Although it might seem as though invoicing is the least concerning matter in terms of corporate efficiency, studies indicate that the backlog of payments among businesses in the United States is nothing to shake a stick at. When there are issues within accounts payable and receivable, cash flow will often be the first aspect to become problematic and, as many decision-makers know, this can put a damper on matters. 

E-invoicing has proven to have profoundly positive impacts on governments and businesses in the past few years, as it can reduce the amount of errors and inefficiencies that sprout up in data entry. Furthermore, when companies have a lot of moving parts in terms of accounts payable and receivable, e-invoicing will provide a centralized platform to manage the entirety of cash flow in an automated fashion. 

This frees up core staff members for more strategic matters, which can be especially beneficial when organizations are working to expand and target new markets. At the end of the day, the potential applications of automated tools are endless, and many businesses have found that leveraging e-invoicing solutions as a primary deployment will lead to other opportunities down the road by way of advanced software. 

Now, it has become clear in the past year that more countries around the globe, as well as businesses in the United States, are moving core functions into the digital arena, and e-invoicing has been particularly popular in this movement. If decision-makers need more evidence to understand the potential benefits of these investments, they will have plenty of case studies and more to evaluate and apply to their own objectives. 

First, the numbers
Last month, Research and Markets released a report that projected the e-invoicing market to expand at a 23 percent compound annual growth rate between this year and 2018 on a global scale, further highlighting the increased demand for these solutions. It is notable that some of the areas that will be driving the most significant levels of growth in this market are those that are considered to be developing nations. 

However, the United States and other first-world countries still have plenty to gain through more ubiquitous deployments of e-invoicing solutions. Research and Markets explained that e-invoicing can effectively reduce inefficiencies within accounting responsibilities, all the while strengthening the eco-friendliness of an organization given the avoidance of dependency on paper products. 

This little note represents a big strategic differentiator, as the average consumer is becoming more green-oriented with the passing of each year, looking to become a patron at businesses that share their passion for environmental friendliness. Additionally, the organization pointed out that these solutions can help companies avoid the risk of invoices that get lost along the way and speed up payments coming from clientele. 

"Enterprises are increasingly using e-invoicing solutions to simplify and automate the process of creating, sending, and receiving invoices," the authors affirmed. "E-invoicing is a cost-effective solution that eliminates paper-based manual invoicing and replaces it with a more reliable and faster invoicing system."

A look abroad
E-Invoicing Platform recently reported that the Italian government has released a new set of explanations and guidance regarding its movement toward national e-invoicing regulations. According to the news provider, officials there believe that e-invoicing can lead to stronger business control that yields the highest integrity and reliability for documents exchanged between the government and companies. 

Additionally, the source pointed out that the Italian Revenue Agency is demanding that companies overhaul their enterprise resource planning platforms and strategies to ensure that they are properly integrated and lead to more effective use of e-invoicing tools. ERP integration is another step that organizations can take to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their reporting and provisioning strategies.

This is not the only nation to be aggressive in its pursuit of digitized, automated invoicing systems, as PYMNTS reported that Moldova is enacting a policy that will demand all businesses that interact with government use e-invoicing solutions. The news provider noted that this has been part of a larger effort that is especially intense in South American nations to step into the modern era of payment processing and information exchange. 

Moldova's policy will be in effect as of September 1, and businesses must make the necessary adjustments to their strategies and solutions to oblige the rules ahead of the new law. 

Leaders who have not yet started to research and consider the potential uses of e-invoicing solutions should certainly do so soon, as stepping into the modern era is less of an option and more of a requirement when trying to remain relevant in the quickly evolving market. These tools are often highly affordable, and can come back with high returns on investment within a relatively short period of time.