Regulations are fast moving, with new rules being announced almost every week. It’s important to keep up to be able to prepare as soon as possible. But when do you act? Which announcements should you take seriously? Regulations that are ‘being considered’ or ‘being discussed’ could result in new regulations quite quickly, but it might also take years for them to develop into legislation as well. Organisations have to use multiple types of sources, just to keep up to speed on the latest developments.’E-invoicing Global changes all that, because it provides a single source of information for all topics related to e-invoicing legislation around the world.’

 

After many conversations, we can conclude that most companies and organisations define their e-invoicing strategy as reactive. Although the goal is to be proactive, it turns out to be very challenging to achieve this. Especially when dealing with multiple offices, spread out across many different countries around the world. There are several factors that push organisations into taking a reactive strategy.

 

The first factor is the lack of a universal standard and the difficulty that organisations face in keeping up with all the possible updates and new formats. Some countries copy off of one another, which helps make things a bit more predictable. But still, countries can introduce e-invoicing as they see fit. A second factor is that new e-invoicing mandates are being announced with increasing frequency in country after country. Especially now in Europe, many countries are introducing e-invoicing mandates practically simultaneously. This means that lots of work has to be done all at the same time. And another factor is simply the level of awareness of e-invoicing within a company. Even at very large companies, only a small group of people understand and deal with the urgency of e-invoicing. That makes it challenging to secure enough budget and receive enough IT support. Just remember that no matter what stage you are at with e-invoicing, it’s never too late to turn your strategy around.

 

With the worldwide adoption of e-invoicing, the number of software providers has strongly increased as well. In a world with over 900 software providers with not one covering the entire world, it’s difficult to find the provider that fits best. Especially since there are very few independent advisors. It is worth investing in independent advisors to help guide your company through this process though. They can support you on roadmap development, training, workshops, research, package selection, implementation, onboarding and strategic advice.

 

Regardless of what stage of e-invoicing your organisation is in, the road to (semi-/fully automated) e-invoicing is often similar. The budget changes depending on the size of the company, but choices about strategy can be as difficult for a small organisation as they are for a large one. Learn from others, inside and outside your company, and reach out for help to have your strategy challenged or to decide where to start your journey. This will save you time and unnecessary costs in the long term.