Blog - Kofax (formerly 170 Systems) Perspectives on AP

6 Critical Requirements for
for E-Invoicing and Supplier Portals

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In my last blog entry, I outlined the 5 reasons why I think e-invoicing and supplier portals have failed:

• Too expensive for suppliers
• Too many different portals that are hard to learn and use
• Requiring suppliers to change their invoice delivery process
• Portals that are too complex
• Too expensive for buyers

Here's my take on how to address these barriers to adoption:

1. No Cost to Suppliers: Provide a web-based service that is free for Suppliers, offering them valuable features at no cost to their organization.
2. Web-based Forms for Electronic Invoices: The supplier portal should provide suppliers with the ability to submit their invoices electronically via simple web-based forms. However, this should be an optional feature that is not required to utilize other features. This electronic invoice submission feature would benefit suppliers through immediate confirmation that their invoice was received and offer immediate visibility into the status of that invoice. The status of invoices that are not sent electronically in this matter (i.e. paper invoices) would still be available once those invoices are entered into the ERP system.
3. Visibility into ALL Invoices: The status of ALL invoices should be available via the supplier portal, regardless of invoice format or how the invoice was received. So even if the invoice is not sent electronically via the portal's web-form (i.e. paper invoices),  the status of ALL invoices would still be available once those invoices are entered into the ERP system.
4. Real-Time Invoice Status: The supplier portal should provide secure, real-time access to the information that suppliers are looking for - namely, invoice and payment related data. The information is provided to suppliers in a very easy to use interface. Ideally, the portal would leverage the buyer's current ERP to access AP information, so no duplication of data or additional modules would need to be implemented.
5. Streamlined Dispute Resolution: The supplier portal should provide a centralized messaging feature that enables buyer organizations and suppliers to communicate effectively, providing full visibility to members of both groups for streamlined dispute resolution.
6. Hosted, Minimal-Hassle Web Service: The supplier portal should be a hosted, pay-as-you-go service (which is an approach sometimes referred to as "Software-as-a-Service"). The service should be priced aggressively, making it easy for buyers to purchase. Because the service would be offered in this way, minimal IT effort would be required to set up and deploy the solution (say, a few days at most).

I'll admit that this is a bold list of requirements and I will also admit that is probably an incomplete list. Did I miss anything?  Let me know in the comments section.

-Rakesh Shukla