Author Archives: Rodrigo Martinez

30/05/2023

eInvoicing benefits

Electronic innovation is becoming more and more prominent in recent times as we see businesses look for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency. One of the innovations with prominence at the moment is eInvoicing. Here's how eInvoicing works:

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It involves sending and receiving invoices electronically, directly to and from their software. It removes the need for unnecessary data entry and inaccurate OCR scanning.

Benefits for buyers

Most businesses think eInvoicing only benefits the seller, but that’s not true. There’s a lot of good stuff for buyers too:

Time and cost savings eInvoicing eliminates the need for manual data entry because invoices pop straight into your software. This also reduces the likelihood of errors, which can lead to further costs and delays.
Improved accuracy eInvoicing helps ensure invoices are accurate and complete , reducing the likelihood of disputes between buyers and suppliers. How? Well, eInvoices go straight into your software, so there’s no need to manually enter them in. Not only is it harder to make errors, you reduce the risk of fraudulent invoices too! Anyone who sends an eInvoice via the Peppol network needs to be registered.
Increased visibility eInvoicing makes it easier for businesses to keep track of invoices and reduces the chance of losing invoices, which can delay payment and impact your supplier relationships . This is because your software keeps your invoice activity and purchase orders all in the one place.
Reduced environmental impact eInvoicing reduces paper usage and helps to lower carbon emissions associated with paper-based invoicing, which can be important for buyers looking to reduce their environmental impact.

Benefits for sellers

In the current economic climate, efficiency is key so here are some of the main benefits eInvoicing can bring:

Faster payment processing eInvoicing allows sellers to send invoices to their customers quickly and easily, which can lead to faster payment processing and improved cash flow.
Reduced manual processing eInvoicing reduces a lot of manual processing by using your software to create and instantly send invoices to your buyers. No need to create invoices in your software then download a PDF and then put together an email. The other good thing is that eInvoicing shows the status of an invoice so the need for your customers to follow up with you is reduced.
Increased visibility eInvoicing provides sellers with real-time access to invoice status and payment information, like when an invoice has been approved and when it has been paid.

Steps to get started

Find out if your existing software is eInvoicing-capable
If not, talk to an eInvoicing service provider like MessageXchange
- Fill in a form with your business details and choose which products works best for you
- Get connected to MessageXchange
- Start exchanging eInvoices

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26/05/2023

EDI for small business

It’s common for people to think electronic data interchange (EDI) is used by big businesses only. But small business can actually benefit from EDI without heavy investment too.

The benefits of EDI to small businesses

Let’s get down to brass tacks. There are a few things you can get out of EDI as a small business. Here are just a few:

Cost savings
The cost to process a paper invoice is estimated to be $30.87, $27.67 to process a PDF invoice, and only $9.18 to process an electronic invoice.
Shortened procure-to-pay cycle
EDI can speed up your business cycles by 61%. EDI can reduce the order-to-cash cycle time by more than 20%.
Better data accuracy
EDI improves data quality, delivering at least a 30-40% reduction in transactions with errors by eliminating manual data entry errors.
Less manual handling
75% of businesses are confident they can process most inbound EDI/XML connections without a human touch.
Better visibility into your supply chain
A study showed that 63% of businesses surveyed reported increased collaboration and visibility with suppliers after implementing EDI.
Better customer service
60% of businesses say data integration has improved their customer service levels.
Increase your potential business with EDI ready organisations
EDI ready businesses are more willing to work with each knowing they can benefit from their existing EDI setup.
Reduce paper use and digitise your business operations
According to research, implementing EDI can lead to a 75% reduction in paper usage for transactional documents.

How does it work?

As the orders coming in increases, so does your business. But so does manual data entry, increasing workload and the risk of mistakes and errors. By using a EDI with your suppliers, you can raise orders and other messages as usual and they would be sent directly to your supplier’s software or EDI portal.

There, they respond to the order with a purchase order response, to let you know what they can supply, and can even let you know if your prices are incorrect, when they estimate the delivery to arrive and more. This information can be input into your software so your team can plan ahead. And if your software doesn’t support this data, you could take a hybrid approach and view this information in an EDI portal, like Colladium.

