06/11/2020

The state of eInvoicing in AUS and NZ

eInvoicing has taken off in countries around the world. Here in Australia and New Zealand, eInvoicing is still in its infancy, but steadily gaining momentum.

What is eInvoicing?

eInvoicing enables organisations to send and receive invoices electronically, directly to and from their software. It removes the need for unnecessary data entry and inaccurate OCR scanning. eInvoicing in Australia and New Zealand is provided through a network of interoperable Access Points, like MessageXchange, conforming to the Peppol standard. The standard was developed in Europe, but has been adopted around the world, including here in October 2019.

The current state of eInvoicing

The term ‘eInvoicing’ has been thrown around here in Australia for a number of years now. It really started to gain traction in 2019 when Australia and New Zealand signed a trans-Tasman eInvoicing agreement, allowing it easier for businesses both countries to exchange eInvoices. Today, the largest users of eInvoicing are government agencies. The Australian government is providing incentives for suppliers to use eInvoicing by promising suppliers with contracts less than $1 million payment within 5 days of issuing an eInvoice. In New Zealand, the government have set a target to pay 95% of all domestic invoices within 10 business days and eInvoicing is one of the key strategies to help reach it. New Zealand Inland Revenue (NZIR) was one of the first New Zealand government agencies to use eInvoicing. The focus for NZIR was to pay invoices early to help suppliers’ cash flow and to give them a seamless experience. Check out the case study here. The New South Wales state government has been a leader in eInvoicing in Australia. The Department of Customer Service (NSW DCS) recently implemented eInvoicing as part of the NSW Digital Government Strategy. The strategy’s purpose is to offer digital services that benefit customers and suppliers. Learn more about NSW DCS eInvoicing journey here. Some of the government agencies that are currently up and running with eInvoicing include:

The Australian Taxation Office (Australian government department)
The Department of Finance (Australian government department)
Services Australia (Australian government department)
The Treasury (Australian government department)
New South Wales Department of Customer Service (Australian state government department)
New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet (Australian state government department)
New South Wales Treasury (Australian state government department)
New South Wales Health (Australian state government department)
New Zealand Government Procurement (New Zealand government department)
New Zealand Inland Revenue (New Zealand government department)

What's next?

The government is currently looking for ways to increase the uptake of eInvoicing. The 2020 Budget here in Australia includes $120 million in funding to help businesses implement digital technologies. It also includes $3.6 million to make eInvoicing mandatory for all government agencies by the 1st of July 2022. If you want to get all the latest eInvoicing news, sign up for our newsletter below.

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15/10/2020

Why finance needs to become friends with technology

Finance teams constantly find themselves battling things like:

a need to reduce costs
greater workload with the same amount of staff
manual processes, which often lead to errors and
disparate sources of data, making it hard to find information when they need it.

The good news is that technology can improve these issues. And that’s why finance needs to become friends with technology.

Here’s where technology can help

Automate your whole procurement process with electronic data interchange (EDI)

This can significantly improve the processes of ordering and invoicing for any finance team. So, what is it? Simply put, EDI 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’ appearing in the supplier’s software. EDI can help:

Reduce manual processes EDI can ease a lot of pressure on finance teams that find themselves processing an increasing amount orders. You’ll no longer need to input data into multiple systems or email documents to buyers and suppliers. This leaves you more time to focus on the other tasks that might come up.
Reduce costs EDI reduces manual processes and significantly reduces the amount of labour needed to process orders. This is especially beneficial during peak times of the year where casual assistance can be required. On top of this, EDI is all digital so you can save a lot on printing and filing.
Reduce errors and improve data accuracy EDI also reduces the risk of errors, making the data more reliable for reporting. You could use that data to monitor suppliers’ performance around responding to orders or delivery times.

Remove manual handling of invoices with eInvoicing

Another bit of technology that can help finance teams is eInvoicing. Invoicing makes up a huge chunk of finance teams’ time. Electronic invoicing, or eInvoicing, enables organisations to send and receive invoices electronically, directly to and from their software. It removes the need for unnecessary data entry and inaccurate OCR scanning.

eInvoicing can:

Reduce manual processes eInvoicing automates a lot of the manual processes involved in invoicing. No need to input the invoice information into multiple software and attaching to an email before sending to the customer. Everything is done within your existing ERP or accounting software.
Reduce costs Reducing manual processes simplifies invoicing for any finance team leaving you more time to work on other tasks. It also helps reduce the need to additional staff cover during peak times. The sending and filing of these eInvoices are electronic reducing your paper use and filing costs.
Data accuracy Manual processing is reduced limiting the risk of errors and improving data accuracy. Fewer errors means fewer disputes with partners and the need to follow up or correct invoices.

