GUILDFORD, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--97% of businesses believe that effective use of e-invoicing would help companies to achieve operational efficiency but adoption is hampered by the inability to offer suppliers the possibilities to transact electronically and suppliers being forced to use multiple portals, according to the E-invoicing: A Global View Survey, an independent survey by Basware, the leading provider of purchase-to-pay solutions.
The survey of 1,373 finance professionals from US, Europe, the Nordic countries and Australia was conducted to provide an in-depth view of the levels of e-invoicing adoption, attitudes to the approach and the extent to which e-invoicing can help companies improve supplier relationships and in turn achieve better cash flow positions, reduce DSOs (days sales outstanding) and improve working capital.
While the benefits of transacting invoices and purchase orders electronically are widely recognised, with two thirds of respondents stating that it has a positive impact on their business, adoption levels still remain low. The majority of businesses (56%) are currently receiving less than 20% of all invoices electronically on a monthly basis and only 9% of respondents stated having high levels of e-invoice processing. Alongside this, 93% believe invoice processing could currently be somewhat or significantly improved.
72% of participants in the survey cited operational efficiency as the primary financial priority in 2011 with nearly all of the respondents highlighting e-invoicing as the key to achieving it. However, a too common experience of businesses aspiring to realise automation is that the process is staggered and compliance, changes to legacy processes and enabling suppliers to transact electronically take up significant time and energy. At the companies surveyed, 74% of invoices arrive on paper and are then scanned for further, often manual, workflow. These non-automated processes have visible bottom line impacts, as companies fail to benefit from optimised cashflow, working capital management and lower purchasing costs – all of which the respondents recognised to have clear impacts on operational efficiency.
A big challenge is the lack of interoperability between different e-invoicing networks, leading suppliers to be limited by networks that support only proprietary document formats. 61% of survey respondents claimed an open network, where any supplier, buyer or third-party vendor can participate in sending electronic documents irrespective of whether proprietary technologies are in place or not, would increase efficiency and cost savings. Alongside this, 46% of financial professionals’ cite the (perceived) cost of adoption as the primary challenge preventing the rapid uptake of e-invoicing. By not enabling suppliers to easily start transacting electronically and failing to integrate them into an organisations purchase-to-pay processes, results in reduced spend under management impacts the efficiency of the purchase-to-pay cycle. Suppliers should be able to participate irrespective of size, industry or geography and a dedicated program is essential to enable suppliers to start transacting electronically.
According to a separate research report commissioned by Basware1, combining invoice automation with e-invoicing and eProcurement within organisations doubles the chances of achieving AP invoice processing excellence and maximises straight-through processing. There is a significant disparity between those accounts payable departments that are still relying on paper-based processes and those organisations that have adopted automated processes and e-invoicing. Finance professionals recognise the benefits of e-invoicing in relieving the processing burdens and it is therefore unsurprising that 53% believe that suppliers need to increase their adoption of e-invoicing, with 54% of respondents requesting that e-invoicing becomes the industry standard.
Steve Muddiman, Senior Vice President, Basware commented: “To compete in a challenging economy a company, and more specifically its finance team, is under pressure to streamline processes and improve efficiencies in operations. No longer can they rely on processes that require manual intervention. E-invoicing offers multiple benefits in time and cost savings and there is recognition that the automation of invoicing is necessary for improving cash flow efficiencies and working capital. The challenge is for businesses to work with suppliers to ensure they understand the value in adopting e-invoicing as currently the slow uptake by suppliers is having a detrimental impact on businesses achieving operational efficiency.”
To find out more about the e-Invoicing: A Global View survey, please visit: www.basware.co.uk/e-invoicing
About Basware
Basware is the global leader in purchase-to-pay solutions with more than 1,500 customers and 1,000,000 users in over 50 countries around the world. With Basware, organizations can reduce the cost of buying and paying for goods and services and gain visibility and control of their entire spending process by automating manual processes, from sourcing, contract management, purchasing and supplier collaboration to invoice automation. Basware solutions and services enable substantial cost reductions across businesses and deliver value by providing compliance and control, as well as fast return on investment. The solutions are distributed and implemented, either on site or as a service, in Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific through an extensive network of Basware offices and business partners. www.basware.com
1 “Finance and Procurement Work Together To Achieve AP Invoice Processing Excellence. AP Departments That Combine Technology With Best Practices Are Most Likely To Get Top Results”, A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Basware, April 2010.