• Daniel Ball, Director at Wax Digital


• 02.03.2018 09:30 am
undisclosed

There’s no denying that digital transformation is making a huge impact across the financial landscape for customers. There are mobile banks aimed at millennial customers, airports accepting cryptocurrencies and products which are increasingly personalised towards individual customers’ needs.

But why have even the most innovative companies embraced this transformation in terms of their new financial or business offerings, yet left invoicing lagging way behind? Are we forgetting that millennials will soon make up most of the global workforce and that embracing technological innovation, such as eInvoicing, to enable simpler payment processes is as important for employee morale as it is for pleasing customers?

The case for eInvoicing

Research from eProcurement provider, Wax Digital, shows that traditional invoice processes are the bane of finance professionals’ lives with 82% of respondents saying that it impacts the ability of team to perform effectively.

The business as a whole

Organisations are aware of invoicing problems, but many appear not to view it as something that requires urgent attention. The Wax Digital research highlights the key reasons to invest in eInvoicing:

• Accuracy and business relationships: More than 50% of respondents reported seeing invoices that have incorrect financial values - 37% said wrong or missing PO numbers are a frequent obstruction and 34% said missing VAT numbers cause problems. 97% of finance teams believe that automated invoice processing or eInvoicing would improve their team’s job fulfilment, which would avoid mistakes and improve relationships with suppliers.
• Morale and employee retention: 60% of finance teams say that processing supplier invoices is the most hated aspect of the job - 70% find it tedious and 69% say it causes frustration. Over a third also worry about their colleagues leaving because they are so frustrated. New generations entering workplaces are drawn to organisations that use technology effectively, not only in their personal lives but for their careers too.
• Opportunities to address vital issues elsewhere: 99% of respondents think team members’ time spent manually processing invoices could be spent better elsewhere in the business. Finance departments are under constant pressure to incorporate systems to deal with cryptocurrencies, cyber threats and provide more analytics.

The bottom line

Business processes are more transparent than ever before. People can easily compare the level of digital transformation happening in other organisations to their own company’s developments.

If finance professionals perceive that their workplace is not keeping up, employees that vote with their feet can cause significant recruitment costs. Not to mention the value of having motivated team members who choose to stay in the business.

eInvoicing could also save between £25 to £40 per order, reducing costs and streamlining resources for projects which deal with the strategic challenges ahead.

The question for organisations, is not so much about whether they can afford to implement automated invoice processing, as whether they can afford not to.