Your supplier can also issue you advanced shipping notices, which tell you exactly how the goods are being packed. Your supplier can even give you information like the best before or expiry dates, the batch numbers of the goods and more. This is especially useful if you have stock management or warehousing software. Again, once your supplier sends the information, it goes directly into your software – no need to re-key it. It also ensures your team have full visibility of the supply chain.

And finally, your accounts payable team will be happy about this – supplier invoices go directly into your software. There’s no receiving invoices attached to shipments, which your team need to enter, and no OCR scanning PDFs. The right data gets into your invoicing software straight away, where you may be able to automate the approval and payment of the invoice.

So what if your partners don’t use EDI? Easy, our web portal solution, Colladium, allows your suppliers and logistics provider to send you EDI messages directly to your software. Did I mention it’s free for them to use?!

Process for implementing EDI

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Let us know what you want to achieve and we'll suggest the best solution

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Start our partnership

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Connect to MessageXchange and test connectivity and messaging

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Go live!

Want to learn more about how EDI could help solve your business issues? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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EDI Retailers

20/04/2023

Five issues EDI helps overcome

It’s an interesting, and let’s be honest, difficult time for businesses right now. From higher costs to supply chain issues and increasing labour wages, businesses are feeling the heat from all directions. If electronic data interchange, or EDI, is something you’ve been thinking about for a while, or even if it’s something you’re just starting to look at, take a look at these five ways it can help overcome the issues businesses are facing in 2023.

1. Lack of supply chain visibility

It’s often difficult for businesses to be aware of what’s happening in their supply chains. For example, knowing when an order is being sent and exactly what is being sent by the supplier. Using EDI, you can request an advanced shipping notice (ASN) from your suppliers that gives you all of this information. Suppliers can also add serial shipping container code (SSCC) labels to your ASNs, which tell you what’s in an individual packing unit. All this can improve visibility, reduce warehouse costs, reduce manual labour and improve customer service.

2. Non-fulfilment of orders

There’s arguably no worse issue than a supplier not being able to fulfill an order and not knowing about until it’s too late. It can batter your reputation and really weaken your relationship with the supplier, not to mention your customers. But what if your supplier could confirm whether or not they can fulfill a purchase you send to them? EDI can do this using a purchase order response (POR). The supplier can send the POR back to you with information about whether they can complete the order fully, partially or none of it.

3. Payment of incorrect/fraudulent invoices

Paying invoices incorrectly, or worse, paying fake invoices is costly to a business. These days the number of fraudulent emails and activity is only increasing. It’s affecting a lot businesses not just in Australia but around the world. EDI can help with this in a few ways. EDI helps is by reducing errors that occur from manual inputting. This makes it harder for invoices to come back to the buyer with errors. And some EDI providers, like MessageXchange, can build in processes to match and invoice with a corresponding PO number to confirm its validity.

4. Staff burnout from all the manual processing

A big issue for business now is keeping costs and processes streamlined and that’s no easy task. As a business grows, processes increase and if they’re manual, costs inevitably increase too. This becomes difficult to address without automation. That’s were EDI helps, you don’t need to be inputting data into multiple software, you don’t need to create PDFs or emails to send trade documents. It’s all input directly into your software so staff don’t have to enter it, and don’t need to fix OCR scanning errors.

5. Improving sustainability

Businesses are looking at become more sustainable and reducing their impact on the environment. One way businesses are doing this is going paperless by using EDI. Everything is done through your software, so there’s no more printing out documents. Want to learn more about how EDI could help solve your business issues? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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EDI Retailers Suppliers

21/03/2023

Setting your business up for eInvoicing

The benefits of eInvoicing are becoming more and more enticing to businesses in these tricky times. Understanding the benefits is one thing but taking the next steps to getting started is a different story, at least that’s what businesses may believe. Here are steps, in straightforward terms, to set your business up for eInvoicing.

Look at your business

Define your objectives

There are a few things to do when getting started. The first is to define your objectives for implementing eInvoicing. These could be reducing manual processes, complying with partners’ eInvoicing requests, increasing cash flow or something else. Knowing these from the get-go will help keep your business on track.