Use the data from your automated processes for more

If you leverage technology, the likelihood is that you can now use the data at your fingertips in more in-depth, insightful ways.

Two-, three- or four-way matching Is your team manually checking orders before they pay invoices? This is something that can be completely automated. Two-way matching checks the quantity and price on the order and the invoice to make sure you’re paying for exactly what you ordered. Three-way matching also checks what was shipped (on a despatch advice). And the bee’s knees, four-way matching, checks what the suppliers has agreed to send from the order response.
Invoice reconciliation With a feed from your bank and visibility of your invoices, our technology can reconcile your invoices. Imagine the time that could save!
Reporting Now that all the raw data is at your fingertips, you can use it to report on anything. It might be DIFOT (delivered in full on time) performance, the amount of invoice discrepancies or something else. The options are only limited by your imagination.

If you’re interested learning more about how eInvoicing or EDI can help you, request a call from one of our EDI experts.

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E-invoicing EDI Retailers Suppliers

04/09/2020

When is the right time to implement eInvoicing?

eInvoicing lets companies exchange invoices electronically, directly to and from their software. It removes the need for unnecessary data entry and inaccurate OCR scanning. Businesses are increasingly adopting eInvoicing to:

reduce costs involved in processing invoices
process invoices faster
make faster payments
reduce data entry errors
move to a more secure way of exchanging invoices.

So when is the right time to implement eInvoicing? Here are some signs that it’s now time.

Your customers and suppliers are implementing eInvoicing

As businesses and government agencies enable eInvoicing, there’ll be a bigger push for their customers and suppliers to join them. Some organisations are providing incentives to make the transition more attractive. For example, government agencies here in Australia who can receive eInvoices have promised to pay them in five days for contracts up to $1 million. So, if you have multiple partners who are using eInvoicing, now might be the time to get on board. You’ll can start exchanging eInvoices with them, and future proof your investment by connecting with other customers and suppliers as they come on board.

Data entry is taking up too much time and resources

If you’re struggling to keep up with all your work, or if you’re looking to hire extra staff to help with invoice processing, it might be time to look at eInvoicing. Invoice processing can be time consuming for accounts payable and receivables teams because of the manual inputting, which is prone to errors. Processing a paper invoice is estimated to take 23 days, and that’s when the process runs smoothly. As a business processes more invoices, this can take even longer. eInvoicing is significantly streamlined and automated, reducing processing time. eInvoicing can reduce it by up to 65%.

You’re seeing too many data entry errors

Processing invoices manually or using OCR scanning can be error-prone. If you’re seeing a high error rate, it could be worth considering eInvoicing. The data is only input once – when the supplier inputs it into their software. And it’s no re-entry or scanning required – the source data is used all the way through the process. eInvoicing can reduce errors by 37% compared to manual invoicing.

You want to reduce costs

All businesses are looking for ways to reduce costs. One process that’s often forgotten is invoicing. Traditionally, costs attributed to invoicing can be:

Printing: even if you’re using PDFs, invoices may be printed. You’ll need to pay for paper, ink and even printer maintenance.
Labour: you need people to process invoices and this only increases as your business grows.
Filing: if you’re storing hard copies of your invoices, the costs can add up.

Overall, it’s estimated to cost $30.87 to process a paper invoice and $27.67 for PDF invoices. If you’re processing more and more invoices, these numbers start to add up. For suppliers, eInvoicing can:

reduce accounts receivable costs by up to 44%
reduce archiving costs by up to 32%

For buyers, it can:

reduce the cost of receiving an invoice by up to 90%
reduce the cost of archiving accounts payable invoices by up to 67%
cost less than $10 to process
reduce accounts payable labour by 25-40%.

You’re undertaking a digital transformation review

Businesses often look to digital transformation to improve business process and performance. The result of it should also provide more accurate data to help with analysis and decision making. Finance teams can realise fantastic benefits when they implement eInvoicing. eInvoicing can automate the invoicing process and significantly reduce manual inputting. This improves data accuracy for reporting and decision making, making it easier to see real-time liability position. The other great thing is that it works with your existing accounting software, so there’s no need for further investment.

