Basware has the (un)rewarding task of bringing the world some great news and some not so great news at the same time. Their annual Global E-invoicing Study shows that supplier resistance to e-invoicing adoption has significantly decreased from 46% in 2011 to 26% in 2012. Nice. But wait, don’t get too excited, because it also shows that 81% of invoices are scanned for invoice processing and 69% of businesses print invoices in-house. Bummer, right? We’re all confused. Should we be happy or disappointed?
Global E-invoicing Study
The second annual global study surveyed 908 finance professionals from the US, UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Finland. The 2012 Global E-Invoicing Study is a benchmarking study of the e-invoicing practices by businesses of all sizes in key markets, the rates of adoption and the degree to which electronic invoicing is being used by organizations.
Outsourcing scanning and printing
Outsourcing isn’t the most popular activity for respondents: only 26% of enterprises outsource the scanning of purchase invoices into electronic format, with the number as low as 11% among SMEs. Those using more sophisticated systems are more likely to outsource printing services (30%). And what about not printing your invoices at all? That still seems to be a utopia, because only 8% don’t print invoices.
PDFs continue to be the most common format for electronic invoices (58%). 79% of companies that send out invoices as PDFs receive email invoices in this format, compared to 50% of companies that use state billing and automation systems. 56% of businesses with sophisticated systems experienced a reduction in the cost of invoice processing compared to their counterparts that use PDF; 38% saw a reduction in invoice errors compared to 28% using PDF-based processes.
Happy ending
But let’s end on a happy note, because the fact remains that there has been a reduction in the perceived barriers that prevent the adoption in e-invoicing compared to 2011. 28% of businesses that use sophisticated invoicing systems found it had a positive impact on the relationships with suppliers and customers. There has also been a steady increase in those businesses that use electronic invoicing to some degree in 2012 – 73% compared to 59% in 2011.
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