec is the large business community already connected to the platform. CertiONE links more than 85,000 companies from various sectors with their suppliers and customers in Belgium and throughout Europe. No separate connection has to be set up with each trading partner. The platform acts as an electronic sorting centre and translation service. The sender provides his documents in the format of his choice, and Certipost delivers them quickly and flawlessly to the recipients in the format they prefer.

Certipost

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Cegelec adopts inbound e-invoicing.

The Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) is opening up the private market of value added network providers (and others), allowing them to become access points for electronic invoicing. Instead of a single government managed access point, it has been decided to encourage the private sector to provide access points based around the PEPPOL infrastructure and related standards. This will make PEPPOL the backbone of public electronic invoicing in Norway. Electronic invoicing with the PEPPOL standard format will be compulsory for all state and regional health entities in Norway by July 1st 2012.

Difi also invites VAN-operators and large invoice issuers and invoice receivers to utilize PEPPOL’s infrastructure for exchange of electronic procurement messages on standard formats, and by this take the opportunity to provide what is known as an access point.

By connecting to the PEPPOL infrastructure, which will act as a central hub, all issuers of electronic invoices will able to send these to their customers both within Norway and across Europe.  Currently this is challenging due to the variety of incompatible systems in use. Increasing public and private sector access to the PEPPOL infrastructure will help Norway realize the benefits of electronic procurement.

Electronic invoicing in public sector in Norway
Norwegian state entities and regional health organization should be able to receive invoices electronically on standard format as of 1st of July 2011, and by 1st of July 2012, it will be compulsory.

One access point is sufficient
According to Dag Strømsnes, Head of Department for Public Procurement in Difi and chairman of the PEPPOL board, more access points will make it easier for public entities to promote electronic invoicing. Access points act as information interchange centres.  By connecting to only one access point any supplier or public sector buyer will be able to reach all the other suppliers or public sector buyers, says Mr. Strømsnes.

New access points will contribute to increased competition in the supplier market, he continues. He welcomes both financial (such as banks) and non-financial entities to become access points.

Source: PEPPOL

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: PEPPOL infrastructure to be the backbone of e-invoicing in Norway.

Just recently, J.P. Morgan launched a new patent-pending e-invoicing functionality for suppliers, called Auto-Configuration E-File, which enables suppliers to eliminate upfront implementation costs and bypass the need for specialized IT skills. Using Auto-Configuration E-File, suppliers can quickly begin to interact with their buyers in an automated fashion. Designed primarily for small and medium size suppliers, Auto-Configuration E-File enables suppliers to load invoice files directly from their current billing system, versus having to enter them one-by-one, minimizing keystroke errors and increasing the efficiency with which suppliers can transact with their buyers.

“J.P. Morgan continues to strengthen its commitment to Order-to-Pay suppliers by offering improved support and more choices in how they transact with buyers. The diversity of options we offer to suppliers to connect to the network is key to making it accessible for small and large suppliers alike,” said Eduardo Vergara, global commercial card executive, J.P. Morgan. “The significant growth of suppliers participating in our network is due, in part, to the ease and choice of connectivity we provide to suppliers.”

In addition to the new Auto-Configuration E-File functionality, J.P. Morgan recently introduced a number of other enhancements for suppliers, including a free Invoice Web Form that enables infrequent use suppliers to electronically submit non-Purchase Order invoices via Order-to-Pay without the need to set up an Order-to-Pay account. J.P. Morgan also launched a revamped supplier home page and expanded customer service hours. J.P. Morgan provides dedicated relationship managers to high volume suppliers on the network, ensuring they are able to work with someone knowledgeable of their specific needs and processes.

J.P. Morgan’s Order-to-Pay solution offers distinct benefits to suppliers, including:

• Choice – Suppliers have a variety of options to choose from for receiving purchase orders and sending invoices, making the solution easy and efficient for suppliers of any size. Multiple payment options are provided, including ACH, paper check, card and wire.
• Transparency — The dedicated supplier portal enables users to easily track the latest status of invoices and payments at any time. Order-to-Pay not only provides visibility into payment status, but enables suppliers to choose how and when they get paid.
• Service — J.P. Morgan’s dedicated Supplier Services desk ensures that suppliers can get personalized, knowledgeable support. Additional benefits include cost reduction through the reduction of paper and postage costs, and the elimination of phone-based inquiries regarding invoice and payment status.

“Attracting supplier interest in an EIPP enrollment is critical to the success of any AP automation program. AP/EIPP providers, such as J.P. Morgan, strive to make participation seamless while adding value to the supplier relationship. We believe that what makes J.P. Morgan’s Order-to-Pay solution so successful for suppliers is the variety of transaction methods offered, the immediate access to invoice and payment transactions, and access to dedicated supplier services experts,” said Henry Ijams, managing director of PayStream Advisors. “An AP/EIPP platform that only serves the needs of buyers is only solving a fraction of the AP automation challenge. Providers must serve suppliers’ unique needs to create lasting supplier value and drive participation.”

J.P. Morgan’s Order-to-Pay solution enables suppliers to electronically receive purchase orders, submit and track invoices, receive detailed remittance information, and take advantage of early payment opportunities to improve cash flow management. J.P. Morgan’s network of suppliers ranges from small companies of one or two people to Fortune 500 companies, representing virtually every industry segment. In 2010, buyers and sellers transacted more than $155 billion in business via the Order-to-Pay network.

Source: Business Wire

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: J.P. Morgan’s order-to-pay network crosses 100,000 supplier threshold.

After completing these four courses you will be well on your way to developing your own eInvoicing strategy. eInvoicing makes business sense. It is the first step to true automation of your billing process – and starting is easy.

The following courses will be presented:

- eInvoicing 101: eInvoicing Essentials for AP and AR
Why eInvoicing? Why now? This session provides a roadmap for getting started and developing an electronic invoicing strategy.

- eInvoicing 201: Succesful Implementation Approaches: Learn by Example
Find out what the best companies are doing and how you can learn from their efforts.

- eInvoicing 301: Proven Strategies for Onboarding Suppliers
You’ve decided to go the eInvoicing route. Now how do you get all of your suppliers to comply?

- eInvoicing 401: Guidelines for Building a Business Case
Learn how to build a business case, develop metrics for measurement and create your own personalized RFP.

There is no cost to attend this learning academy. Registrants who attend all four sessions will receive a diploma for completion of the eInvoicing Learning Academy from Basware.

For more information,  go to www.basware.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Basware eInvoicing Learning Academy, a 4-part serie.

Key to the success of any AP e-invoicing project is getting suppliers to join you in your new venture. Most organisations transact with thousands of different suppliers, ranging from huge corporations to sole traders.

Therefore offering multiple connection methods is crucial. Accountis EIP offers 5 simple ways for suppliers to send you e-invoices, regardless of size or technical ability:

1. Paper to Data – We receive and scan all your inbound paper invoices and output the data directly into your ERP or finance system or Accountis Hub.

2. File Upload - Ideal for larger, high volume processors. Import invoice data directly into the e-invoicing Hub from any ERP system or finance package. Can be done manually or automatically.

3. ebPrinter – Generate an invoice using an existing accounts package but print to the ebPrinter virtual printer) instead of a local printer. This generates and sends an e-invoice to the Hub in the correct format.

4. Document Flip – Login to view an e-purchase order online, and create an e-invoice by simply “flipping” the PO.

5. Webscreen - Perfect for smaller businesses. Enter ad-hoc invoice details directly into the Hub using an online form.

Source: Accountis

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Accountis: 5 ways to make supplier adoption easier.