Review your business processes

The next thing is to look at your business processes. Think about:

How many invoices are you processing?
Do you plan to send invoices, receive them, or both?
Do you exchange invoices with suppliers or customers who are overseas?
What are your current processes for receiving invoices, approving them, making payments, reporting and reconciling?

You can then use this information to tailor your eInvoicing solution to best suit you.

Get relevant internal departments involved

One internal department taking control over your eInvoicing project is not ideal. One, it prioritises the needs of one team over others, that’s not very collaborative. Two, there’s no transparency and understanding across the organisation about the project. There are three main departments that are generally involved in an eInvoicing project: Finance

They’ll be working directly with eInvoicing by switching from receiving paper or PDF invoices. They’ll be acting on the eInvoices that end up in your software so it’s important for them to have a say and understand how it works.

eInvoicing works through your software so your IT team needs to be part of the process. They can help with a lot of the technical stuff working directly with your eInvoicing provider.

Management

Those involved in compliance and reporting or the handling of master data can benefit from eInvoicing. It gives these decision makers visibility of procurement and payment information.

Getting your software ready

Have a look at your software to see if they already provide Peppol eInvoicing as an option. If so, find out whether it would require and update or an additional cost. If your software isn’t ready, that’s not a problem, you can work with an eInvoicing service provider and Access Point like MessageXchange. They’ll be able to help you with all the file and connection protocol requirements to get you connected. All you generally need is the ability to import and/or export some sort of invoice file.

Testing messages

For businesses implementing e-invoicing there is some testing required before you can send and receive e-invoices. This is where help from your IT team will come in handy. One requirement is connectivity testing with your Access Point to ensure you can both exchange messages correctly. Testing is also performed on your file to ensure it is correctly structured.Need more help getting ready for eInvoicing? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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E-invoicing Retailers Suppliers

28/02/2023

EDI adoption barriers and how to overcome them

EDI is pretty enticing when you look at its host of benefits:

cost savings
shortened procure-to-pay cycle
better data accuracy
less manual handling
better visibility into your supply chain
better customer service.

But as with any innovation, there are barriers that can get in the way of a business choosing to implement EDI. Here are some of those and how to overcome them.

Not understanding EDI and how it works

Simply put, EDI (electronic data interchange) is the exchange of business information directly between business software. Think of a purchase order being created in one company’s accounting package, and it ‘magically’ appears in the supplier’s software; no email, no PDF, no manual data entry. Well, it’s not magic, it’s EDI! Check out our whitepaper to learn all the basics. EDI can be pretty technical so this often makes it a little daunting for businesses. There’s also a sense of if you don’t have expertise you’ll have trouble implementing. The fact is, EDI providers, like MessageXchange, will always be there to clarify a lot about how it works and work with the relevant internal teams to make the process seamless.

Having unrealistic expectations

EDI requires clear expectations in terms of costs, timelines, internal operations and of suppliers. Rome wasn’t built in a day! When it comes to EDI, planning at the beginning is everything. This will give a clear direction for implementation and help assess how things are tracking compared to your targets. Keep these clear with your provider and hold them to it. The planning stage should also set clear expectations of who is responsible for what when EDI is implementation. Something else you can do is to get a clear understanding of price from your provider. All providers have different pricing models, make sure you find the one that suits your business most.

The capability of your supply chain

Your supply chain is critical to any EDI project. It can often make or break a project. So it can seem like a big barrier if you have difficulty getting suppliers onboard. But there are definitely ways around this. The number one thing to do when looking at onboarding suppliers is to segment them into groups and use this to stage your onboarding process. There’s no right or wrong way to segment your suppliers. It can be according to their readiness for EDI, maybe their size, whatever you like. As you’re onboard each segment it will give you an understanding of your progress. Another great way to get around suppliers not onboarding is by giving them options. If they’re already using EDI they can just integrate with your EDI solution. If they’re not using EDI, you can offer them a web portal solution, like Colladium. It makes it easier for suppliers, particularly smaller ones, to send and receive EDI messages all from a web browser.

