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I caught up with Bertram Meyer, CEO of Taulia in Grand Central Station, New York yesterday. He was in a rush, on his way to JFK to catch a flight, so we only had 15 minutes but it was a fascinating 15 minutes. I say Grand Central Station - Bertram was in Grand Central Station, I was in my office speaking to him over the phone but that doesn’t sound quite as exciting. I was speaking to him because I wanted to know more about Taulia’s new UK presence, what the rationale was behind opening an office in the UK and most interesting of all, the timing.

Taulia have announced today that they have opened offices in the United Kingdom and, their press release says, they are bringing their "comprehensive suite of products to European organisations and expanding its services and operations for existing customers. In addition to the new offices, Sebastian Chilvers has joined Taulia as European Sales Director and will help accelerate the company’s growth in the regional market."

The dust hasn't settled on the decision by the UK to turn its back on the EU when a freedom of information request submitted by Basware makes it look like Great Britain is making a habit of being left out in the cold. While much of the world is embracing technology to reduce the cost of doing business, HM Treasury, the UK government counting house, still receives 80% of it's business invoices on paper and 83% of local government authorities are in a similar situation.

This is the third in the series The World Map of e-invoicing focusing on Latin America. Latin America is rapidly setting the pace for e-invoicing. Although the level of adoption is behind many other countries, the rate of increase in adoption is extremely rapid and mainly as a result of government sponsorship. Governments are supporting the growth of electronic invoicing by mandating its use and  removing the standards discussion by dictating the form of invoice and the associated digital signatures.

World map of e-invoicing Latin America

We all know that procurement can be undervalued in many organizations. It's an easy target and securing investment for an innovative idea can be an up hill battle. But it's hardly surprising. Procurement aren't the best at selling themselves and they're not not the only one fighting for a share of a finite investment resource. It's not a problem unique to procurement of course it applies universally. To secure investment and commitment you have to be able to tell a convincing story. You have to know how to prepare a compelling business case but more important than that, you have to be better than the other guy. This isn't the time for courtesy. Don't be fooled by feigned camaraderie. The other guys will rip you to shreds in the blink of an eye. They'll see you destroyed and humiliated if it means they win the funding. You can't let it happen. All you need is a few simple guidelines and you can put together a winning presentation. A water tight pitch that will beat any competition. The perfect business case - it's like taking a gun to a knife fight.