Convenience, speed, savings.... The truth is that the digitization of the world in general has been a breakthrough in all areas of society. And the business world is no exception. For companies, whatever the field, being able to systematize and automate processes is an immense help and we, involved in innovation in the issuance of electronic invoices, can attest to this. In order to achieve a good electronic invoicing system like the one we offer, research, testing, measuring results, knowing how to rely on all the good things the digital world has to offer and, above all, knowing the real needs of both the invoice issuer and the client receiving the invoices.
Advantages of issuing electronic invoices
Paper, pen, calculator and scribbling in a notebook for hours during which addition and subtraction were a headache for any businessman, freelancer or financial controller. Not to mention the tedious work of filling in, signing, stamping and sending mountains of documents, many of which took even longer to receive. However, the digital age has arrived to change these arduous processes that many have suffered.
We are already immersed in a totally digital landscape and electronic invoicing is a reality, in addition to the fact that it has served and continues to serve to digitize many companies through these processes. In fact, the advances that have been made in the sector in recent times have been very notable, offering the following advantages when issuing an electronic invoice:
- A considerable saving in time, both in dedicated hours and in the billing-collection cycle. With the consequent saving in money, in human and material resources.
- Improved cash flow, or to put it another way, the flow of liquidity between senders and receivers, which is much more agile.
- Such agility fosters a smoother relationship between customers and suppliers.
- The automation of processes through digital tools such as CRMs that save even more resources in similar and recurring operations.
- Transfer security thanks to constant innovation in the sector.
However, the simple fact of digitalising and automating a process such as issuing an electronic invoice does not mean that we are implementing it correctly for our customers. Knowing how to handle it and take advantage of its benefits will be fundamental, something that any company that markets this type of services must bear in mind when designing and selling them.
What should a good e-invoicing system have today?
For this reason, the first thing a good e-invoicing system should have is the customer as its central core, i.e., a system that makes the process of issuing electronic invoices as easy as possible for the user. In other words, a system that makes the process of issuing electronic invoices as easy as possible for the user, taking into account both the implications of the process for the company itself and for our own customer's process:
- Adequacy of the invoice to the purchase order received and/or deliveries made.
- Use of legally valid formats and, at the same time, facilitate the process of accounting of the invoice by our client.
- Adaptation of the sending channels to the requirements of each client, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), peppol, email and even in some cases paper, etc...
- Electronic incorporation of information attached to the invoice to facilitate its validation by our client.
- The reconciliation and recording of the collection.
In short, an electronic invoicing process that does not take into account the needs of our customer will have an insufficient degree of implementation and a limited productive improvement.
These are the 4 pillars on which an electronic invoicing service is based. If the user who is going to be in charge of the process is taken into account when planning them, a good invoicing system will be offered. However digitised it may be, it must be accessible and intuitive for the customer. Otherwise, no matter how much technological innovation and development has been implemented, it will end up being inefficient.
Secure e-invoicing is now a reality
Adapt or die. In today's market, you have to constantly renew yourself. To do so, it is essential to test and research, and the financial sector is no exception. A good example of this is the emphasis that has been placed on innovation in the issuance of electronic invoices in recent years, even by governments and public institutions.
Issuing invoices and transferring money instantly in a globalized and digital world requires a constant and permanent study of improvements and advances in security. Thus, the study and constant deepening in innovation has led to the birth of standards as secure and reliable as FACE, UML or Peppol, the system used in the issuance of electronic invoices both by government administrations of the stature of the European Union and governments belonging to it and by private companies in the sector, as is the case of easyap.
However, seeing the speed of today's financial sector and how the new digital scenario is developing, you can not stop innovating in the security of electronic invoicing issuance systems or the importance of automating processes... Why? For the simple reason that in today's world, either by devotion or by obligation to operate with customers and suppliers, all companies today must be digital or, directly, will not be.