Low cashflow

High competition in the business environment has led to an increase in credit sales, particularly in Australia. This has led to a high volume of suppliers struggling with cashflow. Economic downturns have added further pressure, so now more than ever, businesses are looking for ways to collect receivables as quickly as possible. eInvoicing helps to speeds up the time it takes to get to a customer. It also speeds up invoice processing and payment for buyers. Studies show eInvoicing can improve on-time payment by more than 15%. If you think it’s time for your business to implement eInvoicing, request a call from one of our EDI experts.

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E-invoicing Retailers Suppliers

26/06/2020

The benefits of eInvoicing for businesses: An infographic

eInvoicing automates the exchange of invoices directly between businesses’ software and its use is growing across the globe as a result of the benefits it brings. Australia and New Zealand have joined forces to to make trans-tasman eInvoicing easier using the internationally-adopted Peppol eInvoicing framework. Any business within this network can now send and receive invoices straight from their accounting software to their customer's software. No more emails, no more PDFs and no more manual data entry. If you're new to eInvoicing, check out our blog, traditional invoicing and eInvoicing: a comparison. Here are just some of the reasons businesses are turning to eInvoicing.

For buyers

A major benefit for those receiving eInvoices comes from the fact you'll no longer have to manually enter an invoice again. Think of the time savings and the mis-keying errors that'd disappear. Here are some stats:

For suppliers

A major benefit of eInvoicing is the speed of it. It can ultimately lead to faster payments, which means better cash flow for you. Let's have a look:

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E-invoicing Retailers Suppliers

15/05/2020

5 ways to make savings in your business when times get tough

A lot of us have had a chuckle at this meme:But it’s no joke. It’s times like these that often spur us into action. Whether you’re looking for ways to overcome the current economic downturn, prepare for the next one or you’re just looking for ways to reduce costs, have a look at these five things you can do to make savings:

Automate your supply chain

If you’re still emailing orders and invoices, you’re probably doing more data entry than you need. It might look like this:

Buyer manually enter purchase order in their software.
Buyer send order to supplier via email or post.
Supplier receives order and manually enters the purchase order details into their software.
Supplier manually enters the invoice into their software.
Supplier send invoice to buyer via email.
Buyer manually enters the invoice in their software.

This is where EDI can help. EDI connects your software with the software of your partners, automating most of the process. Here’s the difference:

The buyer enters the purchase order in their software.
It’s automatically sent to the supplier and appears in their software.
The supplier actions the PO and then creates the invoice in their software and sends back to the buyer.
The invoice then appears in buyer’s software.

This can save your staff a lot of time, allowing them to work on more high value tasks. It helps suppliers process and send invoices faster, which can improve cash flow. For buyers, invoices can be processed faster and some suppliers even offer discounts for early payments. The automation from EDI can also generate significant cost savings for businesses. Manual data entry errors and the costs associated with fixing them are also reduced through automation. Suppliers can send shipment information through EDI, allowing buyers to prepare in advance and better allocate their warehouse staff and resources. This can reduce receiving costs, particularly labour, for buyers. Check out our blog for more information.

Automate your accounts payable

Often errors are made by incorrectly entering invoice data. Not only does it stop staff from working on higher value tasks, but it can be costly to rectify the errors. EDI makes it easy to implement two- or three-way matching. Two-way matching involves automating the process of checking invoice quantities and values against that on the purchase order. Three-way matching goes one step further and also checks delivery information to verify the invoice is for the same quantity that’s been sent. It not only saves your team time, but can also reduce labour costs.

eInvoicing

eInvoicing allows you to send invoices directly from your software to your partners’. It uses the international Peppol standard to send and receive eInvoices. It’s different from EDI in that you only need to connect to the Peppol network through an Access Point to you can exchange eInvoices with anyone else in the network. eInvoicing produces savings by:

Reducing the amount of work required send invoices. This reduces costs and allows your accounts receivables teams to focus on value adding activities.
Helping increase cash flow for suppliers by speeding up the preparation and sending of invoices.
Helping buyers speed up their payment processing, allowing them to make good on early payment discounts.

Want to learn more about eInvoicing? Check out this blog.

Automate goods receipt

Receiving goods from suppliers can be a time-consuming process. It can be difficult to know when goods will arrive and therefore can be difficult to plan. This only wastes time, money and resources. A way to make savings in this area is to ask suppliers to send you advanced shipping notices (ASNs) directly to your software through EDI. ASNs detail what your supplier is sending, how it’s packed, when it’ll arrive and more. This allows you to prepare to have the right warehouse staff to receive the shipment, saving you money on labour and allowing you to allocate staff more efficiently. Receiving ASNs from suppliers will also allow you to automatically record stock as it comes in. SSCC labels (the barcodes on each unit your supplier sends) correlate to a unit (e.g. a box or container) on the ASN. Scanning each pack as it comes in reduces manual inputting, saving your warehouse team time and reducing the risk of costly inputting errors. It also means your stock levels will always be up-to-date.

