E-Invoicing survival guide: How to ensure global compliance and optimize processes
“I assure you that never before did this jungle appear to me so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness.” 1
When Joseph Conrad wrote the above quote (edited for brevity), he was a long way from thinking about the rapidly evolving electronic invoicing process and the need to meet global compliance rules. But the description can seem regrettably apt.
The ever-changing financial and regulatory landscape worldwide can seem impenetrably dense and even forbidding. Delving into this tricky topic is akin to hacking your way through thick vines, surrounded by unseen pitfalls: Maturity levels, regulatory requirements, flows, formats, and methods of sending and receiving invoices still vary greatly from country to country. The challenges are obvious, and getting through the hardships will require adaptability, agility, and foresight to meet the shifting terrain.
To do it successfully you will need an experienced guide, so here are some survival tips to aid you:
1. Establish interoperability and seamlessness to ensure compliance
Each country has developed its own standards, adding an extra layer of complexity for companies operating on an international scale. Welcome to the jungle. E-invoicing demands increased interoperability among your IT systems to enable smooth, flawless data exchange and ensure compliance with diverse regulations. The key lies in selecting a technology and services partner capable of identifying all necessary integration points within your accounts payable and payments ecosystem, and ideally offering a simple solution that connects all the dots and covers all your needs.
2. Compliance demands process optimization and streamlining
The first obstacle you’re likely to encounter is the mountain of paper looming in front of your AP team. Those organizations that are most successful are those that evolve out of paper-based and manual processes and adapt to a changing situation. Adopting electronic invoicing and related processes provides a significant competitive advantage, reducing invoice processing times and costs, and enhancing payment management. Moreover, transaction traceability facilitates payment tracking and strengthens trust between business partners. Those companies that swiftly optimize their management of incoming and outgoing invoices will establish dominance in this new digital landscape.
3. Strength in numbers
Strategic partnerships and the establishment of business networks will speed up adapting to unknown regulatory and technological shifts. Engaging and collaborating closely with suppliers, customers, and competitors brings a shared knowledgebase and varied skillset to tackle e-invoicing compliance issues, spotting where uncertainties lie, and establishing clarity sooner.
4. Work with a guide who knows the territory
Faced with these challenges, having an experienced guide to help you survive is essential. Whether dealing with customer or supplier invoices — paper or electronic, domestic or foreign, production-related or not — Corcentric provides one solution, one point of integration, and one source of expertise across 100% of your invoicing process.
Our unique combination of technology, managed services, and advisory empowers a smooth, risk-free transition to electronic invoicing. That means a single solution to distribute, receive, and process all your customer and supplier invoices, regardless of format or method of sending or receiving, while adhering to the specific regulations of each country where you do business. What’s more, it means one integration point between your ERP, accounting system, and government platforms of countries worldwide for 100% of your invoices.
When it comes to meeting global e-invoicing challenges, don’t just survive…thrive.
Learn more about e-invoicing compliance.
- Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness, 1899.