Lack of resources

EDI is often linked with being costly and time intensive to set up but that’s changed a lot. These days businesses with no previous EDI experience are getting set up easily and quickly. EDI providers, like MessageXchange often step businesses through the whole process and even take care of critical parts. MessageXchange can create automated compliance testing solutions that test the EDI messages of suppliers on a portal to make sure it adheres to all EDI requirements. This saves you time and also saves your staff from having to contact suppliers one by one to organise testing. Need more help getting ready for EDI? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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EDI Retailers Suppliers

24/02/2023

Five automated checks in MessageXchange to get the invoices you need the first time around

Many large organisations have processes setup in their accounts payables systems to review invoices and approve them for payment. Often the rules are quite complex and can rely on certain information being present on the invoice for the process to run effectively. Introducing eInvoicing can appear to throw a spanner in the works here, but with MessageXchange, it can make it even easier in automating the presence and validity of the data. Have a look at these tips to help you get the invoice you need the first time around.

1. Ensure a purchase order number is present

If your invoice matching requires a purchase order number to be present, MessageXchange can check that it’s there before sending the invoice onto your software. If it’s not, MessageXchange can automatically reject the invoice and send feedback to the supplier with information as to why it was rejected. Another alternative is to still receive the eInvoice in your software but send a notification to the supplier to ask them to include the order number on their future eInvoices.

2. Ensure the purchase order number is correct

This can be done in a couple of ways – you can check that the order number has the same format of those you issue, like always 10 digits, or starting with certain numbers, or you can even share (automatically, of course) a list of your order numbers from your software, and MessageXchange will check that it matches, before sending the invoice onto you. We can even go one step further and check that the purchase order number and ABN combination are correct.

3. Only receive eInvoices from ABNs you know

Our customers can provide a list of their suppliers’ ABNs. When an eInvoice for the customer comes in, MessageXchange can check the sender ABN against this list. Again, if it matches, we’ll send it onto you. And if not, we can reject it and notify the supplier, or continue to send it onto you while notifying the supplier.

4. Check the BSB and account number

Some invoice approval processes check the BSB and account numbers on the invoice. You can check for correct formatting, or even ensure they match those you have on file. When an eInvoice comes through, MessageXchange can check for these to make sure you get only the eInvoices that you’ll be able to process.

5. Mandate attachments from certain suppliers

If you use an outsourced HR company, for example, and expect timesheets with your invoices, MessageXchange can check that eInvoices from certain ABNs always have an attachment. We can even go one further to specify that the attachment must always be an Excel sheet, for example.All of these checks, and more, can be implemented in your eInvoicing Gateway. These are just some examples, but the only real limitation is your imagination. Have a chat to our team today about how to make sure you get the invoices you want the first time around.

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E-invoicing Retailers Suppliers

30/01/2023

eInvoicing with MessageXchange in a nutshell

If you’re just starting out with eInvoicing, or looking for an eInvoicing provider, the process can be pretty daunting and confusing. The good news is, this blog is just for you. Keep reading to find out the A to Z of eInvoicing with MessageXchange.

What is eInvoicing?

For those really new to eInvoicing, have a look at this whitepaper that explains in layman’s terms what eInvoicing is, how it’s used, its benefits and more.Ok, now you’re all up to speed with the basics…

It doesn’t matter what software you use for invoicing

The good news with our eInvoicing service is that it doesn’t matter what invoicing software you use. Our service is software-agnostic, which means we can connect to any software. In the diagram above, your software will be corners 1 or 4. We’ll handle all the nitty gritty between corners 1 and 3 (for sending invoices) and corners 4 and 2 (for receiving invoices) so you don’t have to worry about any added stress of finding new software. After all, we all know what a process and investment changing software can be.

Your software doesn’t support UBL files? No worries

Now that you’re all up-to-date with eInvoicing, you’ll know that UBL is the file format used between Access Points (corners 2 and 3) to exchange eInvoices. In reality, many software packages don’t support this file format. And this is something we’ve catered for. We can take your software’s native file format and translate, or map, this to and from the eInvoicing UBL file. For those non-technical people reading this – usually a software package exports an imports one specific file format, like XML or JSON.

MessageXchange provides both Access Point and SMP services

The introduction to eInvoicing whitepaper describes how the eInvoicing process works. When an eInvoice is received at the sender’s Access Point, it looks up where to send the eInvoice to. This lookup is done in an SMP, or service metadata publisher. So, when you register to receive eInvoices, you’ll need to register your ABN, NZBN or whatever identifier you use, in an SMP. MessageXchange provides this service for free for all its eInvoicing customers so it’s one less thing you need to worry about.

