Electronic Invoicing

16 Jul

Posted at 10:15h in AP Automation, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing by
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There’s a perennial discussion about supplier fees for electronic invoicing. Should there be no fees to suppliers because all of the business benefit is on the buyer’s side of the equation? Should there be at least a small fee to suppliers that reflects the benefits of eliminating postage costs? Or should the fees be akin to purchasing card fees and be proportionate to the value of the invoice? While some see it as an ethical debate, it isn’t. It’s a commercial discussion. Everyone’s in it to make money and the debate is no more than an industry squabble. The fact is, most suppliers see supplier fees as a cost of doing business – you don’t get anything for nothing – and as far as suggesting that suppliers will pass the costs back to the buyer, even a junior procurement professional knows how to mitigate that risk and insist on no increase in pricing. What’s really important is the benefits that are delivered in terms of efficiency. This is one way of looking at it but there is another way and that involves doing the math.

15 Jul

Posted at 14:00h in BPO, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, The Rest by
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Outsourcing is not a bad thing. It allows companies to focus on their core competencies and let others do the rest. But there are some unintended consequences. When companies outsource processes to low-cost labor, they lose the motivation to modernize the process. Handcraft can be of value. You can argue that a handmade leather purse or a piece of pottery is nicer than a machine-made one. But a hand-processed invoice?! I don’t think you’d find much beauty there. When we outsource invoice processing, we settle for a short-term -fix rather than challenge ourselves to innovate. That’s when BPO becomes detrimental to long-term success. We are settling for cost reduction rather than process improvement.

10 Jul

Posted at 09:14h in AP Automation, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, Nipendo, Purchase to Pay by
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This week we’re delighted to welcome a new sponsor, Nipendo, to Purchasing Insight. Nipendo is fairly new on the P2P scene but in the five or so years that they’ve been about they’ve already made quite an impact with an impressive customer list which includes HP, IBM, Motorola, Pfizer and Office Depot. I was excited to speak to Nipendo’s CEO, Eyal Rosenberg,  a couple of weeks ago – I wanted to know what makes Nipendo’s proposition stand out from the crowd. We covered a lot of ground but the thing that stood out for me was the concept of E2E-invoicing. At first, I was a little skeptical but as Eyal explain more, enhancing his explanation with case study examples, the Nipendo vision became clearer.

05 Jul

Posted at 13:23h in AP Automation, Cloud Computing, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing, Financial Supply Chain Management, Purchase to Pay Process, Purchasing Card, Supply Chain Finance by
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Sometimes, great ideas just never take off because some prerequisite solution to a problem hasn’t been solved. E-procurement was a great idea in the 1990’s but until the internet was ubiquitous and trusted, it was slow to take off. Looking back, the trust and ubiquity grew quite quickly but in 1996, if we had a crystal ball that said it would take the best part of a decade to become an established way of doing business, I wonder whether we’d have given up. We didn't know that the problem was trust and ubiquity until it was solved.

03 Jul

Posted at 12:28h in e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing by
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Do you recognize this business? They are a market leader. They have a significant - perhaps largest market share in their industry. Everyone knows their brand. They recruit the best people and their brand looks great on a CV. They have the confidence to know that they can retain their market share and still win business without having to compete on price. Can you tell who I'm thinking of? Here's a few more characteristics.

25 Jun

Posted at 09:59h in e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing by
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UKNeF is the snappy acronym for the United Kingdom National e-invoicing Forum. It's constituted under the Chatham House rule. In case you are unfamiliar with the Chatham House rule - it's like Fight Club. The first rule of UKNeF is don't mention UKNeF. And it really is like Fight Club. The action takes place in a basement. It's an orgy of e-invoicing debate starring Edward Norton as "Nigel Taylor", the insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life who finds friendship with the devil-may-care character "Charles Bryant" played by Brad Pitt. OK, it's not like Fight Club - but it is set in a basement.

20 Jun

Posted at 10:58h in AP Automation, e-invoicing, Electronic Invoicing by
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The UK Government last week published what they call their “Information Economy Strategy” in which the UK’s intentions for e-invoicing in public sector are stated. It’s been met with a positive, indeed an enthusiastic response. But not from me. This is what the UK government says: “Government also wants to make it easier for its suppliers once they have won contracts, by encouraging the use of electronic invoicing.” And they go on: “Government will not mandate suppliers at this stage, but will look at ways to spread best practice, and will track progress with a view to taking action if required at a later date.” Some commentators seem to believe that this adds up to a commitment. I’m no mathematician but when read this, in terms of commitment, it adds up to the square root of .. well, nothing! This statement of intent is typical politician speak that aims to placate the well informed who know something needs to be done and at the same time reassure the flat-earthers, fearful of change.