Many 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
Electronic invoicing and invoice automation promise to unlock major benefits for almost everyone. Corporates, SME’s, banks, public administrations, service providers and even consumers can profit from electronic invoicing. The most striking benefit would be the multi-billion cost savings across Europe. Supplemented with a large amount of non-financial benefits, e-invoicing and invoice automation can be a major enabler in contributing to European competitiveness.
Common practice across Europe nevertheless shows that the penetration and adoption of electronic invoicing and invoice automation in Member States is relatively low. When it comes to European cross border e-invoicing, it is even lower.
EEI Platform
Nevertheless several initiatives in Europe on e-invoicing and invoice automation, it stands out that there is not a platform with a focus on sharing information, promoting members’ interests, building social networks and obtaining knowledge.
Mission
The mission of the EEI Platform is to accelerate the awareness, adoption and penetration of e-invoicing invoice automation and its related domains (payments, accounting, credit management, archiving, authenticity) across Europe. Creating benefits and opportunities for its visitors, members, partners and stakeholders.
Objectives
In achieving this mission, the EEI Platform aims at several objectives that distinguishes the EEI Platform from other initiatives. The mission and objectives are carried out using an activity and instruments framework. This activity framework is based on a S.M.A.R.T. approach: Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic, Time based.
Benefits
Packed with functionalities and opportunities to generate as much benefits as possible for our members and partners.
Step two: COMPLETE THE SUBSCRIPTION FORM
Step three: RETURN IT TO THE EEI PLATFORM:
Postal: EEI Platform
Brunelsingel 122
6841 KB ARNHEM
The Netherlands
Step four: PAY THE DIGITAL INVOICE
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
Kofax plc (LSE: KFX), the leading provider of Intelligent Capture & Exchange solutions, today announced that it has acquired the shares of OptiInvoice Digital Technology AB (“OptiInvoice”), a Scandinavian company that develops and markets electronic invoice and other document processing software.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, OptiInvoice provides software that allows electronic invoices and other documents to be digitally encrypted and transmitted or submitted via e-mail and other data streams in standard text, image and extensible markup language (XML) file formats. It then allows the recipient to accept and process those same files.
The software eliminates the need to print, mail, receive and process paper-based invoices and other documents, thereby significantly reducing otherwise manual labor processes and costs, improving the accuracy of the related data and accelerating processing times. This enables better accounts payable management to ensure that all application terms, conditions and discounts are fully utilized.
The majority of invoices and other documents continue to originate in a paper format but many companies and government agencies are gradually migrating to electronic formats to improve efficiency and lower costs. As a result, the adoption of electronic invoice and other document processing software is accelerating and users are in need of a capture solution capable of accommodating both paper and electronic formats.
The combination of the OptiInvoice software with existing Kofax Capture and Transformation Modules software addresses these market requirements. The OptiInvoice and Kofax software products have been successfully integrated, and the integrated solution will be released during the current calendar quarter.
“This acquisition is a natural extension of our intention to grow both organically as well as through the acquisition of synergistic software companies and products,” said Reynolds C. Bish, Chief Executive Officer at Kofax. “It also begins to level the competitive landscape in the invoice processing segment of the capture market, where we previously needed to partner with a third party to provide these capabilities while our most direct competitor could already offer a complete solution. This should enable us to accelerate our revenue growth in this important and rapidly-growing segment of the capture market.”
Kofax has paid 2.00 million Euros (£1.57 million) in cash upon the closing of the acquisition, a portion of which will be held in escrow for a period of time. Further conditional payments estimated to be in the range of 1.31 million Euros up to a maximum of 10.00 million Euros (£1.03 to £7.84 million) may be made during the ensuing 4 years subject to the achievement of certain performance criteria and the retention of certain employees. The acquisition is expected to be EBITA neutral in the current financial year and accretive thereafter. OptiInvoice broke even in the year ended December 31, 2007, and at December 31, 2007 reported gross assets of £205,479.
About Kofax plc
Kofax plc (LSE: KFX) is the leading provider of Intelligent Capture & Exchange solutions. For more than 20 years, Kofax has provided award-winning solutions that automate document-driven business processes by managing the transformation and exchange of business-critical information arising in paper, fax and electronic formats in a more accurate, timely and cost-effective manner. These solutions provide a verifiable return on investment to thousands of customers in financial services, manufacturing, retail, government, healthcare, business process outsourcing and other markets. Kofax delivers these solutions through its own sales and service organisations, and a global network of more than 1,200 authorised partners in more than 60 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
Source: http://www.kofax.com/
A recent study looking to identify possible benefits for corporate financial service providers in the aftermath of SEPA implementation marks the existence of two separate approaches banks can implement in order to recoup SEPA-related investments and generate additional revenues: electronic invoicing and supply chain financing.
The study points out that SEPA compliance has exerted a high toll on financial institutions, all the more so since SEPA provisions actually cut back on banks’ payment revenues by stipulating that cross-border payment fee levels should match those of domestic transactions fees. As a result, the study claims, banks need to come up with alternate strategies to compensate for lost payment revenues. The answer, the research points out, could lie in the so-called ‘value-added’ services such as cross-border electronic invoicing and supply chain financing.
Electronic invoicing comes with a series of benefits ranging from process savings to lower fraud and credit risks, faster payments and improved cash flow, lower IT costs due to standardised invoicing, payments and account interfaces and higher productivity. As a result, the study points out that e-invoicing could hold the key to a higher degree of corporate profitability within SEPA and pave the way for another profit-generating value-added service, namely supply chain automation. The latter renders banks more aware of their customers’ own financial processes and cash flows, allowing them to extend credit facilities to their corporate customers and build additional revenues.
