Itella Information has already offered a first-hand insight on e-invoicing in B2B and B2C areas in many European countries back in 2010. They didn’t quite manage to carry out surveys in 2011 and 2012, but they did keep an eye open to what others had to say about the matter. Billentis, for example, addresses the subject in their 2012 report “AP Automation: Opportunities in a challenging market environment.” And fortunately their findings are supported by big brother Itella.
What did Itella, uhh Billentis conclude?
- An expected market penetration of above 50% in 2017 for the B2B/B2G/G2B segment, and of above 50% for the B2C segment in 2020.
- A clear increase in the adoption rate of e-invoicing, a phenomenon which had its start in the B2C area.
- The countries that became early adopters of e-billing now tend to embrace electronic invoicing in the B2B area, too.
SMEs shouldn’t whine?
Itella believes that having successful examples of electronic invoicing adoption in Europe (e.g. Estonia and Norway) will speed up the process in the B2B cases and to include SMEs, for which the rollout model may vary considerably. Nevertheless, Itella argues, a wide range of solutions already exists and is ready to answer any company’s demands, regardless the size of the company. Everybody is of course entitled to their opinion, but let’s just say that we don’t completely agree with the final part of Itella’s argument.
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