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Electronic Invoicing – You Have to Go the Whole Hog

he flexible nature of electronic invoicing allows for a phased approach, moving a tranche of accounts at a time and creating a hybrid system of physical and electronic accounts paperwork. For the small to medium business, such a system is workable but for the larger enterprise completely impossible.

For any business running physical and electronic invoicing systems in tandem, the overhead of managing such a workflow places a huge additional burden on accounts staff and thereby reduces many of the cost benefits associated with e-Invoicing. The greatest single motivator for migration to electronic invoicing tends to be the promised financial savings of the medium; if these savings are being reduced because of inefficiencies, your business loses out.

Electronic invoicing also provides a way to centralise accounts records, drawing information which would normally be held on a departmental basis into a single repository. Cash flow information can finally be retrieved immediately easing business decisions and allowing for a more agile trading model.

So although the hybrid system may work for a while, the overall goal must be a total switch to electronic invoicing. This goal may be easier to achieve in some industries than others, but with careful planning and by securing the agreement of suppliers and customers, any business can eventually manage total migration.

Unfortunately there will always be a level of resistance to change from certain key suppliers, much of which is caused by ignorance of e-Invoicing and the fact that suppliers also stand to reap benefits from electronic invoicing. Successful supplier on-boarding should therefore be a consideration when choosing a platform for electronic invoicing; if the supplier of your invoicing system can assist, so much the better.

Fortunately Celtrino are masters of outsourcing electronic invoicing services and uniting supply chains for the mutual benefit of all involved. If you need help going the whole hog with your e-Invoicing roll-out, please get in touch – we’re happy to help!

Posted on February 15, 2012 in Cash Flow Management, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Supply Chain Management by Patrick
Tagged as BPO, Cash Flow, Cash Flow Management, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Onboarding, Outsourcing, Roll-out, Supplier Onboarding, Supply Chain
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Electronic Invoicing and the Brazilian Problem

The potential problem of electronic invoicing is perhaps best exemplified by Brazil, reputed to have the strictest e-invoicing regulations in the world. The Brazilian government has the final say on any purchase and delivery – if the paperwork is not in place, no project goes ahead.

Implemented at the beginning of this year, the Nota Fiscal Electronica (NF-e) regulations require electronic bills of lading to be received and approved by the Brazilian Ministry of Finance before goods can be moved, let alone delivered. As soon as approval is granted, an NF-e file is sent to the manufacturer by return. The final recipient of the shipment also receives an email copy of the file.

A printed copy of the NF-e file must also be sent along with the shipment so that Police and customs officials can scan the associated barcode. The government can verify the paperwork associated with a shipment at any point between despatch and final delivery using the electronic audit trail. Delivery vehicles can even be stopped by Police en route, and then scanned using mobile devices. Non-compliance is quickly identifiable and consequently ill-advised.

Although this system provides a number of efficiencies for the Brazilian government, it also causes headaches for businesses looking to trade in Brazil but who do not have a suitable method of interfacing with the NF-e compliant system. Small businesses particularly are believed to struggle in this way.

It is however becoming clear to businesses based in South America that the optimal way to interact with the complex NF-e system is to outsource the lion’s share of the data processing and interfacing to a third party. Using a cloud based electronic invoice presentation and payment (EIPP) gateway such as Celtrino’s Smart Admin system, businesses need only worry about manufacture and delivery of goods; a proper EIPP service will ensure full compliance with the local e-invoicing legislation, regardless of how complex the rules may be.

Posted on November 7, 2011 in B2G e-invoicing, Cloud Computing, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Smart Admin by Celtrino
Tagged as Brazilian Government, Brazilian Ministry of Finance, cloud computing, e-Invoicing Legislation, EIPP, Electronic Invoice, Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, NF-e, Nota Fiscal Electronica, Public Sector
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EXPP 2011 Observations

Taking place in Barcelona this year, the EXPP Summit drew speakers from across the world to discuss the impact electronic invoice presentation and payment (EIPP) was having on their respective countries. Along with the usual discussions about that status of the market and current trends within EIPP, several in-depth case studies of successful deployments were presented to conference delegates.

