Sage, together with CEOE and AFI (international financial analysts), has presented the results of a global study that highlights the transformative impact of the electronic invoice on the efficiency of SMEs, improving cash flow and significantly enhancing productivity. This advance occurs at a time when millions of small and medium enterprises throughout Europe are preparing to adopt this technology.
In an event recently held at the CEOE headquarters, the three entities examined the barriers faced by SMEs in the adoption of the electronic invoice, underlining how collaboration between the public and private sector can establish an economy connected in Spain and Europe, promoting their adoption so that SMEs take full advantage of their benefits.
SMEs could save more than 13,500 euros per year and win 6 weekly hours with electronic invoice
The study “Electronic Billing: The road to a connected economy”, based on data collected from more than 9,000 SMEs worldwide, reveals that the adoption of electronic billing can generate significant annual savings of approximately 13,500 euros per company, reducing almost half the time spent the processing of invoices. In addition, it emphasizes that an impressive 77% of business leaders actively intervene each month to ensure the punctuality of payments, with 40% doing it weekly.
José Alberto González-Ruiz, general secretary of CEOEexplains that “The electronic invoice emerges as an essential component to improve all efficiency processes. It also becomes, without a doubt, a strategic tool. The application of technologies to the billing and the appearance of electronic invoices will have an impact on the improvement of the operational efficiency of our companies, especially SMEs, contributing to the traceability of transactions, and especially in the improvement of productivity ”
The electronic invoice in SMEs
Electronic billing not only optimizes the flow of information and minimizes delays related to invoices, but also provides financial incentives that allow SMEs to invest in technological innovations. This can lead to a potential increase in EU labor productivity of up to 2.6% per year, if SMEs redirect their administrative tasks to more value activities, thus promoting the general economic growth of Europe.
According to AFI, Spanish and European SMEs recover the initial investment in the first year of electronic billing. After two years, the savings generated by this technology triple and double the initial costs on average for the EU and Spain respectively. In addition, operational efficiency improves markedly, reducing by 44% the necessary time to process invoices, which is equivalent to a saving of 6 hours per week per SME.
In that line, Víctor Ausín, General Director of Economic Policy, Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business, Remarks that the adoption of the electronic invoice allows us to optimize resources “that can be dedicated to increasing capital-work endowment. That relationship is increasing the productivity of the economy. The release of unproductive hours that could be reallocated from the management of invoices and others towards other more productive tasks would allow us to release around 400 million hours a year. ”
For its part, José Luis Martín Zabala, Managing Director Sage Iberiaconcludes that “We must help SMEs in their adoption of the electronic invoice through financial aid, such as digital kit, certainty in the terms of implementation, constant and continuous training, and investment in digital infrastructure that ensure a safe, massive, mass and scalable data exchange”
