E–invoicing is an online medium through which payments can be made within a buyer and a seller (einvoicingbasics.co.uk, WHAT IS E-INVOICING? 2016). E-invoicing technology provides a lot of benefits as opposed to the traditional paper invoicing processes. Some of these benefits include reducing paper usage, facilitating faster transaction, reducing impact on environment, working with less manual labor, etc. (einvoicingbasics.co.uk, THE BENEFITS, 2016).
E-invoicing as a whole is a substantially broad domain that encompasses several E Faktura systems or models. These models are used by businesses to manage transactions via an online medium. Even though the common goal between the systems is same, they differ in their work approach, and have their own benefits. Before adopting E-invoicing technology, businesses need to have more detailed information of the entire E-Invoicing process. Being knowledgeable about the details of basic invoicing models can be very beneficial to businesses. This would help businesses to select the most appropriate system solutions for managing business transactions in a smoother manner. Ultimately, dealing with smooth business transactions is a large contributory factor for the growth of a business. In the current market, numerous E-invoicing solutions are mainly integrated with E Faktura software programs. The E invoicing solutions that are available in the form of different models form an integral part of this process (ricoh.it, E‐INVOICING: READY FOR PRIME TIME, 2011). These models or systems vary from country to country with differing variations. The main E-invoicing models are briefly described below.
Buyer Direct
In this system, the invoices are directly accepted by the buyer from the supplier. In some cases, the supplier may provide paper invoices. But with the buyer direct solution, a buyer can convert the paper invoices to electronic invoices. There is a greater chance that large organizations and businesses use E-invoicing technology on a larger extent than paper invoicing. Numerous paper invoices to digital invoice conversations can be done in short time using the buyer direct solution. The conversion and data extraction needs to be completed before uploading to the accounts payable section. Thus, organizations can benefit a lot by adopting a buyer direct invoicing system for dealing with transactions.
Supplier Direct
The supplier direct system is used mainly by businesses, which deal with supplying goods, products and other services to the buying businesses. Firstly, a supplier needs to create a digital invoice directly from its accounts receivable system, with the help of a web-based form. Thus, after the digital invoice has been made, a buying business need not manage invoice transaction in a manual manner. Although this approach is quite popular in the B2C domain, it has been adopted to a lesser extent within the B2B market. This limitation exists due to the difficulties regarding integration of buyers’ accounts payable and suppliers’ account receivable systems. This invoicing factor is changing with every passing year, as businesses try to solve such challenges.
Consolidating System
This system involves interchanging of E-invoices with the help of a third party, which provides invoicing solutions. The suppliers as well as the buyers are connected to the third party network, wherein the invoices are dispatched and received. Such third party companies charge a fee while they provide the invoicing solutions.
One such reputed third-party company which provides E-Fakturering solutions to businesses in Norway is Basware. Visit their website for more details.