Consider alternative models with suppliers

A large cost for retailers can be for warehousing and logistics and that’s why savvy retailers are turning to drop shipping. The drop shipping model sees the supplier hold stock. When the retailer makes the sale, they pass the details onto the supplier to ship the order to the customer. EDI can create even more efficiency in this model by:

Sending orders directly to suppliers when the order is placed
Reducing errors and the related costs
Keeping you updated on suppliers’ stock levels, helping you avoid shortages of goods.

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E-invoicing EDI Retailers Suppliers

08/05/2020

Portal to integration: Why switch?

Suppliers have two main ways to comply with their retailers’ EDI requirements: EDI webforms (web portal-based EDI) or integrated EDI. Portal or web-based EDI is often the go-to choice for suppliers just starting out. EDI web portals They’re usually easy to setup and simply use a web browser to send messages to your retailers. The process normally looks like this:

You receive the order to your EDI portal
You send the order details to your warehouse team to prepare order
You then manually enter the purchase order response (this lets the retailer know what you can fulfill)
Once the order is finalised, your warehouse team prepares the advance shipping notice (ASN – this lets the retailer know what’s being shipped, how and when)
You send the information to your accounts receivable team
Your accounts receivable team input the information into their software to prepare the invoice.

If you receive a lot of orders, this process requires a lot of manual inputting, which is time consuming and error-prone. Integrated EDI Integrated EDI simplifies this process through automation, eliminating manual reinputting.

You receive the order in your existing software automatically which you can send to your warehouse team. If you have a warehouse management system (WMS) and integrate it to your ERP software then the order can be automatically sent to your warehouse team.
Once your warehouse team check your inventory, you can then send a purchase order response (POR) back to the retailer. The POR is prepared using the existing information from the original order. You can also automate the sending of the POR by integrating your WMS with your ERP software to send PORs without inputting anything.
You then manually enter the purchase order response (this lets the retailer know what you can fulfill)
Once the order is prepared and ready for shipping, you can then send an ASN to the retailer. If you use an WMS, you can integrate with your ERP and automate the creating and sending of the ASN. An invoice will then be automatically sent to the retailer using the information from the POR.

Why do suppliers switch to integrated EDI?

There are a number of reasons why business switch to EDI:

You can use your existing software
There’s no need for data re-entry
You can automate manual processes
It improves data accuracy
It helps with faster order processing.

Making the decision: EDI web portal or integrated EDI?

There are a few factors to look at when deciding if integrated EDI is best for you, including:

The amount of orders you receive, the number of products you sell and the amount of information that is required from your customers As these factors increase, so does the amount of manual inputting you will be required to input into each form.
The functionality of your software For example, if your retailers require an advanced shipping notice with SSCC labels. Can your software produce these? We go through this a bit further in this blog.
Your strategic goals For example, if you want to integrate with other systems or automate other business processes.

Use these points as a rough guide to know when to consider integrated EDI.

You trade with a large number of retailers
You receive more than roughly 30 orders a week
You sell a large range of products
Your customers require a substantial amount of information
You want automated processes
You don’t want to double-enter data
You need a flexible solution that grows as your business does

How to get started

There are a few things you can do to prepare for the switch to integrated EDI.

Who should be involved?

To get buy in from your business you’ll need to get relevant departments involved. These include:

Management

Often will be the first you need to get involved. Make sure to calculate your cost savings and ROI with your current:

costs of processing orders
costs of rectifying order mistakes
costs of resolving disputed/returned shipments
costs of producing invoices
costs of resolving disputed invoices.

For more information on calculating costing savings and ROI check out our whitepaper.

Information Technology

To get buy in from your IT team, you should think about these things:

Will they need to buy or install any new hardware or software? Some solutions require new hardware or software to be installed. Here at MessageXchange, we don’t require our customers to install any new hardware or software. We simply connect to your existing software.
Will they need additional resources to implement EDI? This is dependent on the EDI solution you use. With our technology, your software only needs the ability to import and export messages and exchange them via a secure connection protocol. Check with your IT team whether they can currently do this. If not, what resources will they need?
Does the provider adhere to your security policy? IT teams are often aware of security risks to your internal systems. Put their mind at ease by showing what measures your EDI provider takes to keep your data secure. MessageXchange is ISO 27001 certified and having developed the software from inception, owns its intellectual property.

