It has only been since the early 90’s that email has been adopted by the vast majority of communicators worldwide and it seemed that this would be the unbeatable way of communicating.

Right now, the new situation is that email is for old people – literally. A survey by ComScore explains that especially the new generation internet users has massively turned to social networking to contact each other.

The use of email dropped 59 percent among users aged between 12 and 17. Email has lost an overall part of 8 percent, according to ComScore’s 2010 Digital Year in Review. Users between 18 and 54 have also turned to substitutes for email, whereas people of 55 and older have actually embraced email tighter than before. In time, email could be pushed off the road by social media when these forms are optimized concerning their messaging system.

Young people are turning to social networks to communicate instead of traditional means. The activity accounts for 14 percent of time spent online in the U.S. That growth is fueled largely by Facebook, which has only continued to expand its reach in the past year, as expected. No less than 10 percent of page views in the U.S. are on Facebook, and the amount of users grew by 38 percent to 153.9 million users in America. Total time spent on the Facebook site went up 79 percent to 49.4 billion minutes. Moreover, Facebook is not ready yet: when their new messaging system catches on, email providers such as Gmail might have a strong new competitor.

Facebook is the largest but not the only part of the social networking picture. Nine out of every ten online users visited social networking sites by the end of 2010. LinkedIn grew by 30 percent to 26.6 million users, as Twitter grew 18 percent to 23.6 million users, and Tumblr saw 168 percent growth to 6.7 million users. MySpace saw a decrease of 26 percent, dropping to 50 million users.

So pay attention to the new ways of (social) communication with e-invoicing and e-billing!

Source:
ComScore and Huffington Post

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Times are changing: email traded for social networks?.

As a featured presenter on the October 21 webinar: “Extend Your ERP for Better Supply Chain Collaboration,” Belinda Cordina of Nalco Procurement: Compliance, Systems, and Processes, discussed the problems from not being able to access order status in real time. “Lack of visibility starts with the PO,” said Cordina. “Five percent of our POs were not being received and we were in the dark with shipment information.”

With no automation, Nalco had a customer service team of seven people calling third-party drop shippers to check on order status. These distributors would bill Nalco once they received an order; upon receipt of the distributor invoice, Nalco would bill its customers. Lost and delayed orders meant that Nalco could not bill its customers in a timely manner, and that contributed to extensions in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Often, Nalco would not know about a delayed order until a customer called about it. “We faced so many challenges around order visibility that we began looking at ways to connect electronically,” said Cordina.

Nalco chose Ariba because so many vendors were connected to the Ariba Network. Through the Ariba Network, Nalco can manage delivery of POs and PO change orders and receipt of order confirmations, advance ship notices, and invoices electronically.

By replacing a manual effort with a business network that improves collaboration with business partners and customers, Nalco has improved customer service and now can send out customer invoices at the same time a product ships. “This is one of the main reasons that we wanted to connect vendors to the Ariba Network,” said Cordina.

The first wave of enablement targeted sensitive distributors that were quick to place credit holds on Nalco when orders were delayed. “They were all for it,” said Cordina. “The system gave them visibility when they would be paid and improved our payment terms.”

Nalco communicated a strong message to their business partners to drive adoption. For those that resisted, a simple follow up call explaining the value was enough. “Once on the Ariba Network, they see the benefits,” said Cordina, adding that in many cases, theses companies would see that many of their customers and suppliers were also active on the Ariba Network.

To access the webinar recording, click here.

www.ariba.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Ariba: a Customer Story.

“If you work as part of an in-house Web team, you have my sympathy. If that in-house team is within a large organization, then doubly so. Being part of an in-house Web team sucks. Trust me, I know. I worked at IBM for three years and now spend most of my days working alongside battle-weary internal teams.”

Read the entire article HERE
(Tip: read it from the e-invoicing perspective)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Fight The System: Battling Bureaucracy.

Check out these 23 invoicing applications that may just help you out!

Click here for the apps

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Get Paid: 23 useful invoicing applications.

The aim of the EEI Platform is to reach as many people as possible and provide them by selecting instruments and activities with the biggest impact.

Looking forward to the second year of existence of the EEI Platform, we would like to ask your opinion on which instruments you think are the best to fit this aim. Of course you are invited to add your own thoughts.

Therefore, we will regularly post polls to have a clearer view on the community and to adapt our scope where necessary.

This first poll is about the focus on next year. What is your opinion on the following activities and instruments?

Thank you very much for your help!

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Poll: What should be the EEI Platform focus in 2010?.

www.ez.nl

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Dutch State Secretary launches website for digital billing.

