In a post-COVID world, contact-free and touchless processing has been widely adopted. Every business transaction includes an invoice, whether big or small. With the COVID-19 outbreak, most companies had to choose electronic invoices or checks to initiate bills. Surprisingly, 40% of companies are still using paper invoices. A number that is shockingly high. In a world where everything has gone contactless, why is the way you bill your customers still not touchless?
E-invoicing enables touchless invoice processing from sending to your customers to receiving from your suppliers. The benefits extend past touchless processing but also real, measurable business benefits as well. Your invoice processes shouldn’t be reliant on manual work, emails and data entry. This article explores the benefits of touchless invoicing through Peppol e-invoicing, let’s dig deeper into E-invoicing and learn how your business can benefit from going paperless and contactless.
Table of Contents
E-invoicing – The Definition
Electronic invoicing is also known as electronic billing or e-invoicing, refers to invoices sent to and received electronically rather than through the mail or email. The invoice data is transferred directly from your system to your customers’ system without any manual intervention required. This provides benefits for both you and your customers.
E-invoices are no different in content to traditional paper or PDF invoices, they contain typically invoice fields such as:
- Date
- Invoice Number
- Mode of payment
- Goods purchased summary
- Seller’s information
- Customer’s information
- Amount payable
- Balance payment
- Returns
- GST information.
- Tax Information
Pros Of Using E-Invoicing
Invoices sent by electronic means have the following advantages:
- With e-invoicing, you do not need to worry about sending the invoice to your customer. The invoice is generated and sent electronically directly from your system to your customers.
- Using e-invoicing may help you boost your cash flow by speeding up customer payments. You can receive digital confirmation that the invoice has been received by your customer and that it is being processed – mitigating the risk that your invoice goes missing and needs to be re-processed.
- Invoices sent electronically include a digital audit trail enabling better record-keeping across the organization.
- Delivering bills without direct contact with clients or paper helps you to cut down on customer service costs.
- Once connected to an e-invoicing network like Peppol, you will automatically be able to send electronic invoices to any of your other customers who are in the network with a click of a button.
Important Consideration You Shouldn’t Ignore
Here are some things to consider before you send electronic invoices to your customers:
- Your customers might not be onboarded into the Peppol network yet and able to receive e-invoices. Customer onboarding is a key part of this process – speak with your customers directly. There are huge benefits for them as well to receive e-invoices.
- Make sure you have a clear understanding of your e-invoicing volume before choosing a service provider. You will want to identify a provider that can scale their pricing in line with your e-invoicing volume.
E-invoice: How To Create & Share
Electronically sending invoices to your customers is the best option for your business – efficient and cost-effective. The question is then to create e-invoices and send them to customers.
To send e-invoices through the Peppol network you need to be connected with an accredited access point provider. Access point providers, like Valtatech, will connect to your finance systems so that we can electronically receive your invoice data, we will then securely and automatically, send your invoice data to your customers.
Conclusion
E-invoicing is a safe, secure and easy method of transmitting invoice data and one that the Australian Tax Office estimates can lower your customers’ costs of processing your invoices by up to 66%. A clear win-win situation for both you and your customers. Go touchless with Peppol E-invoicing today!