Cooperation aims at extending e-invoicing to as many enterprises as possible
–Basware, the leading provider of purchase to pay solutions and Itella Information, the information flow management specialist, have agreed on a cooperation model for the purpose of finding companies able to receive or send e-invoices, but who are not yet aware of each other’s e-invoicing capabilities. In particular, the goal is to facilitate the adoption of e-invoicing in SMEs. Starting in Finland, the aim is to expand the cooperation to other Nordic countries in the future.
Basware and Itella, the market leaders in e-invoicing, have both e-invoice senders and recipients in their client bases, and by comparing the two they are confident that they will be able to locate several new sender-recipient pairs. Previously, both Basware and Itella have been independently engaged in the same activity, but cooperation will markedly increase the possibility of finding potential pairs.
“The majority of our customers are already able to receive e-invoices, but locating companies that send e-invoices can take up too much time. We are sure that this cooperation with Itella in finding sender-recipient pairs will increase e-invoicing penetration, which is not only an economical but also an ecological method of processing purchase and sales invoices,” says Timo Aarvala, Vice President, Basware.
Basware reports a total of approximately 9,000 supplier contacts in 2008, while around 1,000 newly activated e-invoice senders have emerged. They sent circa 10,000 e-invoices per month in the first few months, and the number of e-invoices is continues to increase on a monthly basis, due to an increasing number of customers replacing paper invoices with electronic ones.
According to Itella, the environmental load of paper letters is approximately 20 times higher than that of the electronic option. The use of paper and envelopes, and the physical delivery, account for the majority of the load. Basware has studied the processing costs of e-invoices, finding them as much as 80 per cent lower in comparison to the scanning and processing costs of paper invoices.
“Activation has spurred the volumes of e-invoices to a remarkable 40 percent growth compared with the start of the year. I am confident that the same pace will continue in the last quarter. The aim of activation is to influence Itella’s printing customers, particularly those with the ability to adopt electronic invoicing,” concludes Heikki Pulli of Itella.
For further information, please contact:
Timo Aarvala, Vice President, Basware Einvoices Tel. +358 40 5965 973
Heikki Pulli, manager in charge of e-invoicing services, Itella Information
Tel. +358 50 386 6233
Basware in brief
Basware is the global leader in purchase-to-pay solutions, with more than 650,000 users in over 50 countries around the world. Basware solutions automate business-critical financial processes and deliver value by providing compliance and control, as well as fast return on investment. The solutions are distributed and implemented in Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific through an extensive network of Basware offices and business partners.
In 2007, net sales reached EUR 73 million. The growth target for net sales for 2008 is 15–25%. Founded in 1985, Basware Corporation is a public company listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. Headquartered in Finland, it has seven subsidiaries in Europe and one in the US. www.basware.com
Itella in brief
Itella Information is the smartest partner for the processing, management and delivery of corporate customers’ information flows. We specialise in invoicing processes, document handling and supply chain management. Itella offers the most flexible and efficient services easily and quickly, utilising the latest technology and best practices to enhance our customer’s value. We operate in nine Northern European countries, employing 1,700 professionals. In the autumn of 2008 we will also launch operations in Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic. Our turnover amounted to €201 million in 2007. Itella Information business group is part of Itella Group.www.itella.com/informationlogistics
