How you can benefit from intelligent e-Invoicing
Digital invoices that are EN16931-compliant (like CII, Factur-X, XRechnung) are becoming increasingly widespread across different countries. Many companies are now under pressure to act – but in this blog article, you will find out how you can not only implement the new standard, but also fully benefit from it.
Go straight to:
- Manual Invoice Processing - Why E-Invoicing matters
- What exactly is an e-Invoice?
- What companies should do now
- What characterizes efficient incoming invoice management?
- Invoice Processing with inovoo: NOVO E-Invoice
- Automated Invoice Processing in practice: Saxon State Ministry of Finance
- Automate 90% of incoming invoices —it's easy!
- Conclusion: Introducing e-invoicing is a great opportunity
Manual Invoice Processing - Why e-Invoicing matters
Before we explore the potential benefits of e-invoicing, let us take a look at why it is so important.
For decades, manual processing of incoming invoices was the standard in most organizations — and in some cases, it still is today... Traditionally, companies would receive paper invoices by mail. The manual effort involved had a significant impact on capacity, time, and costs. In practice, this means:
- Long processing times
- Susceptibility to errors, e.g., during approval
- Missed deadlines, which cause additional costs
A scanning process with digital invoice management can only partially improve this situation. This often results in a confusing system landscape with media disruptions — and a process that remains inefficient and expensive.
In the EU, the term “e-invoice” refers to digital and structured invoice formats that comply with the EU standard EN 16931. Examples for formats that meet these requirements are CII or Factur-X. The core feature of an e-invoice is that all the legally required data can be extracted automatically. Digital but unstructured formats such as PDFs, on the other hand, are no longer considered e-invoices.¹
Unstructured electronic invoices (e.g., in PDF format) were a first step forward. With modern document management technologies and LLM-based AI solutions, incoming invoices in such formats can be automated relatively easily. However, EN16931-compliant e-invoicing is a real game changer, especially when dealing with high invoice volumes: Fully structured invoice data (e.g., in CII or Factur-X format) enables end-to-end, automated processing without human intervention—from receiving to posting.
What companies should do now
EN16931-compliant e-Invoicing is only efficient if the upstream and downstream processes — such as invoice creation, approval, and archiving — are also fully digitized. Those who have primarily worked with manual or partially digitized processes should switch to digitized processes now. This is because switching to the e-invoicing format without simultaneously automating processes will likely lead to additional work rather than simplification.
First, companies should analyze and adapt their existing invoicing processes. In doing so, they should ask themselves the following questions:
- How and where are invoices processed and stored?
- How are they verified and approved?
- Are there any media disruptions (e.g., printouts, manual entries)?
- Where is there untapped potential for automation?
Based on this analysis, it is possible to determine what the current weaknesses are. The next step is to select a suitable software solution for incoming invoices that can be integrated into existing processes.
What characterizes efficient incoming invoice management?
Most companies receive their invoices in many different formats – from simple letters to e-invoices. Not only must all important data be extracted from all these invoices, but they must also be checked in accordance with EU and local legislation and due dates must be identified and interpreted. After that, the data should ideally be sent directly to where it is needed, e.g., to the ERP and archiving system. When it comes to software solutions for incoming invoices, it is not only compatibility with all common formats that matters, but also integrability – because it is only through interaction with existing IT systems that you can fully benefit from the advantages of automating your incoming invoices.
Invoice Processing with inovoo: NOVO E-Invoice
With NOVO E-Invoice, you can process incoming invoices fully automatically – regardless of the format. Whether CII, Factur-X, other EN16931-compliant formats, PDF, or a scan of a paper invoice: the solution recognizes, classifies, and processes all formats efficiently and reliably.
This enables:
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Automated processing and analysis of various (e-)invoice formats
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Accelerated invoice verification and full compliance with legal requirements
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Seamless integration into existing approval processes and ERP, DMS, and workflow systems
Despite automation rates of over 85%, discrepancies in the extracted data can occur. In such cases, NOVO E-Invoice allows you to simply carry out a manual check – intuitively and efficiently:
Manual validation with NOVO Validate
Automated Invoice Processing in practice: Saxon State Ministry of Finance
The Saxon State Ministry of Finance has completely digitized and automated its invoice processing with inovoo. All incoming invoices that are not yet in an EN16931-compliant format are automatically digitized and processed. These invoices are processed much faster, without manual effort, and transferred to the target systems. Processing now takes place in a structured and media-disruption-free process:
- Receiving the invoice: Incoming invoices are received via the connected email inboxes and scan routes of the departments.
- Processing: Relevant information is extracted, enriched with address data via a central database, and stored together in the EN16931-compliant XRechnung format.
- Export: The data is transferred to the approval process and logged in an MS SQL database.
Invoice Processing at the Saxon State Ministry of Finance
Automate 90% of incoming invoices —it's easy!
Read the full reference report on Invoice Processing at the Saxon State Ministry of Finance now:
Conclusion: Introducing e-Invoicing is a great opportunity
At first, implementing e-invoicing may seem challenging for many companies. However, e-invoicing is a standard that will permanently transform invoice processing, leading to nearly fully automated processes. These changes will result in significant time and resource savings, which will more than compensate for the initial costs.
Companies that already rely on automated invoice processing and take advantage of e-Invoicing will benefit the most.
