PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY
E-INVOICING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR, NOW THERE’S A THOUGHT
Chas Moloney, Director at Ricoh UK, reviews the impacts of one element of the European Union Digital Agenda for the UK’s public sector ecosystem
shake up of cost cutting measures but at the same time the sector needs to remain innovative across all of its services, from schools to community centres to healthcare and hospitals to generate the infrastructure necessary for economic recovery in the UK.
T
Using technology to improve business processes is not a new argument however the public sector should look deeper within its vast pool of services and across all of its departments. Implementing an e-invoicing approach would not only help to cut costs but would also improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain. With e-invoicing, companies face fewer payment delays, save money from printing and postage costs, and establish an automated, integrated system for efficient processes. Furthermore, there are huge environmental improvements that can be achieved, not only by using less paper, but also by cutting out the energy costs from the transportation of invoices. According to the same Mid-Term Report by the Expert Group on e-Invoicing, up to 3 million tonnes of CO2
emissions can be saved
each year in Europe through e-invoicing alone.
The EU is therefore driving the initiative to harmonise invoicing standards across Europe by next year, resulting in a direct impact on the UK’s public services.
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he public sector is currently facing one of its most challenging times. The
government has already planned and implemented a radical
By 2020, the Commission wants e-invoicing to be the predominant form of invoicing in Europe and the public sector needs to take stock as pressure mounts from both the UK public and the politicians to cut budgets and public spending while improving citizens’ services and government interactions. At the core of the European Union’s Digital Agenda, an action plan designed to boost Europe's prosperity and well- being, are 100 planned actions ranging from the improvement of the EU’s digital single market, trust and security, and the development of e-skills. These are all designed to create a smarter, sustainable and inclusive Europe. Whilst this may feel like a broad brush approach impacting the local community centre or school near to you, realising any one of these EU 100 items could have major positive effects on the UK’s public sector competitiveness and ultimately enable economic growth in these testing times.
January 2013 marks a significant milestone for one key action of the Digital Agenda. It is the deadline for Member States to legislate so electronic and paper invoices are treated equally, removing one of the barriers to European-wide implementation of electronic invoicing, other wise known as e-invoicing. It is estimated that, once adopted, e-invoicing will save businesses in Europe a significant amount of money, with the European Commission Expert Group on e-Invoicing's Mid-Term Report noting annual cost savings as high as €200 billion. Public sector services will be included within these business groups and this is money that can be invested on driving innovation, supporting growth in the smallest of the public sector organisations across our communities, as well as contributing to a healthier national economy.
However, despite the wide availability of the technology for many public sector companies looking to switch from paper to electronic invoicing, there are still a number of obstacles to adopting a fully
PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4
digitised process. The main barriers appear to be the lack of technological expertise or capacity, limited trust in the security of digitised data, and the lack of acceptance by suppliers and customers who are not quite ready to let go of paper systems.
Essentially, what the Digital Agenda must recognise is that the public sector can’t simply switch from paper to digital overnight. The reality is that a shift to electronic invoicing must be done in several stages and therefore organisations will need a process to manage both paper and electronic invoices in tandem as employees in the public sector, its customers, and its suppliers, make the transition to a digital way of working. With just under one year to go before the deadline, greater awareness is required of the services available to the public sector to make the transition. Without the promotion of e-skills across the public sector, without the roll out of high speed broadband, or without boosting e-commerce across Europe – to name just three of the 100 – the sector will remain reluctant to embrace technological change. In order to drive growth, the UK Government alongside Europe needs to keep on pushing the Digital Agenda and prepare the grounds for the beneficial impacts of technology to be fully realised.
ICT solutions are a key enabler of growth in every other industry sector, too, with technology being behind some of the latest advancements in areas such as healthcare, transportation to the smallest community project. The Digital Agenda is on track for taking invoicing to the digital age. With the countdown starting with less than one year to go, EU member states will have introduced harmonised standards, and will thereby lift a crucial barrier from our important hub of public sector services in communities all over the country seeking to benefit from technology’s enormous cost saving potential.
www.ricoh.co.uk
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