Encourage your suppliers to send e-invoices

E-invoicing has become more and more popular, saving time and money for both the receiver and the sender. Most probably there are some suppliers who still send invoices to your company using email.

Here are 6 tips to succeed in supplier onboarding and encouraging them to send your company e-invoices.

1. The project has a clearly worded goal – ie. “By the end of the year 60% of all invoices are e-invoices, saving each employee 5 hours every month.”
   
2. The project has one active owner.
   
3. Top management is aware of the project and supports it.
   
4. Employees are notified of the project goal and why e-invoicing is implemented.
   
5. Business partners’ IT capabilities to send and receive e-invoices are taken into account – it is usually lower than expected.
   
6. All parties involved inside the company have enough information to instruct suppliers.

If all internal goals are communicated and project parties are aware of their responsibilities, then it is possible to move on to the supplier onboarding action plan.

1. Analyse which partners are capable of sending e-invoices
   Find out which company clients are capable of sending e-invoices. Some accounting softwares (ie. Directo, Merit, StandardBooks) show which companies accept e-invoices. Upon request, Telema can provide exact information about which of your partners are capable of e-invoicing. Just forward your supplier list (company name and reg. number) to eflow@telema.com.
   
2. Create a message for your suppliers
   For a successful onboarding, suppliers must be approached with different messages and tactics. The message itself, the tone and the frequency must all differ. Group your suppliers based on the amount and complexity of invoices, suppliers’ technological capabilities (either paper, PDF or e-invoice) and suppliers’ destination (local or foreign).
   
3. Set automatic replies for purchase invoice inbox
   Good practice is to set automatic replies for your purchase invoice inbox, in which you inform your suppliers of implementing e-invoices.
   
4. Notify your suppliers regularly and keep track
   Consistent communication is the key to successful onboarding. Use sample letters to notify suppliers of your preference of receiving e-invoices. At the same time keep track of the responses.
   
5. Measure results
   Regularly monitor the percentage of e-invoices. Do it monthly or quarterly, according to your company goals. Calculate how much your company has saved and celebrate smaller and bigger achievements.

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