When a customer requests you to send them an electronic invoice, what does it mean? It implies that the PDF invoices you send via e-mail are no longer convenient. It also means that it’s time to hop onto a solution that allows you to convert PDF invoices into common e-invoices standards such as XML or UBL.
The question is:
Why Should Converting PDF Invoices to e-Invoices (Or XML) Be the Norm in Your Business?
Electronic invoicing is taking over as the universal and acceptable way to send and receive invoices. According to a study commissioned by Billentis, 55 billion e-invoices will be exchanged between trading partners worldwide by 2025, marking a 20% annual growth rate. Further, the electronic invoicing marketing value will hit a staggering $20.5 billion by the same year.
Of course, as a progressive, forward-thinking business, you’ll want to be part of this experience.
The point we’re making is that converting PDF invoices into electronic invoices enables your business to join a trend that will eventually change invoicing as we know it. Think of it to ensure your business is ready for the future of invoicing.
Besides, converting PDF invoices to e-invoices, at its core, allows you to maintain a healthy relationship with your business partners.
Benefits of Electronic Invoicing Vs. PDF Traditional Invoicing
E-invoicing adds value to your business while freeing up your team to work on other growth areas. Here is some benefit of ditching PDF invoicing for e-invoicing:
Faster Invoice Processing and Payment
Typically, when a customer receives your PDF invoice, it sits in their e-mail, awaiting a series of processes, including sorting out, re-routing, re-keying, and submission for approval. Of course, this process takes time, not to mention the likelihood that your invoice could get lost.
On the flip side, electronic invoicing helps reduce these delays by streamlining the approval process. Once a customer receives your e-invoice, they can access it on their ERP system and route it on the spot for quicker approval. The ripple effect is that you get paid faster.
Real-Time Access to Outstanding Invoices
It takes 16 days to approve and pay a PDF invoice. On the other hand, an electronic invoice allows immediate approval and payment. That way, your business can benefit from real-time insights into the following processes:
- Outstanding invoices
- Incoming and outgoing cash flows
- Better cash management
- Status and location of your invoices
- The current financial situation of your business
Increased Productivity and Automation
PDF invoices must be re-entered into your accounts payable (AP) system. The manual entry process is prone to errors and can lead to many disputes or rejected invoices.
E-invoicing enables you to send data straight to your customer’s AP system, eliminating manual entry. Because of this, your accounts department can focus on high-value activities.
Further, electronic invoicing allows AP departments to validate invoices automatically before routing them to decision-makers for approval. Automatic validations help remove errors in crucial calculations such as VAT.
Other advantages of automating validations of invoices include:
- You can identify goods bought by each department.
- It is easier to match invoices with other procurement documents such as purchase orders and contracts.
Better Account Reconciliation
Reconciling invoices you’ve issued to your customers against their payments can be challenging.
For one, your customers can decide to issue a single payment for multiple invoices. The payment amount may differ from the original invoices because of damaged goods and claim deductions.
E-invoicing simplifies the account reconciliation process because it allows you to send the details of the invoices together with the payment.
Other benefits of using e-invoices instead of PDF or paper invoices include:
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Increased transparency
- Low-cost data preservation
With the many benefits of electronic invoicing, there’s every reason to adopt e-invoicing to enhance your business processes.
What if Your Supplier Trading Partner Cannot Send an Electronic Invoice?
You don’t have to deal with the inconveniences and risks that come with PDF invoices – tell them to send you the PDF invoice, then simply convert it into an e-invoice. We will notify you how next!
Converting a PDF Invoice into an e-Invoice is Easy as 1-2-3!
Here’s an easy process to convert any PDF invoice into an electronic invoice:
Step 1
Upload the invoice into Unimaze’s platform
Step 2
Process the invoice through the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system via the platform.
For clarity’s sake, OCR runs on Rossum, a technology powered by artificial intelligence that identifies and picks crucial details of a scanned PDF invoice. The system uses information gathered from the PDF invoice to create an electronic invoice.
Note – When the system cannot identify some details of the PDF invoice required for conversion, manual mapping comes into play.
Manual mapping trains AI machine learning to ensure that the system can identify every crucial element needed to convert the PDF invoice to an e-invoice.
Step 3:
Send the newly generated e-invoice to your ERP system for further customization if need be.
Unimaze Helps You Convert PDF Invoices into Any Electronic Format
Unimaze Software developed a solution that helps business owners and trading partners convert PDF invoices to e-invoices in a few clicks.
Running on artificial intelligence, our software allows you to convert PDF invoices in line with EDI and e-invoicing requirements.
Why should you use Unimaze software to convert PDFs into electronic documents?
- Our solution is easy to use
- You can instantly process PDF invoices into your existing ERP system or EDI infrastructure.
- No technical change is needed to your system.
- No disruption to your digital supply chain
Contact Unimaze support to start converting your PDF invoices into e-invoices today.
