In a recent post, Peter traces the history of e-invoicing and why such initiatives have largely failed to gather the expected steam they tried to muster in the past and why this is changing today. In this analysis, Peter suggests that "electronic Invoicing has for over a decade promised to deliver a fundamental change in the way accounts payable operates...promises all made in good faith but promises that were not delivered...[one reason is] e-invoicing doesn't make sense. Until now!" Peter's argument also looks at the history of AP outsourcing and data integration challenges (and how the latter has been cleared up today to make it easier to get to "100% electronic" as he describes it).
Today, Peter argues that "for the purposes of AP automation, consider invoice images, scanned or otherwise, as electronic invoices." Moreover, with this new interpretation, he suggests it is possible to get to "100%" automation by using a "range of invoice types" that encompass EDI, XML, PDF, invoice scans, etc. Yet I'm not as convinced as he is that a scan/capture solution in fact creates an e-invoice. It creates an electronic record. But just as true electronic medical records in healthcare are rarely fully integrated with scanned/captured physician notes (not to mention prescription records, ER visits, etc.) to provide a complete 360 degree of the patient, simply "going digital" with paper invoices is not electronic invoicing. At least not in my book (just yet). Over to you, Peter...
Jason Busch
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