5 Reasons Procurement Should Care About e-Invoicing

E-invoicing is high on the agenda of most shared services who want to make their operations more efficient and effective, but how can you ensure your e-invoicing program is successful?

An aligned vision of finance, procurement and suppliers is key in order to drive e-invoicing process efficiency.

However the importance of Procurement in an e-invoicing project is often overlooked or underestimated. Procurement and Finance must share responsibility in order to unlock value through an end-to-end P2P process.

So why should procurement care about e-invoicing?

1.     Faster invoice delivery in comparison with scanning and posting documents, instant supplier    feedback on the invoice status and a quicker three way match process should diminish invoice exceptions and reduce valuable time invested by procurement on invoice disputes.

2.     E-enabled supplier relationships speed procurement cycle times and facilitate supplier performance improvements.

3.     Greater data visibility and accuracy can provide valuable and accessible data for procurement.

4.     Reduced manual intervention benefits the procurement team as less time is wasted on invoice related issues which means more time is invested in areas of focus which add value to the business.

5.     Reduced late payments and a more predictable payables process. E-invoicing will dramatically speed the time it takes to pay suppliers, reducing late payments and opening the door for early payment discounts. Plus when suppliers can check the status of their e-invoicing online, the calls from suppliers checking invoice status will stop.

Finance and Procurement share a great number of common objectives. By working together, the two departments can lower operating costs and improve service quality.

Getting Procurement on board and actively engaged withyour e-invoicing strategy is essential in order to efficiently onboard your suppliers and ensure the success of your e-invoicing program.

Want to learn more about the role played by procurement in achieving a successful e-invoicing programme? Watch our webinar ‘How to make your e-invoicing program a sweet success, the Mondel?z International story’.