The research was conducted by IT service provider TietoEnator.
Source: Tietoenator
Source: Accountis
The last day of Europe’s main e-invoicing event has now become a discussion forum for the European EIPP operators. This year saw the Third E-Invoicing Operators’ Forum being held in Frankfurt.
One of the most interesting presentations of the day was given by the event organiser, Bruno Koch of Billentis. Bruno presented what he termed to be an alternative and more pragmatic model for e-invoicing service provision and called it “Model B”. According to the research conducted by Billentis, e-invoice volumes are dominated by the small-medium and consumer sectors. The table below illustrates the spilt of invoice volumes according to organisation size.
In total, about 81% of invoice volumes are exchanged in the small-medium and consumer sectors and in these sectors the predominant format is PDF. Bruno argues that operators should provide better services to capture invoices as documents, to use PDF as the primary e-invoice format with EDI/XML data provided as an additional service.
In “Model B”, the operator accepts real documents (e.g. Word, PDF, etc.) from the sender and delivers the document electronically to the recipient in a manner which is secure and compliant with the tax laws. As an additional service, the operator also extracts the data from the document and delivers the data in a format suitable for the recipient.
Providing services that most parties find easy to understand, access and use is the only way operators can drive mass adoption.
Interestingly, this is exactly the mechanism used by Accountis with its ebPrinter technology. With Accountis, anybody that can print an invoice, can send an e-invoice.
Source: Accountis
TIE Holding N.V. (“TIE”) hereby announces that Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH has selected TIE DCM as a key part of their worldwide indirect partner program.
The TIE Digital Channel Management solution (DCM) will enable Siemens to manage and distribute their marketing and sales information real-time to their worldwide indirect sales channel. Starting with a pilot phase in the US, UK, Germany and Spain, Siemens will connect a selection of their major partners to the DCM system. After a successful pilot it will become a key part of the worldwide indirect partner program.
“By working with TIE and their DCM system we believe we will offer real value to our channel partners. The partners can simply provide the information regarding Siemens solutions, quickly, easily and without having to have specialist marketing skills or any burden of keeping information up to date. The potential for our partners to run, ready branded, targeted campaigns at the click of mouse is very exciting”, said Adrian Honey, Director of Global Indirect Channel Marketing. “From a Siemens perspective we reduce the time to get information into the market and are obviously pleased that accurate, complete and up to date information about our products and solutions is available to the market and is being actively promoted by our partners”.
“Siemens really understands the value of getting their marketing and sales content fast and easy into the worldwide market and recognizes the power of the TIE technology” says Jan Sundelin, CEO of TIE. “By using the TIE DCM system, Siemens will be able to reduce their costs and increase the Marketing reach for Siemens and their channel partners”.
Source: TIE
According to Statistics Estonia, in January 2008 four out of ten enterprises with Internet connection had received e-invoices, three out of ten had sent out e-invoices. In the previous year the corresponding indicators were two out of ten and one out of ten.
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
The popularity of online payments for utility bills (electricity, gas, water) is increasing in Hungary since the launch of a new eInvoicing service last year by the Díjbeszed? Holding (Utility Fee Collection Holding), despite a persisting reticence to change.
There are now over 50 000 residents in Budapest who choose to pay their utility bills over the Internet. In the summer of 2008, the Dijbeszedõ Holding carried out a survey on attitudes to eInvoicing in 1 000 Budapest households. According to the survey, confidence in electronic payment methods has increased. Some 75 % of the population regard purchasing over the internet as secure; 50 % of the respondents use the internet regularly and one-third even use eBanking services.
On the negative side, 20 % reject eInvoicing for security reasons, and 14 % claim to have a strong aversion to eInvoicing. The survey also revealed that 84 % of the population still use the so-called yellow (post office) cheques to pay their monthly bills; 20 % occasionally use bank transfer services to pay their bills; and only 16 % of Budapest’s population relies on standing orders.
Although eInvoicing is gaining in popularity, Hungarian citizens still use some 280 million ‘yellow cheques’ a year to pay their bills at post offices, highlighting a reluctance to change on the part of the population. According to the survey, it is very important to customers (70 on a scale of 1 to 100) to avoid having to change their usual payment methods.
Source: ePractice.eu
Corporate finance executives have been asking where’s the benefit of the single European payment area, SEPA? Moti Porath of Fundtech argues that now is the time for those directors to reinvent their financial supply chain. Building on the electronic payment and invoicing services around SEPA standards will capitalise on existing investments and attract new business.
Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) adoption promised to deliver on the grand visions of European harmonisation and a cashless society. But in reality it has been regulatory compliance that has driven adoption for most banks. Company directors and corporate finance departments have asked ‘what’s in it for us?’ and been met with a wall of silence. It is no surprise that financial institutions have been reluctant to engage with the directive. But the vision of eSEPA, an electronic approach to SEPA, is beginning to attract interest.
Using SEPA rules as a driver, banks can create an electronic financial supply chain that is faster and more cost effective for customers, primarily those within corporate finance. Beyond compliance this is an opportunity to revolutionise the financial supply chain and create a ‘win win’.
This progression is long overdue. In a recent report ‘Is European Regulation the Stepmother of Invention?’ TowerGroup research director Gareth Lodge notes that innovation in payments has been lethargic at best. “Many of the processes today are largely based on what was done yesterday - or rather yesteryear. SEPA gives the opportunity to change not just legacy solutions but legacy thinking. The regulation offers an opportunity for banks to reinvent their operations with an eye toward the future, not the past.” The key element for corporates is the chance to reinvent the financial supply chain. Building services around SEPA standards will capitalise on existing investments and attract new business.
Source: Accountingweb
