Transformational ROI: Why Your Suppliers Should Embrace E-invoicing

Conversation with Reginald Peterson, Director of Supply Management Programs at Corcentric.

If you have been working under the assumption that digital transformation will solve all of your problems and catapult your company into leadership status, consider this: an email with an invoice attached to it is “digital.” That invoice still has to be manually sent, received and entered into another system for approval and payment. Despite being digital, this invoicing process is labor intensive, risky and inefficient. Hardly transformative, is it?

In the Corcentric guide “8 Ways Suppliers Benefit from E-invoicing and Electronic Payments” we read about the operational upside of getting suppliers to embrace e-invoicing rather than continuing to rely upon paper-based or emailed invoices. The benefit for buy-side companies is clear, but what incentive can we offer our suppliers to get them to make the change?

To better understand supplier perspectives on e-invoicing and the ROI they expect, we spoke with Corcentric’s Director of Supply Management Programs, Reginald Peterson. He regularly speaks to suppliers about invoicing opportunities and challenges and is familiar with the full range of benefits available through e-invoicing.

Reginald also recently wrote a series of posts on tail spend management. The same principles and priorities that drive the ROI from e-invoicing can reduce the prevalence and “murkiness” of tail spend. By increasing the percentage of suppliers using e-invoicing, procurement can also reduce the creation of new tail spend.

In this digital transformation discussion, Reginald will answer questions such as:

• How many suppliers still prefer hard copy or emailed invoices and why?
• Do suppliers expect to be paid sooner if they make the switch to e-invoicing? What other forms of ROI can they benefit from?
• How much support does a buy-side company have to provide to the suppliers they convince to implement e-invoicing?
• Who is the right point of contact to discuss e-invoicing with at a supplier, and how can procurement get the conversation started?

Thanks for listening in.