I mentioned the SEPA conference last week and only now have had the chance to write up its’ follow-on event, a one-day meeting focused upon e-invoicing.
The e-invoicing conference was far more optimistic than the SEPA event, probably because it focused upon creating revenue-generating services for banks.
First and foremost, a definition of e-invoicing always helps, and the EU Council Directive 2001/115/EC of 20 December 2001 provides the base definition of e-invoicing:
“The sending of invoices ‘by electronic means’ i.e. transmission or making available to the receiver and storage using electronic equipment for processing (including digital compression) and storage of data, and employing wires, radio transmission, optical technologies and other electronic means.”
With that definition in mind, the programme kicked off with David Ellard of the European Commission who held out the tantalising morsels of savings and benefits for corporates, citing various studies that demonstrate e-invoicing will save the EU €40 billion per year (Cap Gemini) and €24 per invoice to process (EACT) or more.
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