A Simplified Solution for an Opportunity Too Valuable to Ignore

The value of electronic invoicing represents one of the clearest ROI and cost-reduction opportunities in business today. Senders can save upwards of 80% of the cost of creating and distributing paper invoices. Conservatively speaking, receivers can save more than 15 Euros per invoice by accepting electronic invoices. (Some analysts put the savings at well over double that.)

Despite the obvious and rapid benefits of e-invoicing, many companies that invoice into and within the European Union find the complex maze of country-specific legal requirements to be a daunting challenge. Added to this, e-invoice solutions and service providers typically put the onus on you to develop an e-invoice output process that is independent of your existing paper-invoice process. These two challenges frequently make the transition to e-invoicing seem overly complicated.

StreamServe EU-Invoicing, on the other hand, creates a single, unified process for producing invoices in whatever form and format each of your customers prefers, delivered through their channel of choice—paper or electronic. And it automatically creates e-invoices that comply with applicable EU regulations* and that accommodate customer preferences. So you can deliver invoices in the preferred format and not worry about a legal technicality interrupting your revenue stream.

Regular Communications Encourages Customers to Adopt E-Invoicing

Although paper invoicing will predominate for the foreseeable future, e-invoicing will inevitably become the standard format. The best way to get your customer base to transition over to e-invoicing, and thereby save both  you and them considerable cost, is through regular communication that presents the benefits.

StreamServe EU-Invoicing enables you to put persuasive messages right on the paper invoice or as a free-standing enclosure. You can also tune the message to particular customers based on defined criteria. For example, the "value" of the message could be linked to the annual volume of invoices that a particular set of customers receives from you.

Lower Cost, Higher Efficiency, Rapid ROI

Gartner Group estimates that sending each paper invoice costs about 5 €. E-invoicing can cost less than 1. The unified StreamServe process also delivers noticeable savings for traditional paper invoices; for example, by reducing or eliminating manual handling and by enabling consolidation of invoices into fewer pieces of paper. For example, Stanley Europe reduced their invoices from four pages to a single page by printing invoices in groups optimized for the most efficient and cost-effective delivery.

On average, ROI can be achieved in six to twelve months.

See how StreamServe EU-Invoicing™ transforms the invoice and streamlines business processes over the last mile to the customer.

* The StreamServe EU-Invoicing solution enables compliance under EU E-invoice Directive 2001/115/EC in two key areas: 1. Electronic signatures; 2. Prior customer acceptance of electronic instead of paper invoicing. The solution supports well-known archiving systems available in the market, as well as StreamServe's own document storage system. Additional measures such as operational practices and hardware may be required in certain countries.

StreamServe EU-Invoicing™

Immediate Benefits, Long-Term Capabilities

One of the great benefits of the StreamServe EU-Invoicing solution is that it supports both paper and electronic invoicing with one streamlined process. This means that you can gain immediate cost reductions from improved efficiency of paper invoicing and simultaneously introduce the e-invoicing option.

Smooth Transition. Because both kinds of invoicing happen using the same process, converting any given customer over from paper to electronic is as simple as flipping a switch. So the transition of the customer base to e-invoicing can be accomplished incrementally over whatever time period is necessary.

During the transition period, you benefit from paper invoicing that costs less to produce and deliver, and that communicates more effectively due to improved design and content presentation.

Ongoing Communication. While the benefits of e-invoicing are evident, experience shows that repeated communication is the key to convincing customers to accept the transition.

With StreamServe, every paper invoice is an opportunity to communicate the message. The solution enables you to automatically include persuasive information right on the invoice itself, or as a separate attachment. These messages can also be automatically personalized to the specific customer, or customer set, based on their particular characteristics. Such effective and regular communication can accelerate the e-invoice adoption rate and the resulting cost savings for you and your customers.

StreamServe also enables Marketing and other business departments to make content and some design changes themselves—whenever they wish, and independently of IT support. For example, marketing messages—special offers, reminders, promotions, etc.—can quickly be developed and included in human-readable invoice forms.

Automatically Meet EU Authentication Requirements

Companies invoicing within or across the borders of the EU face an additional challenge because legal standards for security vary among the EU countries. Therefore, you must ensure that your e-invoices comply with applicable regulations. Otherwise, the e-invoice can be invalid for VAT purposes, which can lead to regulatory penalties and VAT problems.

StreamServe automatically includes the appropriate compliance characteristics for each sending and destination country. This built-in capability simplifies compliance by using smart technology to apply the right rules.

The StreamServe EU-Invoicing solution enables compliance under EU E-invoice Directive 2001/115/EC in two key areas: 1. Electronic signatures; 2. Prior customer acceptance of electronic instead of paper invoicing.

The solution also outputs to commonly used archiving systems and/or the included StreamServe document storage system. (Additional measures such as operational practices and hardware may be required in certain countries.) Both e-invoices and electronic copies of paper invoices can automatically be archived simultaneous with sending the invoice.

Customize the Invoice to the Customer's Preference

Apart from legal variations, there are also different e-invoice formats that suit different needs. For example, some customers may require invoices that can be read with a browser; others might want invoices submitted directly to their back-office systems or an e-invoicing service provider. StreamServe EU-Invoicing delivers the right format through the channel of preference for each customer, automatically.

Easy Integration into the Existing Infrastructure

StreamServe EU-Invoicing accepts all the data it needs for paper and electronic invoices from existing enterprise systems with minimal or no changes to those systems or applications. It is complementary technology that includes a vast array of connections both to receive information and to output invoices in multiple formats.

Both paper and electronic invoices are created dynamically within the StreamServe solution based on defined parameters that are easy to adjust as necessary. This is distinctly different from common current practices where each type of invoice and each variation of it must be separately coded; activity that must be repeated for every different enterprise system involved in an invoicing process. And it is particularly advantageous when compared to approaches that require a totally separate process for e-invoicing.

The bottom line is that StreamServe can deliver immediate gains by streamlining the current paper process while simultaneously creating the long-term capability you need to transition to electronic invoicing.

See how StreamServe EU-Invoicing™ transforms the invoice and streamlines business processes over the last mile to the customer.

StreamServe EU-Invoicing™ establishes a single work process that produces invoices in whatever form and format is needed—paper, electronic, archival. This simplified, consolidated approach means that IT development and support requirements are very focused and much lower than competing models that require separate process for paper and electronic.

See how StreamServe EU-Invoicing™ transforms the invoice and streamlines business processes over the last mile to the customer.


* The StreamServe EU-Invoicing solution enables compliance under EU E-invoice Directive 2001/115/EC in two key areas: 1. Electronic signatures; 2. Prior customer acceptance of electronic instead of paper invoicing. The solution supports well-known archiving systems available in the market, as well as StreamServe's own document storage system. Additional measures such as operational practices and hardware may be required in certain countries.