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September 12, 2016  |  Adoption, Electronic Invoicing, Europe, Featured Articles, Research

252 million electronic invoices were processed and delivered in 2015 by members of the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA), based on a set of survey results completed in July 2016. This represented a significant growth of 27 per cent over 2014 volumes of 985 million.

The majority of invoices processed were B2B or B2G (Business-to-Business or Business-to-Government) invoices (766 million invoices in total in 2015), although the EESPA membership also has a significant involvement in the delivery of B2C (Business-to-Consumer) invoices (485 million invoices in total in 2015).

In 2015 the figures reveal an important growth in B2B and B2G transactions over the previous year, and the same for the B2C sector. With the move to e-invoicing by EU public administrations based on the provisions of Directive 2014/55/EU, the future should bring accelerating volumes based on the critical mass that is already evident in these numbers.

EESPA service providers are making a very significant contribution to the adoption of electronic invoicing across Europe and globally. Service provider networks and services to buyers and suppliers contribute a growing and sizeable element of total electronic invoice volume and these services are more often than not preferred to direct connections between suppliers and buyers, which can be cumbersome to manage and do not take advantage of ‘network’ effects.

EESPA Chair Esa Tihilä:
“We encourage all our members to participate in this survey, now completed for the third year running, in order to follow the trends in e-invoicing and to give a valuable industry point of view on how the adoption of e-invoicing is growing. EESPA members are committed to supporting the constantly growing number of adopters in both private and public sector in realising the significant efficiency gains and cost savings available through e-invoicing and simplified and paperless ways of doing business. A substantial proportion of EESPA members participated the survey which shows that the e-invoicing service provider community continues to make a strong contribution to the overall growth and development of e-invoicing.”

EESPA was formed in 2011 as an international not-for-profit association. It acts as a trade association at a European level for a large and dynamic community of e-invoicing service providers, drawn from organisations that provide network, business outsourcing, financial, technology, and EDI (electronic data interchange) services. It focuses on public policy and compliance issues, the creation of an interoperable ecosystem and championing the widespread adoption of e-invoicing for the benefit of economic efficiency and growth.

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