Onboarding suppliers

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

1. 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 monthly.”
   
2. The project has one active owner.
   
3. Top management is aware of the project and supports it.
   
4. Employees are notified, what is 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.

Afterward, it is possible to move on to the supplier onboarding action plan.

1. Analyse which partners are capable to send e-invoices.
   Upon request, Telema can provide exact information about which of your partners are capable for e-invoicing. Just forward your supplier’s list (company name and reg. number) to eflow@telema.com.
   
2. Create suppliers a message
   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
   A 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 for 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.