E-invoicing is creating great expectations. Policymakers and interest
groups expect the electronic invoice to yield potentially huge savings and open up
new areas of business. The interest being shown by companies, however, is
muted. Just 22% of companies use e-invoicing and only 5% of invoices are
currently sent electronically.
Only integrated processes yield cost savings. The big potential savings
come not from spending less on printing or postage, but from using modern,
automated processes for all invoice-related tasks. Advocates of the electronic
invoice believe that it will trigger these modernisations in a catalytic process,
whereas sceptics see e-invoicing as more like the final stage in an already largely
automated invoice processing system.
The legal situation and the lack of interoperability are holding back
the rollout. Lawmakers need to grant the electronic invoice completely equal
status to the paper invoice and to dispel legal uncertainties. Moreover, the
technical fragmentation of the market has to be resolved. Each user has to be
able to interchange electronic invoices with every other user regardless of the
selected e-invoicing provider and its application. Constructing such a network
requires a common technical standard that enables interoperability between the
e-invoicing providers.
Standard-setting by market participants is desirable. To date no such
market standard has become established. The competition between e-invoicing
suppliers could be complemented by a level of technical cooperation: service
providers, private and public users should jointly define a standard. The adoption
of e-invoicing by the public sector would not only provide a boost to the volume of
electronic invoices issued, it would implicitly also enhance the legal certainty of
electronic invoicing.
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Robert Dahlqvist Marketing Manager e-financeforum.com