Finance

Another department that’s processes are influenced by EDI is finance. It’s important to not only show the savings EDI can make for the business but also the reduction in manual processing, leading to:

improved efficiency, allowing staff to work on higher value tasks
fewer errors: less time and costs to fix mistakes
reduced costs: no need to printing and archive paper invoices.
more accurate data for decision making.

The nitty gritty

Before implementing integrated EDI, you’ll need to think about these things: Who are you trading with and what messages do you need to exchange? Retailers will often send you information packs to get you started with EDI that will include the messages they need you to exchange. It could be purchase orders, purchase order responses, advanced shipping notices, invoices and more. Ask your retailer or speak to your EDI provider if you don’t know what’s required. Next, you’ll need to know the file format you’re required to exchange: This is likely to be EDIFACT D01B or D96A or XML. If you don’t know what your retailer is expecting, have a chat to your contact there or your EDI provider. You’ll also need to find out what your software is capable of, in relation to:

The documents your software can use. For example, if your customer requires an advanced shipping notice and SSCC labels does your software support that?
The file formats it can import and export, like XML or CSV.
The connection protocols it accepts, like sFTP or API.

Our process

We try to make our process as simple as possible for businesses:[vc_column width="1/4" css=".vc_custom_1588897810318{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;}"]

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

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EDI Suppliers

13/12/2019

The benefits of EDI: an infographic

Electronic data interchange, or EDI, is widely adopted around the world by companies looking to gain efficiencies, visibility and cost savings. But if you’re new to the concept, it can seem overwhelming. 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! But what are the quantifiable benefits of EDI? We’ve gathered some data to explain the benefits at a quick glance.

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EDI Retailers Suppliers

15/08/2019

EDI for suppliers: What option is best for my business?

Picking up a new retail client can be such an exciting time. But some of their requirements can seem daunting when you’re facing them for the first time. One of the things retailers often ask is for their suppliers to trade with them via electronic data interchange, or EDI.

What is EDI?

EDI is the electronic exchange of business information, like purchase orders and invoices. This information goes straight in and out of the retailer’s software. It’s of benefit to the retailer because it’s more efficient than paper or PDFs, it gives them real-time visibility of their purchases and products, and it reduces costs. You can find out more about EDI in this whitepaper. For suppliers, it’s important to be aware of your options when it comes to EDI and to choose the best option for your business.

What are my options?

EDI webforms

The simplest solution for compliance is EDI webforms. This allows you to logon to a web portal to view purchase orders and respond by sending back the required information such as purchase order responses, advance shipping notices and invoices. The information input into the web portal is sent directly to your customers’ software. EDI webforms has a number of benefits:

No establishment costs
It’s easy to set up
It has an easy-to-use interface
You can trade with many retailers from the one portal
It’s accessible anywhere with internet
It’s cost effective.
No support cost.

EDI gateway

A more automated option is an EDI gateway. The fully integrated solution exchanges information with your customers directly to and from your ERP or accounting software. This option has the least impact on your current process and requires minimal manual processing because it takes the data from your software to send EDI documents to your customers. To gain even more benefits from your EDI gateway, it can be used to update other systems in your business. For example, when an order is despatched to one of your customers, it can automatically update inventory levels in your warehouse management system. This information can even be sent via EDI to your partners to keep them up-to-date with your inventory levels. Some of the benefits of using an integrated solution include:

using your existing software
no need for data re-entry
automating your manual processes
improving data accuracy
faster order processing.

Which option is right for my business?

It is important to choose an option that:

sets your business up for future adaptability
reduces the costs imposed on your business provides the most value.

There are a number of factors that you need to look at when deciding what EDI option is best for you, including:

The amount of orders you receive, the number of products you sell and the amount of information that is required from your customers As these factors increase, so does the amount of manual inputting you will be required to input into each form
The functionality of the software you currently use in your business For example, if you retailers require an advanced shipping notice with SSCC labels. Can your software produce these?
Your strategic goals For example, if you want to integrate with other systems or automate other business processes.

Use this table as a rough guide when deciding on an option for your business.[vc_column_inner width="1/2" css=".vc_custom_1565317545162{padding-top: 0px !important;background-color: #00b7f1 !important;}"]

Consider EDI webforms if…

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Consider an EDI gateway if…