Examples given of e-invoicing deployments within South and Central America focused on the need to reduce tax fraud, which has been rampant under previous transactional regimes. Changes in legislation in some countries has seen market uptake reach 90%, whilst all of the nations implementing EIPP have recorded a rapidly growing uptake of the service. Providers of outsourced EIPP services in Latin America have recorded exponential growth and many established European businesses are now trying to penetrate the market.

When the focus was shifted to European EIPP uptake, success was driven by the need to increase business competitiveness, rather than reduce tax fraud. The ability to adapt business transaction methods quickly and to increase efficiency were identified as the driving forces behind e–invoicing deployments. Unlike Latin America, where the government forces businesses to interact electronically, European decision makers must be convinced of the cost benefits of EIPP before they will commit to using the technology available.

Unlike Latin America, where many countries have chosen to legislate to enforce e-invoicing, the European Union continues to accord paper and electronic invoices equal status, slowing the uptake of EIPP. However, it was pointed out that many EIPP service providers had misunderstood the EU’s directive which suggests that electronic invoices should be audited in exactly the same way as paper invoices.

And despite the high uptake of e-invoicing in Latin America, businesses are only engaging this way for tax purposes. EIPP has not led to greater supply chain integration as could be expected. Clearly EIPP providers still have some work to do to show companies in the region the benefits of integrating systems for greater efficiency and cost savings.

Posted on November 4, 2011 in e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, European Union, Supply Chain Integration by Celtrino
Tagged as e-Invoicing, EIPP, EIPP Service Providers, Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, EU, European Union, EXPP Summit, Outsourced EIPP Services, Supply Chain Integration
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Supply Chain Integration Part 4 – Best Practice

The recognition that supply chain integration with your suppliers and partners is of paramount importance is the first step in a sometimes challenging and complex process. Each member of a supply chain has their own way of doing things, using a variety of different systems which at first glance are probably not fully interoperable.

Despite being a “standard” Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI as it is known for short, there are many minute variations and tweaks required in order for one computer system to “talk” to another. As a result, reconfiguration will have to take place at each supplier to allow for smooth communications. EDI setup and maintenance is an expert job and being time intensive, is also costly. As a result the use of an outsourced service which does the required EDI translations automatically is preferable.

The use of an externally hosted Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) system allows every member of the supply chain to integrate their payment systems for maximum compatibility, whilst retaining complete autonomy over their own data and in house processes. During the supply chain integration process, companies can choose to enable as much or as little interchange as they desire. Obviously the more interchange permitted, the greater the on-going cost savings through a reduction in labour costs that would be accrued through manual processing of the same actions.

Clearly the complexities of such an integration is outside the experience (or interest) of most businesses and so they will need to secure the services of a specialist consultancy. Here are three suggestions to help when choosing:

A proven track record in successful completion of supply chain integration. Any company you consider should have verifiable testimonials from previous customers and reference sites which can be visited for first-hand verification.
Experience in trading community onboarding. Integration projects deal not only with system interoperability, but also the political issues raised by bringing together businesses with differing values and ethics.
The ability to make integration as simple as possible with the minimum of disruption for any member of the supply chain.

In the light of these suggestions, expertise in supply chain integration is just one facet of the decision process. The technology and methodology used is just as important with on and off site implementations of supply chain integration. Clearly Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) options which see the EDI services hosted externally are preferable in terms of scalability, speed of deployment and minimisation of disruption – all data interchange is performed externally with minimal local reconfiguration required.

Supply Chain Integration Part 1

Supply Chain Integration Part 2

Supply Chain Integration Part 3

Supply Chain Integration Part 5

Posted on October 21, 2011 in BPO, Business Process Outsourcing, EDI, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, Outsourced EDI, Supply Chain Integration, Supply Chain Performance by Celtrino
Tagged as BPO, EDI, EIPP, Electronic Data Interchange, Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, Outsourced EDI, Outsourcing, Supply Chain Integration, supply chain management
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US Government Suppliers are running out of time to join the race to e-Invoicing

Businesses dealing with the US Treasury Department will need to begin integrating electronic invoicing into their accounting systems or face the prospect of losing their supplier status. Announced as part of President Obama’s “Campaign to Cut Waste”, e-Invoicing will be enforceable by fiscal year 2013.

