Blog: Eco-friendly e-invoicing: go green and save ‘green’

Have you ever heard of Arbor Day? Arbor Day is a holiday in which people are encouraged to plant trees. Arbor Day is celebrated in many countries, but the date it’s celebrated on varies due to the different climates & planting seasons worldwide. According to the chronicles, a Spanish priest named Don Juan Abern Samtrés held the first modern Arbor Day in 1805. He planted the trees because he was convinced of the importance of trees for health, hygiene, nature and the environment.

We agree with Don Juan, do you? Have you ever thought about the effect the invoices you receive have on the environment? If not, allow us to tell you more about it. We are certain that moving to e-invoicing will not only contribute to saving trees and improving our environment, it will also save you time and money. We believe in a world where paperless invoicing is possible, which is why we put together a list of several reasons why you should have considered the implementation of e-invoicing practices yesterday.

Sustainable practices are sexy

Going green through digitization is one of the biggest opportunities for many organizations, and where better to start than with the seemingly endless number of paper invoices received and sent every month? By reducing or completely eliminating paper-based invoicing, an organization will turn its environmental impact around and promote sustainability. What’s more, is that customers in this modern age value sustainable practices more than they ever did before. A 2017 Unilever survey indicates that a third of consumers worldwide prefer a sustainable brand, and they are choosing to buy goods and services from brands that they believe are doing social or environmental good. They are even willing to pay more! That said, being aware of the effect your goods and services have on the environment is more important than ever before. By promoting sustainable practices within your own organization, your customers will be more likely to become loyal brand ambassadors and stay with you for a long time.

Speedy, convenient and readily available

E-invoicing ensures faster time till payment and is one of the drivers for excellent customer experience and retention. Customers will receive their invoice a lot faster via email than via traditional mail and normally spend most of their day using digital devices, meaning that they process the information faster and can pay their invoice faster as well. Offering your customers an online portal which allows them self-service to match and validate current and past invoices, makes for an accelerated cash flow as well. This also means that customers have all their invoices readily available in one place whenever they need them, eliminating the need for them to dig through their archives for information on past invoices. To complete the process, customers should be able to transfer their invoices to their bookkeeping systems without any hassle, which is where we bring PEPPOL to the table. With this connector, automatic transfers and payments have never been easier.

Go green and save ‘green’

According to a 2016 US study, the 5,589 researched organizations could collectively save nearly 1 billion dollars if they cut down on paper usage by only 1%. Image the money that can be spent on other organizational practices when paper invoicing becomes a thing of the past! Did you know that paper waste accounts for a shocking 37% of an organization’s total waste? So not only are you saving money by introducing e-invoicing, you are also saving our planet!

E-invoicing also allows organizations to cut down on operational costs, such as their service desks. Today, customers who do not understand their invoice are not likely to start digging through stacks of paper to find answers; instead, they pick up the phone and expect a service desk employee to do it for them. And who can blame them? Through automation, personalization, and self-service, customers can now find the answers they seek online, eliminating the need for ginormous call centers.

Are you convinced of the importance of e-invoicing for our planet and your organization’s wallet, and would you like to know more about it? Please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will gladly tell you everything about our views on the elimination of paper invoicing and the introduction of e-invoicing.