More enterprises switch to e-invoicing

Monday, February 11, 2013

Businesses are continuing to utilize conversion services for electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), which offers improved business process automation as well as cost savings.

A recent study by Basware revealed that 73 percent of organizations use some form of e-invoicing, an increase from 59 percent in 2011. Business Review Europe explained that firms will depend on IT support to meet changing business demands, and e-invoicing is one example of this. The source asserted that as invoice volumes have increased by 20 percent just in the last year, many CFOs are being forced to manage information that normally only the CIO would have to handle. Therefore, electronic document management will become a mainstream business deployment for seamless invoicing processes as the responsibilities of the CFOs, CIOs and IT departments intersect.

Less costly and more timely 
Reduced spending as a result of efficiency and a lowered dependency on resources is a major advantage to electronic file management. Research from Billentis reported that paperless invoicing is an estimated 60 to 80 percent less expensive than a traditional paper system. According to Alberta Oil Magazine, Sure Energy is one company that has realized a range of improvements due to a conversion to e-invoicing. Lance Wirth, vice president of finance and CFO of Sure Energy, told the news source that the firms’ paper-based billing system was ineffective, and invoices, which took six separate steps to process, often got into the accounting system too late.This delay had a negative impact on relationships with vendors and clients, as well as prevented the company from being eligible for bonuses from timely payment. Sure Energy handles approximately 6,000 invoices every year, which Wirth explained amounted to immense environmental waste. He proposed a paperless billing solution for the company to process all invoices electronically.

As a result of the conversion, Sure is able to submit invoices online, resulting in a reduced administrative burden on producers and faster clearing.  Electronic invoices can now be processed in a day as opposed to two weeks. This has helped to reduce tensions with suppliers and improve overall communications. Additionally, retrieval is easier with the paperless system because invoices can be found with just a few clicks. Wirth explained that time savings are significant: Because data entry is automated from the moment a supplier submits a new bill, office workers spend less time manually entering information and can focus on other critical tasks.

As companies implement electronic solutions for invoicing, executives will realize accelerated, more insightful decision-making from easier accessibility to information.

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