United States Dept Of The Treasury

The Treasury Department is expected to have their e-invoicing system in place by the start of the 2012 financial year to give suppliers 12 months to get their affairs in order and to test whether the new system works. It is hoped that implementation of electronic invoicing methods wills reduce current processing costs by half, saving $7 million a year.

A US-based provider of electronic invoicing services carried out a report to identify how well-used the technology was and found that at least one-third of respondents did not use it at all. From these results it is suggested that as much as 33% of US businesses still use manual, paper-based invoicing as their primary method of billing. The survey did however show a marked increase in e-invoicing as in 2010 58% of respondents were still relying on manual invoice processing.

The upcoming change in invoicing at the Treasury Department was not the main reason for businesses adopting the methodology however. 72% of respondents said that they used Electronic Invoice Presentation and Payment (EIPP) to increase operational efficiency, thereby reducing their business running costs. 55.7% also stated that e-invoicing allowed them to optimise their cash flow.

Respondents also reported that manual invoice processing wasted company time when entering and scanning invoices, approving payments and tracking down lost paper work. The introduction of EIPP helped eliminate all of these resource drains, reducing delays and removing the chances of human error creeping into the system.

As yet, details of the Treasury Department’s e-Invoicing system are still unclear and industry experts are warning of potential problems for companies looking to implement their own systems. However by using a hosted system, such as Celtrino’s Smart Admin, businesses can transfer the responsibility for initial investment and interoperability development to the service provider, allowing them to focus on their core business and fulfilling Government orders.

Posted on October 10, 2011 in B2G e-invoicing, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment by Celtrino
Tagged as B2G e-invoicing, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice, Public Sector, supply chain management, Treasury Department, US Treasury Department
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e-Invoicing for Norway

As with many other European countries, Norway is switching its government accounting systems to accept electronic invoices. From the 1^st July 2012, business will have to present invoices to the Government electronically. The Norwegian Agency for Public Management and e-Government (Difi) have selected a specialist format known as Electronisk Handels Format (EHF), a secondary subset of UBL 2.0.

The overall aim of implementing e-Invoicing is to reduce the costs associated with manual processing and payments. Similar projects in other countries have demonstrated that such a roll-out does indeed generate significant cost savings.

Industry experts are concerned about the burdens placed on smaller businesses providing products and services to the government who may not have access to their own in-house e-Procurement solutions. The Norwegian government however is assuring companies in this position that they will be able to outsource these business processes to hosted service providers as is the case in other countries.

But herein lies a major problem. Despite there being over 50 companies offering electronic business to government (B2G) electronic invoicing, only one is capable of generating invoices in the required EHF format. At the moment there is no competition in the outsourced e-invoicing market in Norway. Consequently the incumbent service providers are lobbying hard for incentives to produce the necessary systems. The reasoning here is that if the government is making significant savings from this implementation, they can afford to share the spoils.

Despite this apparent paradox, the doomsayers are failing to recognise the interconnected nature of cloud services which extend beyond traditional national borders. Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) systems such as Celtrino’s own Smart Admin platform accept input from virtually any data source before transforming it into the required output data type. Where local service providers are unable to meet needs, the global market can step in and fill the gap.

Posted on October 3, 2011 in B2G e-invoicing, e-Invoicing, EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment by Celtrino
Tagged as B2G, B2G e-invoicing, Difi, e-Invoicing, EHF, EIPP, Electronisk Handels Format, Norwegian Agency for Public Management and e-Government, Public Sector
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Accounts Payable and Improving Business Efficiency

Find out how you can make bottom line savings in your accounts payable solution.