Click the link to obtain access to the report

You will be redirected to the ICT & Management Observatories by Politecnico di Milano website.
 
 

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Report: "E-Invoicing as a "keystone" between companies, banks and PA".

More information:
www.ePractice.eu
IDABC

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: First version of the eProcurement map including eInvoicing available.

Almost all enterprises in the Netherlands and Finland have internet access
In January 2008, the highest proportions of enterprises with internet access in the EU27 were recorded in the Netherlands and Finland (both 99%), Denmark (98%) and Belgium, Austria and Slovenia (97% each). The percentage was less than 90% in only five Member States: Romania (67%), Bulgaria (83%), Hungary (86%), Latvia (88%) and Cyprus (89%).
 
The proportion of enterprises with a broadband connection in January 2008 was above 90% in Spain, France and Finland (92% each) and in Belgium (91%). Only in Romania (44%), Lithuania (56%) and Poland (59%) did less than 60% of enterprises have a broadband connection.
 
The data show that while internet access appears to be approaching saturation in nearly all Member States, the level of broadband internet access is still increasing.

Below you can view the outcome of the survey:

 
Source: Eurostat

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Majority of enterprises in the EU27 had a website in 2008.

ID-card was used by four out of ten enterprises with Internet connection. ID card was used mostly for giving digital signature and for authorising users in information systems. The most active users of ID-card were the enterprises of financial intermediation; two thirds of them used ID-card.

The general trend of reducing the paperwork has increased the interest of public authorities in websites. The enterprises download more and more forms and return them via Internet. Over three quarters of enterprises downloaded forms and two thirds returned them via Internet. Two thirds of enterprises had their own websites.

In January 2008, 97% of enterprises used computers; 99% of them had also access to the Internet. These indicators have not changed much during the last five years. As before, most of the enterprises needed the Internet for banking and financial services; fewer enterprises used the Internet for training and education purposes. The most popular type of Internet connection was DSL broadband connection, used by three quarters of enterprises. Other types of broadband connection, such as cable TV, leased lines, etc., were used by two out of ten enterprises. Non-broadband connections (dial up, ISDN, mobile Internet) were used less and often in combination with broadband connection.

Statistics Estonia has surveyed the use of information technology in enterprises since 2001. In 2008 3,500 enterprises participated in the survey. The survey involves enterprises with 10 and more employees. The usage of information technology in enterprises is studied by statistical organisations in all European Union Member States on the basis of harmonised methodology.

Source: Stat

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoices gain popularity.

• Public Administrations that are setting up new eProcurement solutions and are interested in capitalising on other experiences and in receiving information on available guidelines and tools
• IT companies in charge of the development of eProcurement solutions
• Organisations responsible for existing eProcurement solutions that need to be aligned with the European legislation

A “Call for presentations” is open until the 5th December 2008. Please contact the eProcurement Forum by e-mail  (eprocurement@epractice.eu) if you need further information on the event, or if you are interested in sharing your experience and in presenting a case.

Registration is possible via the ePractice website at http://www.epractice.eu/workshop/37.  Please note that attendance is free and open to everyone who has been registered on the ePractice portal. Since the available places are limited, interested experts are invited to register soon. 

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: EC workshop eProcurement solutions in Vienna.

Of course, the best way to stay well  informed about the developments on e-invoicing is to regularly visit our website www.eeiplatform.com. But there are more ways.

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Moreover, every two weeks we will create a selection of key issues, developments, meetings and opinions. This selection is then placed in a newsletter, which gives you a global overview of e-invoicing in and across Europe.

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This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Subscribe to the EEI Platform newsletter.

The consultation is based on an Invoicing Study to be produced for the Commission. The Commission hopes to receive contributions concerning a selection of the recommendations contained in the Invoicing Study and other recommendations businesses may have. More information is contained in the consultation paper.

Interested parties are invited to submit their comments by 19 September 2008 at the latest. Comments may be sent alternatively by:

• Regular post, to the European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, VAT and other turnover taxes, Rue Montoyer 59, office 5/96, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium.
• Fax, to +32-2-299-36-48;
• Email, to taxud-d1-invoicing@ec.europa.eu.

The Commission will publish a report summarising the outcome of this consultation as soon as possible after the end of the feedback period. If, for any reason, those contributing wish their comments to remain confidential, they are invited to state it. Otherwise, the European Commission will assume that the contributors have no objection to the subsequent publication of their comments on the European Commission website.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eInvoicing: VAT – Review of existing legislation on invoicing.