Options to suit every business

We offer a couple of different eInvoicing options, which should suit most, if not all businesses out there.

eInvoicing Connect

This is the perfect option if you want to get up and running quickly and cost-effectively. This product can be used for sending and receiving eInvoices, or just one or the other. It also caters for business response messages, which is sent from a recipient of an eInvoice to a sender to update them on the status of the eInvoice, for example, whether it’s been accepted, rejected, paid and more. We’ve got an existing integration with TechnologyOne CiAnywhere, but if you’re not using that software, you can connect to MessageXchange via SFTP or our AS2 to exchange UBL, XML or CSV files. We have a message implementation guide for our XML and CSV files so you can familiarise yourself with the structure. When it comes to pricing, get setup for as little as $950, which includes registration of one ABN or NZBN. Then it’s just $50 per annum (this covers the subscription to our Access Point) and $50 for a pack of 1,000 credits. One credit covers 1MB of data or part thereof of a single message, including attachments. eInvoicing Connect users get access to a portal, which allows you to view a log of the invoices you’ve sent and received and you can see your credit balance too. Find out more about eInvoicing Connect here.

eInvoicing Gateway

If you’re going to be an eInvoicing power user, or are looking at eInvoicing more strategically, our eInvoicing Gateway is for you. It’s got much more flexibility in that we can connect to any software using any secure connection protocol to exchange any file format (MessageXchange configures maps to translate your format to/from the UBL format). Plus, it’s got additional functionality. Our Gateways allow you to implement business rule validation, which can do things like reject an invoice if it doesn’t have the data you need. It can also enrich invoice data, like adding an internal vendor number based on the ABN it’s sent from, to make sure the invoice data your software receives is what you need. The data enrichment can also cater for outgoing invoices. This helps if your software doesn’t populate all the mandatory eInvoicing information, or the information that your customers require from you. Another benefit of our eInvoicing Gateways is it’s reporting and analytics functionality. Get access to custom reports based on any data in the invoices and even call on data from other sources. One case we’ve seen is top-level reporting on multiple business units. The functionality is all there, but how you use it is really up to your imagination and your business’ needs. Find out more about our eInvoicing Gateways here.

Onboarding suppliers

Yes, getting setup for eInvoicing is the thing we think about first, but onboarding your trading partners is what you’ll turn your attention to once that’s done. With our 20+ years in supply chain trading, we’ve got a few tips at the ready. We’ve developed a guide to help you engage and onboard your supply chain. Plus, we’ve got no- and low-cost solutions for your trading partners to send and receive eInvoices. Just ask us more.

Security is a top priority

We know invoice data is commercially sensitive and that’s why we do everything within our power to keep it secure. We’re ISO27001 accredited, we use encryption in transit and encryption at rest plus a range of other security, DR and BCP processes. Have a look here for more info.Ready to find out more? Have a chat with one of our eInvoicing experts.

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E-invoicing Retailers Suppliers

19/01/2023

EDI best practices

EDI can be a big commitment, and following best practice from the get-go can save you time, money and hassles down the line. We’re pretty experienced helping customers implement EDI, so here are some pointers on how to get things right the first time.

Establish clear procedures

It’s important to have clear contact point for your trading partners to get in touch with you about EDI-related issues they may have. The last thing you want is a colleague who knows little or nothing about EDI being asked EDI questions and not knowing where to direct the question. Work out who will take care of EDI questions from suppliers and educate your team so they understand where to direct these enquiries. Another thing to think about having is a contingency plan if something goes wrong with your EDI. You need processes in place to be able to keep operating in the unlikely scenario of an issue.

Test, test, test

There’s nothing worse than sending EDI messages to your suppliers only for them to not receive it. Or even having suppliers sending you messages incorrectly. This can lead to stock not being on shelves and invoices not getting paid. Testing before going live can make the transition to EDI much more seamless. Organise a time to send and receive test EDI messages to and from your suppliers to ensure that you don’t run into any issues when you go live. If this sounds a bit too manual, you can use our message compliance testing (MCT) service on Colladium to automatically ensure the EDI messages you’ll receive follow the correct syntax and use the right fields.

