Improve process automation

Process automation represents the ‘sweet spot’ for eInvoicing. Electronic invoices can be processed by your organisation’s other IT systems – such as purchasing or treasury systems – which removes time, cost and data errors when transferring invoices over different media.

For both buyers and suppliers, electronic invoicing process automation delivers important benefits:

  1. Low error rate

    In retail, up to 40 per cent of paper-based invoices contain data errors related to price or trade promotions. Errors require research with the buyer and negotiation with the supplier to resolve. eInvoicing eliminates errors by ensuring that the data is correct at the point of origin and unchanged as it populates other business systems.

  2. Improved process

    Invoice data can be easily matched to purchase order and goods received data highlighting any mismatch or payment tolerance issues. Business rules can easily scan for duplicates or fraudulent invoices, which can be checked and approved within the business.

  3. Reduced supplier calls and disputes

    By ensuring the data quality of your invoice, eInvoicing means that suppliers no longer need to spend a significant amount of time chasing payment status or payment errors. The buyer’s AP department doesn’t need to devote so much time to fielding supplier calls.

  4. Increased staff productivity

    Time-consuming paper processes prevent accounting personnel from more strategic activities, such as identifying opportunities to reduce spend or performing invoice audits that enable procurement organisations to identify billing errors, maverick purchases, and off-contract buying.

  5. Improved visibility

    By processing invoices electronically, all comittments become visible to Finance almost as soon as the invoice is received, improving forecast accuracy.

  6. Meeting VAT audit requirements

    Meeting the requirements for European VAT audits require time-consuming and costly collection of key documents from hundreds or thousands of folders containing paper invoices. eInvoicing allows you to store all related electronic documents together making retrieval for auditing a much simpler process. See Data storage and archiving »

  7. Early payment discount opportunities for buyers

    Companies will often negotiate various discounts in return for early payment. Prioratised invoices can be approved and settled quickly ensuring buyers take advantage of any contractual discounts or supply chain finance initiatives. See Cash management »

  8. Reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) for suppliers

    Today, cashflow is king and suppliers are burdened with buyers extending their days payables outstanding (DPO), which in turns extends their days sales outstanding (DSO). e-Invoicing speeds payment eliminating late-payment fees for buyers, and reduces DSO for suppliers. See Cash management »

 
By integrating your eInvoicing system with existing business systems, you can send, receive and route invoice data to the relevant people automatically. This may require higher levels of encryption and security to ensure the integrity and authenticity of your electronic invoice depending on your organisation’s internal policies.

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