EIPP: No Longer in Dispute

Create!form-Generated Invoices Provide the
Foundation for Secure Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment Strategy

By some estimates, 80 percent of all American businesses last year sent invoices on paper via standard mail, hesitant to "disturb" buyers with new business processes, yet willing to absorb mounting costs to ensure a supporting paper trail. The remaining 20 percent - up from an estimated 14 percent who sent electronic invoices and 17 percent who processed payments electronically in 2000* - are already reaping the payback and security of electronic invoice presentment, payment and reporting.

Custom-built EDI interfaces are quickly being replaced by the Internet as the new pathway for trading partners to deliver invoices and manage payments online. Witness the recent example of Cargo Network Services (CNS). A consortium of freight-shipping businesses, CNS utilizes a Bottomline solution to send and settle bills electronically. In January alone, more than 1,000 CNS businesses used the e-payment system to invoice and pay for $200 million worth of shipments.

The results? Improved cash flow, lowered Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and greater convenience for carriers and customers. Says Forrester Research analyst Penny Gillespie, "companies with electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) implementations already in place have found enormous benefits that lead to competitive advantage. Suppliers get significantly improved cash flow and better-served customers. Payers find greater efficiency and improved operations. Both are finding dramatic cost savings."

For Bottomline Create!form customers, the road to turning document output into this same competitive advantage starts with Create!form-generated invoices. Create!form is an advanced document output management solution for ERP environments, turning ERP output into more professional, attractive invoices featuring dynamic content, logos, graphics, boxes, shading, barcodes and more. These professional invoices can be easily handed off to NetTransact® Express (NTX). A secure, hosted EIPP solution, NetTransact Express can help businesses of all sizes leverage the Internet to realize the benefits of online processing, empowering customers, partners and vendors to pay their Create!form-generated electronic invoices online.

The integrated Create!form/NTX solution provides a number of immediate benefits:

• Integrates easily with ERP systems
• Extends your electronic document output investment
• Provides better cash management and forecasting
• Automates and accelerates invoice dispute resolution
• Reduces paper and postage expenses
• Fewer errors and invoice print requests
• Better reporting and more flexible data capture
• Allows non-EDI customers to trade electronically

Rapid ROI
Achieving rapid ROI is the driving force behind any e-billing initiative. Industry research shows that ROI can be achieved when just 2.3 percent of bills are viewed and paid over the Internet. In addition to moving cash faster and reducing working capital requirements, savings also come from automating manual reconciliation and invoice dispute processes, which involve more than 15 percent of all B2B invoices. Because NTX is a completely hosted solution, Create!form users and others can take advantage of a fast, "zero footprint" implementation within weeks, not months.

Standard NetTransact capabilities include:

• Customizable payment workflow and approval
• Full payment and partial payment capabilities
• Multiple transaction types, including credit card payment (Amex/Visa/MasterCard) and direct bank account debit
• Live online reporting and auditing of transaction logs
• Detailed transaction/payment history available 24 hours/day
• Direct integration with Create!form architecture

To see how you can get started with NetTransact Express today, download our NetTransact Express for Create!form Environments brochure or contact your local Create!form representative.

* "2000 B2B Invoicing and Payments Study Results," Gartner Group, 2000.