In addition, the current push for companies to become more environmentally responsible means that the use of printed invoices is viewed as an unnecessary waste of paper and natural resources.  

According to OB10, paper invoice processing can cost companies between £2 and £10 per invoice, largely due to time being wasted by postal delays, lost items, incorrect data entry on receipt, and multiple checks along the way. These delays mean that it can take weeks just to get the information into the buyer's invoice processing system, leaving the buyer without a good view of commitments and the supplier unlikely to be paid on time.   

However, buyers operating in a business-to-business setting are currently benefiting from an established – and growing – global supplier network that can provide significant cost savings and rapid return on investment (ROI) through improved processes.  Other advantages of e-Invoicing include better reporting and forecasting, improved cash flow management, support for corporate governance, and the opportunity to leverage existing investments in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). 

Historically, with no universal data standards and no uniform template for electronic invoicing, computers have simply not been able to communicate, leaving the invoicing process difficult to automate. As a result, for many years, business-to-business electronic commerce – including invoicing – has been conducted through EDI.  However, EDI represented an expensive and difficult solution to implement, with few companies managing to automate more than 5% of their invoice volumes.  

EDI did, however, clearly demonstrate the benefits of paperless invoicing, and therefore helped to lay the foundations for electronic invoicing. Since then, only a small number of solutions have emerged that enable businesses to send and receive invoices electronically – without the need for additional hardware or software – whilst also operating across borders under different tax legislations, with all suppliers able to participate.  

This latest generation of e-Invoicing solutions, however, can now successfully give companies increased control over their processes. In fact, e-Invoicing services like OB10 can extract invoice data directly from a supplier’s billing system and send it directly to the buyer's ERP system – eliminating the need to process, manually key-in, or store paper invoices. OB10 provides a secure archive, ensuring that all invoices exchanged can be stored and accessed in accordance with regulatory requirements. In addition, as the success of e-Invoicing depends on the suppliers’ willingness to adopt the solution, OB10 provides a fully managed supplier enrolment programme, complete with guaranteed enrolment targets.  

As an added benefit, e-Invoicing will also allow companies to re-focus their purchase ledger team away from data entry and into more value adding roles, thereby freeing up key members of the team to work in a more proactive way with suppliers, and to create strategic relationships which can positively impact future purchasing. <ends> About OB10OB10 (www.OB10.com) is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network and leading e-Invoicing specialist of the UK Public Sector. 

OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organisations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. 

OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by up to 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less than a year if the programme follows OB10’s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 70 countries.  To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.    

Customers in Europe and North America include:  HP, GSK, Agilent, General Motors, Barclays, Crown Holdings, Cargill, ArvinMeritor, Computacenter, Mohawk Industries, Greif, ColdWater Creek, OyezStraker Office Supplies, Eaton, Medas (BBC), Woking Borough Council, Fisher Scientific, Xansa (BT), North Yorkshire County Council, East Lancashire Financial Services, SaraLee, LogicaCMG and Kellogg’s.