Cloud computing in finance and how it can improve your business efficiency

View more documents from Celtrino

Posted on September 28, 2011 in Accounts Payable, Cloud Computing, e-Invoicing, Electronic Invoice Presentment & Payment, Smart Admin by Celtrino
Tagged as Accounts Payable, Business efficiency, Celtrino, cloud computing, cost savings, EIPP, Electronic Invoice, Smart Admin
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PO Flip – What is it?

As with any new concept, eProcurement has brought with it a number of new terms and phrases to describe certain functions within the process. One of the strangest phrases entering into the vocabulary of procurement and accounting professions is the “PO Flip”.

At the most basic level, a PO Flip is the conversion of a Purchase Order into an Invoice using the tools available in eProcurement or Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) platforms, such as Celtrino’s own Smart Admin system. An eProcurement platform allows customers to submit their purchase orders electronically directly into the supplier’s accounting system. Using the automated tools available, the supplier can then automatically “flip” the purchase order into an electronic invoice for immediate return to the customer.

Card Flipping

PO Flips have become massively popular with suppliers to the public sector as local councils and even central government carry out more procurement via online platforms which provide the function as standard. Both supplier and buyer then benefit from the reduced time spent on administration of the purchase.

Upon receipt of an electronic invoice (also known as an eInvoice), the buyer can approve the purchase and authorise a BACS payment at the click of a mouse button. By automating the purchasing process, buyers and suppliers reduce the margin for human error and unforeseen delays associated with posting invoices, cheques and remittance advice.

Reduction of time expenditure in accounts administration has the added benefit of freeing up finance staff to focus on other areas of their roles. If the resource requirements continue to be reduced through further implementation of eProcurement and the outsourcing of associated systems, significant costs savings can also be recognised through a reduction in headcount.

The PO Flip is but one of many time-saving devices available to users of outsourced EIPP gateways such as Smart Admin from Celtrino. To find out more how your business could benefit from outsourced EIPP, please visit www.celtrino.ie

Posted on September 26, 2011 in e-Invoicing, eProcurement, PO Flip by John Behan
Tagged as EIPP, Electronic Invoice, Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, eProcurement, PO Flip, Purchase Order, supply chain automation
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ERP: Extract the maximum value out of your business systems

For many businesses undertaking a major business process outsourcing project, several questions arise as to how the changes will affect interactions with other suppliers and customers. Taking a holistic view, Celtrino can assist in implementing changes which will not only benefit your business, but also provide your partners with potential savings as a result.

digital world On a more basic level, Celtrino’s Smart Admin service provides a method by which a company can integrate its internal accounting and ERP system to produce a fully automated, transparent EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment) system. Essentially all of the paperwork traditionally associated with the accounts department is rendered and presented electronically to the relevant customer or supplier. Businesses outsourcing their processes in this manner reap immediate cost savings through increased automation, a reduction in duplicated effort and a low total cost of ownership.

Celtrino’s Smart Admin e-Solutions also include the ability to create B2B supply chain management portals, allowing multiple suppliers to integrate ERP and accounting systems via the cloud. Smart Admin features support for a wide variety of popular back office applications, including Sage, SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, converting any file format into a version readable by the receiver. Using EDI, the supply chain documents are sent from supplier to buyer and vice versa, with a speed and ease unavailable through traditional supply chain management channels.

Businesses forming such a strategic partnership immediately share the benefits of being able to present and pay invoices electronically and submit the relevant remittance advice directly into each others accounts systems via the Smart Admin platform.

As well as the technical know-how, Celtrino can also offer extensive experience in trading community onboarding by helping suppliers and partners recognise the many financial and procedural benefits available through the use of a B2B supply chain management portal. After all, when it comes to reduced costs through business process outsourcing, what is good for your business is also good for your suppliers.

Posted on September 23, 2011 in EDI, ERP, Smart Admin, Supply Chain Document Automation by John Behan
Tagged as EIPP, ERP, Microsoft, Oracle, Outsourced EDI, SAO, Smart Admin, Supply Chain Integration
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