Automate as many processes as possible

Before getting started with EDI, think about all the things you want automated – an EDI automation wish list so to speak. Think about all the areas that take up too much manual processing or add significant costs, for example not knowing if an order can be fulfilled, or not knowing when it’s going to be delivered. You can even look at the invoice payment process, which is often time consuming for your accounts team. EDI can automate matching purchase orders and other EDI documents with your invoices to ensure they are accurate and legitimate.

Be picky when choosing an EDI provider

It’ll come as no surprise that it’s important to have a list of things you expect from your ideal EDI provider. Have a think with your team about what you want in your provider. Think about:

if they meet your technical requirements
if their business aligns with yours
if they have the right experience
if their support model works for your business
if their pricing model suits you.

Need more help getting ready for EDI? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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EDI Retailers Suppliers

22/11/2022

Using EDI to improve supply chain efficiency

Improving efficiency is one way for businesses to help battle rising costs and inflation. One efficiency improvement businesses are turning to is EDI.

Reduce costs and errors

The big efficiency with EDI is there’s no need for emailing or paper, which has some obvious benefits. As your number of orders grow, so does manual processing and hence, the need for more hands on deck. EDI does a lot of the heavy lifting for you through automating a lot of your processes. Studies have shown EDI can reduce the cost of a financial transaction by up to 90% and exchanging an invoice through EDI can even cost less than a cent. Automation from EDI can stop those awkward moments where your customer asks why your invoice numbers are wrong or if a supplier delivers the wrong products. EDI can result in a reduction in transactions errors by up to 40%.

Faster delivery times from suppliers

For any businesses, one of their biggest nightmares is not receiving goods when they need it. Any way to make the procure-to-pay cycle shorter is always a benefit. EDI sends trade documents directly between your software and your partners’. No more emails and manual inputting. EDI automation can speed up business cycles by 61%.

Better supply chain visibility

The best way keep track of all processes in the supply chain is through data. Businesses using EDI can find out whether a supplier can complete a purchase order. If you use advanced shipping notices (ASNs) with your suppliers, you can find out what a supplier is sending you and how they’re sending it. This can help your warehouse teams plan ahead for deliveries, so you can save time and resources. In fact, using ASNs can reduce receiving costs by up to 40%. Have more questions? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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EDI Retailers Suppliers

17/11/2022

Could mandatory eInvoicing be on the cards? Business eInvoicing Right (BER) explained

The Government’s roll-out of eInvoicing started with a mandate for Federal Government agencies to adopt eInvoicing by July 1, 2022. Several State Governments have also taken the initiative to adopt eInvoicing, with one driving force being to support the Federal Government’s initiative and to help boost adoption among businesses – after all, what business wouldn’t want their invoices paid in 5 days? This has been a good step in eInvoicing adoption. In late 2021, around 10,000 businesses were registered for eInvoicing, but with over 2.4 million businesses in Australia, there’s still a long way to go.If we rewind to November 2020, Treasury released consultation paper that looked at a possible mandate for businesses to adopt eInvoicing, suggesting three different options:

A phased mandate for all businesses
A mandate for only large businesses
No mandate.

34 companies made a submission on this paper, with all of them acknowledging the benefits of eInvoicing but many of them suggesting a well-considered approach, given costs can be incurred to implement eInvoicing and the time that may be required to both implement eInvoicing and change processes around it. Fast forward to December 2021, The Treasury released another consultation paper to the public, explaining the widespread benefits of eInvoicing if it was adopted at large. It mentioned the Budget’s inclusion of $15.3 million to help accelerate adoption of eInvoicing among Australian businesses. They sought feedback from stakeholders in the industry as to how to support business to adopt eInvoicing and to give businesses certainty that when they adopted eInvoicing, they’d be able to use it with their trading partners. This would be done through Business eInvoicing Right, or BER. Another 39 submissions were made, many of which included the same rhetoric as the previous ones – eInvoicing has huge benefits, but the Government must support businesses and make it easier, rather than force a mandate. Now back in late 2022, what’s happened? Well, a lot politically. We’ve had a change in Government, to start with. While eInvoicing is supported by both parties, we’ve not heard anything definitive on BER or an eInvoicing mandate for businesses. We’ve seen software companies like Xero, MYOB and Reckon all include eInvoicing in their products, which takes eInvoicing a long way – they represent a large majority of small to medium businesses, which make up a big portion of all businesses. There is a lot still happening in this space. So stay tuned.Interested in learning more about eInvoicing? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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E-invoicing

