From 50% to 83% e-invoices in only 6 months

All organizations want 100% e-invoicing. And when we interviewed our Nordics customers this spring, they all said the same thing: great idea but some guidance would be much appreciated.

Most companies today are already doing electronic invoices to some extent but only a few are really totally electronic. The question is how to transition the rest of the paper and pdf-invoices (invoices that are sent as mail attachments, which are commonly mistaken for actual e-invoices but offer none of the advantages) to true digital invoices. I had the opportunity to talk to Anna Sanda, head of finance systems at Södertörns University. Anna was the driving force behind Södertörns University's successful initiative to implement 100% e-invoicing, and under her leadership, they went from 50% e-invoices to 83% in in 6 months.

So how did she do it?

"It wasn't difficult. I was lucky to work with a brilliant project leader, Lars Larson at OpusCapita. He guided me through the process and taught me all I needed to know to guide our suppliers. It can be confusing with all the different formats and the terminology, but now I know and can guide the suppliers."

On April 1, 2019, Sweden mandated the use of e-invoicing for all central government authorities, and this was the trigger for Södertörns University to kick-off their project to invite all their suppliers to start sending electronic invoices only. But they had help. DIGG, the Swedish authority for digital administration, has been helping to spread the information that all suppliers to the public sector must send e-invoices that comply with the new standard by April 1, 2019.

Södertörns University works with more than 5,000 suppliers, and 50% of the invoices were already digital, but now it was time to transform the remaining invoice volumes to true digital invoices. Anna started by sending out a letter to all suppliers and informing them about the new legislation and that Södertörn University now only accepts invoices via PEPPOL or the supplier portal. But of course, that was not enough. Here are Anna's 5 best tips on how she succeeded:

• Start with the larger suppliers, and do a look-up to see which ones already can send e-invoices
• When issuing an RFI/RFP always include information that you only accept e-invoices
• Every time you receive a paper invoice or pdf-invoice via email from a new supplier, reach out to the supplier and explain what they need to get started and send e-invoices
• Have clear information on your website that you only accept e-invoices, including all the details required for the supplier
• Be relentless, don't give up