Businesses Could Save €243 Billion by Switching to Electr...

Businesses Could Save €243 Billion by Switching to Electronic Invoicing

London, 9 May 2013 – Ricoh Europe is encouraging businesses in Europe to switch from paper to electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), highlighting potential cost savings of €243 billion for businesses[1], and €40 billion for the public sector if the majority of paper invoices were replaced with electronic ones[2]. The cost and time savings are explained in a new report published today by Billentis and sponsored by Ricoh.

Despite the savings identified, a minority of businesses have adopted e-invoicing in Europe. It is estimated that only one in five invoices will be electronic in 2013.[3] This highlights there is still some way to go to meet the European Commission goals for e-invoicing to be the predominant form of invoicing by 2020. The date for the public sector is even sooner, at 2016. The report by Billentis identifies a number of reasons as to why businesses and the public sector are holding back from embracing electronic invoicing, ranging from confusing legal requirements to having trading partners who still want invoices in hard copy. The report recommends organisations define a three year strategy to implement e-invoicing successfully for themselves, their clients, and suppliers.

“The slow rate of adoption of e-invoicing makes it clear that the barriers to adopting it are still all too real for businesses and the public sector operating in Europe,” says Martin Hurley, Vice President and General Manager of Outsourcing Services at Ricoh Europe. “As the report highlights: one of the most critical steps to successful implementation of an electronic invoicing programme is having a clear objective and strategy to shape the migration from paper to electronic. But recent research shows that 57 per cent of organisations in Europe do not have a fully developed and implemented strategy in place for managing their business-critical document processes – including invoicing[4]. Adopting a clear strategy that links e-invoicing to business objectives (including reducing costs by cutting time-to-pay, increasing productivity by eliminating time-consuming manual tasks, and more effective customer communications) will help organisations to successfully adopt a new electronic invoicing process throughout their organisations.”

“But changing a business-critical document process can be time consuming or complicated, and the key is to manage it without impacting day-to-day core business tasks. Organisations should gain advice from, and entrust the task to, a document process expert who can manage the transition from paper to electronic invoices on their behalf, leaving them to focus on meeting the needs of their customers,” said Hurley.

Download the report to find out more, or calculate the savings you could make by switching to electronic invoicing at www.ricoh-europe.com/i-invoicing.

[1] The European Association of Corporate Treasurers project CAST (Corporate Action on Standards)

[4] The Ricoh Document Governance Index 2012 conducted on behalf of Ricoh Europe by Coleman Parkes Research, September 2012 http://thoughtleadership.ricoh-europe.com/eu/anewperspective/

For further information, please contact:
Ricoh Europe PLC
Janice Gibson/Louise Yarrall
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7465 1153
E-mail: press@ricoh-europe.com
www.ricoh-europe.com

Businesses Could Save €243 Billion by Switching to Electronic Invoicing

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