SERES Blog English

The United States is the third-largest country, home to digitalization and artificial intelligence.

The electronic invoice is a powerful tool promoted internationally that brings a multitude of benefits to companies. Although as a rule there are a number of similarities in e-invoicing projects between different countries, the multitude of types of formats, platforms, legal regulations or the level of technological development make the electronic invoicing differ from one country to another.

In the supply chain, fluid communication between all actors that are part of the process is essential. Therefore, the Electronic Document Exchange (EDI) revolutionized all the parties that make up this supply chain, especially in sectors such as automotive, retail or logistics.

Blockchain technology was named for the first time in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym that has still not been uncovered) to refer to a system based on information contained in chained blocks and which makes it possible to complete transactions without intermediaries in perfect safety.

European countries lose 825bn euros from tax evasion every year. This represents a loss of 16.5% of their tax take, according to a report by the socialists and democrats group. This is a major problem for governments and for which action has already been taken at both global and local levels.

Digitalization brings many benefits to businesses. Indeed, companies that have not implemented it have a significant loss of competitive advantage compared to other companies. Business have already modernised and automated many daily activities or tasks. One of these is as a result of Electronic Document Interchange (EDI). Its take-up is increasing and the annual volume of total EDI transactions now exceeds 20bn euros.

Singapore pioneered the use of electronic invoicing - not just in Asia but worldwide. The country began using it in 2003, at the same time as Chile. However, it would be years later that it would become mandatory in Singapore.

One of the particular features of the Asian market is its heterogeneous nature. It is much more diverse, for example, than either the European or Latin American markets. Asia is the largest and most populous continent on Earth. It has a concentration of major economic powers alongside others that are still in the very early stages of development. In such an uneven environment, electronic invoicing is only gradually finding its place.

Electronic invoicing implementation is expanding and more and more used for transactions. It is estimated that in five years’ time this market reaches $20.529 million and becomes the invoicing method for 100% of transactions in many countries.

From 18^th April, 2019, the public administrations of all EU Member States are compelled to electronically receive and process their invoices. This concerns any B2G (Business-to-Government) and G2G (Government-to-Government) trades and transactions within the European Union.