27/10/2022

Accounts receivable automation using eInvoicing

Getting bogged down in manual processes can really hurt an accounts receivables team. After all, invoices that take a long time to process cost a business and make for an underperforming team. Thankfully there’s technology out there to deal with this. eInvoicing automates the exchange of invoices directly from your software to your customers’. eInvoicing works like this:

You find your customer’s purchase order (PO) in your software and create an invoice from it. Your team then sends the invoice electronically from your software. The invoice is sent, almost magically, through the Peppol network directly to your customer’s software. They don’t need to scan it, type it in or anything.
Your customer’s software may then be able to match the received invoice against the PO for payment authorisation.

Here are some of the benefits of using eInvoicing in your accounts receivable team.

Get paid faster

If you’re in accounts receivables, you want to send out invoices and get paid as quickly as possible. That’s where eInvoicing comes in. Studies have shown eInvoicing can reduce processing cycle time by up to 65%. Some government agencies even promise to pay their suppliers’ eInvoices in just five days.

Reduce disputes

The automation of eInvoicing also makes it very unlikely for any errors to show up on invoices when your customers get them into their software. This reduces the chance of your customers ringing you up asking about invoices with the wrong quantities or costs… yikes!

Get more visibility

Typically when you email an invoice, you only know it's approved once you receive the payment into your bank account. Or sometimes your customers might be nice enough to send you a remittance advice. The eInvoicing model supports eInvoice responses, which can tell you when an invoice is acknowledged, approved, paid, rejected and more. It can even tell you why it's been rejected.

Reduce invoice processing costs

eInvoicing digitises the whole invoicing process so it’s one less thing you need a printer for. Plus, an added bonus of eInvoicing is less need for archiving invoices, which reduces costs by up to 32%. Overall, studies have shown it costs $30.87 to process a paper invoice, $27.67 a PDF invoice, and only $9.18 to process an eInvoice.Interested in learning more about eInvoicing for your accounts receivable team? Ask our experts by getting in touch below.

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E-invoicing

21/10/2022

What rules the roost – EDI process or business- and software-process?

We often get companies come to us when they want to implement EDI. And one of the points of confusion is often around where EDI fits in with their business processes and software. They ask what comes first – is EDI the cart or the horse, the chicken or the egg?As a general rule, we say EDI should support your business processes, not rule them. We suggest companies map out their process, whether it be existing or what they want them to be, then insert EDI at points that it can help. For example, if you want to scan inventory in when it arrives, you’ll probably choose to use an advanced shipping notice to get the data into your software ahead of time and have your suppliers attach scannable SSCC labels to their shipments. If your software conducts two-, three- or four-way matching, you’ll need to make sure you exchange the relevant messages that are used in those checks. The other thing is, you don’t want to make your project bigger than Ben Hur – it’s ok to phase in different stages. Start with where it’s simple to bring EDI into the process. Then if there are other pain points down the track that can be resolved with EDI, then add them into the mix. A key reason for why projects can go awry is biting off more than one can chew. Different industries, and even different businesses or different software all operate in their own ways. And there’s good reason for that. It’s important that you get your processes in a place that suit your business needs. EDI should ideally be used to bring in automation and to reduce your team’s workload. Here at MessageXchange, our software can help with the EDI portion, but our powerful business process management layer can help fill gaps between EDI and your processes and software. MessageXchange is flexible enough, and smart enough, to cater to processes regardless of their complexity. For example, two-way matching can be conducted within MessageXchange itself by taking the EDI order and invoice and reconciling them against each other, then sending the result on. It can do the same with three-way matching by including the shipping notice too. It can even enhance the data in your message. For example, if you find it’s difficult for you or your suppliers to include a supplier number or GLN, MessageXchange can insert that into messages for you. Looking for more information on this topic? Get in touch with us below.

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EDI Retailers