Good Day Frank

I must say that i have never really encountered any resistance by suppliers (big and small) to the adoption of electronic invoicing/ bill presentment and payment. In fact i have seen suppliers really welcome this as there are clear and simple benefits for them and have seen this to be the case in both private and public sector situations. In fact i am sitting with a case study from Microsoft in front of me at the moment, which is just one example - if you want i can provide it to you?

The only stumbling block that may exist is a lack of connectivity to the internet. However, this is becoming less on an issue as connectivity becomes more wide spread and it must be said that solution providers have found ways around this, which work very well. The only other resistance that i have seen (off the top of my head) is when there is a lack of communication concerning such an initiative. When this happens suppliers feel left in the dark and their alienation results in resistance.

Please shout if i can be of any further assistance to you on the matter.

Kind Regards

Gregg Barrett

Hi Gregg, wasn't sure if I would get any interest in this thread and thanks for your comments. I see your post is from South Africa and I am reporting from the UK. We have Broadband access everywhere now from £12 p.mth for consumers/small business so our issues are not about connectivity. II'm scratching my head a bit but sense this is coming doen the pipe.

hello,

This is officially my 1st post!

We have introduced electronic invoicing to our suppliers but were not as fortunate as Gregg. Even though suppliers know they would get paid on time they don't want to use the tool.

They seem to be comfortable with paper based transactions... maybe its just the fear of trying out something new im not sure...

We will however make it compulsory for our suppliers to make use of electronic invoicing as of the New Year. The benefits with Electronic Invoicing are great for both Suppliers and Customers. Hopefully suppliers will realize this as time goes by....

Hi Ziyaad, if you are in a position to compel your suppliers and make it a 'condition of business' then you will truly test your supplier's commitment. I see lots of examples of suppliers putting off a decision to commence electronic invoicing and sometimes you have to push hard just as you are doing. I presume you have a Plan B for those that keep with the paper invoices? I have seen some levy a processing charge as a deduction from the invoice value to cover their 'additional costs' incurred as a result of a supplier submitting paper invoices. Of course you will have to be reasonable in determining what your additional costs actually are. In all reality it is better to make it a condition of business and accept that you will lose some suppliers. Frank

We have given suppliers over a year to convert to the new electronic invoicing system. We have provided them with training as well as additional workshops for suppliers that were still unsure on how to use the tool.

We have decided that suppliers that do not make use of the electronic invoicing tool from the start of 07 would unfortunately be shut down.

like you say Frank .. this would test the suppliers commitment!i have to admit our big spend supplier have all agreed to make use of the electronic invoicing tool. its the smaller suppliers that are reluctant to make use of this tool!