How Vattenfall significantly simplified their invoicing process

Many SME entrepreneurs want to receive invoices directly into their accounting software. Pieter Hansma, proposition marketer at Vattenfall, was passionate to find a suitable solution to this problem. PEPPOL proved to be the answer:

“In a large organization such as Vattenfall, an invoice makes a considerable journey through various departments. Eventually we looked for a light solution to simplify our invoicing process. Storecove turned out to be the best solution. We could easily implement their e-invoice software without high costs. In addition, customers can receive both by e-invoicing as well as the old traditional way."

"This innovation has led to a significant acceleration of our e-invoicing process."

"Storecove sends the XML invoices (European standard) to the customer through the independent PEPPOL network. The customer will immediately receive a booking proposal in their bookkeeping software and can book the invoice with a single push of a button.

Customers who are not connected to the PEPPOL network will receive the invoice as XML and PDF in an e-mail that includes all relevant fields. Storecove ensures that the invoice is transformed into an e-invoicing format (in our case UBL) that fits the specific accounting package. They function as our junction box between PostNL and all forty Dutch accounting packages. This innovation has led to a significant acceleration of our e-invoicing process."

"E-invoicing is an important step towards a more pleasant customer experience."

Hansma believes that e-invoicing is an important step towards a more pleasant customer experience: “Booking invoices is a pain for a lot of entrepreneurs. If you get rid of that irritation, I expect a  positive effect on customer loyalty and acquisition. Moreover, offering this service gives us a small competitive advantage.”

However, Pieter does not only see digitization as making the customer experience more pleasant. “Digitization is also an important link in sustainability. Not only does it reduce paper usage, but also logistics flows. In this way it contributes directly to reducing CO2 emissions and improving air quality.

Moreover, e-invoicing is very cost efficient, both for us and for our customers. The energy transition requires investment. Not only by SMEs, but especially by large companies such as Vattenfall. We explicitly take our responsibility and want to be a forerunner in the transition.