Our UK sales director Lucy Beck gives her thoughts about how invoice processing and document management functions are moving to the cloud to improve productivity in this article from the UK portal, CloudPro. 

It also features long-standing Palette customer, Stena Line, one of the world’s leading shipping firms. 
It’s well worth a read, at:  http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/saas/document-management/2749/how-cloud-rendering-traditional-document-management-obsolete?page=0,1

If you’d like to find out more about how our PaletteOnline solution gives you easier and more efficient invoice processing with minimal set-up and configuration, we’re hosting free webinars in February to show how you can deploy rapidly, cut costs and run either in the cloud or on your premises with identical functionality.   

The webinars are a no-obligation opportunity to find out how a cloud-based solution can provide you with a truly seamless method for managing supplier invoices more efficiently, delivering real, ongoing savings in both costs and time. 

To register for the webinar on Thursday 9th February at 3pm (GMT), click here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/705782734  

Or for Tuesday 21st February at 2.30pm (GMT), click here:   https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/245489558

We’ve just announced the latest version of PaletteArena, which includes a number of key enhancements to its mobile / smartphone working capabilities, email integration and reporting functions. 

PaletteArena Version 6 include PaletteMobile, allowing users to access their invoice workflows on their smartphone, offering more flexibility over how and where they can process and manage invoices.  The PaletteMobile client features an intuitive user interface to support invoice checking, approval, and workflow management. 

It also features PaletteMail which is aimed at users who prefer to integrate their workflow with their email, collating all of users’ invoices in their email inbox for review, which can then be reviewed and approved within the PaletteMail client, with all processing handled within PaletteArena.

We’ve also made a number of upgrades to PaletteDashboard, to give easier access to snapshots of key information on suppliers and the status of payments, with the option to drilldown into further detail if necessary.  Find out more about what PaletteArena 6.0 can do in our product pages.

The UK Government has been criticised for its response to the appeal made by a group of small business representatives earlier this month, to bring forward the enforcement of the EU late payment legislation amid fears of crippling financial struggle. 

The Telegraph newspaper reports that the business and enterprise minister, Mark Prisk, has proposed to ‘reform a group that will review corporate payment performance and legislation’, however members claim that he is merely relegating the matter as an issue of little, or no priority. 

The EU-wide deadline for the enforcement of the legislation is 2013, and legislation is slated to be introduced to the UK this year;  yet with many small businesses in the UK struggling to make ends meet, they fear they may not survive to see the legislation come into effect. 

Read more here:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/9033832/Governments-response-to-late-payment-questioned.html

A group of UK organisations and industry bodies have written to the business and enterprise minister, Mark Prisk, urging him to address the problem of late payments which are causing great financial struggle for smaller companies, and even putting some out of business.

A recent UK survey showing that 76% of business owners said they feel the government is not doing enough to protect UK businesses from late payments.

Possible resolutions to the problem include suggestions to bring the EU Late Payment Directive forward to 2012 therefore making 30-day payment terms mandatory, and preventing larger companies from changing the terms of their payments without contractual agreement.  This in turn is expected to put invoice and AP automation solutions in the spotlight, to help provide companies with the tools they need to avoid such penalties.

Research suggests that small and medium-sized businesses in the UK are owed £33.6 billion in outstanding invoice payments, the highest figure since records began.  

Read more about this issue at: http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/channels/small-business-finance/news/1679428/group-unite-to-take-on-late-payment.thtml

Palette has become a member of the European Electronic Invoicing Platform (EEI Platform), a consortium that aims to promote the benefits of e-invoicing with a key focus on sharing information, promoting members’ interests, building social networks, and obtaining and transferring knowledge.

The EEI Platform is claimed the largest platform to promote and facilitate the adoption of e-invoicing and invoice automation in Europe, and now has over 40 members who actively support its mission. 

This is to help accelerate the awareness, adoption and penetration of e-invoicing invoice automation and its related domains (payments, accounting, credit management, archiving, authenticity) across Europe, creating benefits and opportunities for its visitors, members, partners and participants.

Find out more about EEI at:  http://eeiplatform.com/6636/palette-software-welcomed-to-e-invoicing-platform/

We’ve named BancTec, the leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) for transaction automation and document management, as our partner of the year.   

We’ve worked with BancTec since 2009, with BancTec’s AP Master automation solution powered by PaletteArena, which offers the most automated approach to supplier invoice matching and straight-through processing.  This solution was recently introduced in the UK from the US market, and is offered to customers as either a hosted environment or licensed for deployment in-house.  It enables businesses of any size to benefit from an automated, paperless processing solution to help improve their accounts payable efficiency and reduce costs. 

Read more about the award here:  http://www.banctecbpo.com/2011/12/banctec-named-partner-of-the-year-by-palette/

Companies in all sectors are seeking to reduce costs, and searching for ways to improve efficiency within their business.  For many this has involved outsourcing certain aspects of their business functions, and AP is a key function that many companies evaluate for outsourcing – giving an opportunity for accounting practices and related businesses. 

In a recent article published by Outsource magazine, our UK sales director Lucy Beck explains what companies need to consider when looking to start offering a hosted, outsourced AP service, and offers advice on how companies should address the common concerns when discussing the possibility of managing outsourced service for their clients.  

Read the full article here: http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk/articles/item/4271-how-to-play-host-to-an-outsourcing-service

We’ve recently strengthened our North American presence with the appointment of EchoVera as a partner in Canada.  EchoVera is a document automation specialist that has a long track record in helping private and public sector clients of all sizes streamline their business processes and enhance productivity.  EchoVera plans to offer hosted solutions based on PaletteArena, giving complete flexibility in invoice management. 

“Palette sets itself apart with its comprehensive yet easy to use, purchase-to-pay solutions”, says EchoVera president Ralf Leitner. “We have yet to see any other solution that can match the scope and breadth of functionality in PaletteArena.”

Find out more about the story here: http://www.palette-group.com/press.aspx

Organisations such as accountancy and legal practices are familiar with providing a range of consulting and management services to their clients – and they are starting to offer outsourced AP services too.  But how should they approach offering services in the most efficient way, to maximise take-up with clients? 

Our latest article from UK sales director Lucy Beck looks at the issues of choosing the right AP platform on which to offer outsourced services, and how to address clients’ concerns when they are considering outsourcing their invoice processing.   You can read it here:  http://www.dofonline.co.uk/content/view/5839/114/

The average UK small company is now owed £39,000, according to the fourth annual survey by Bacs (Bankers' Automated Clearing Services).  The data shows that businesses are owed on average 10% more than last year. 

What’s more, those hit by late payment are waiting on average 28 days above their payment terms to have invoices settled.  The Bacs survey found that the most frequent excuse businesses hear is that payment is held-up due to internal systems – 55% or respondents said they were told their invoice is waiting for authorisation or that the bill is being processed by accounts.  

However, with EU Late Payment legislation set to be introduced in the UK in 2012 – a year earlier than originally planned – it will be interesting to see if this reduces the burden of overdue payments on businesses. If small companies start to use the EU legislation to levy penalties and interest on overdue payments, it may well force a change in payment practice – with companies needing better visibility and control over their payment processes in order to avoid such penalties.   

You can read more here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/8864367/Late-payments-to-small-firms-at-three-year-high.html

If you’re attending the IAPP’s Evolution 2011 event on the 9^th and 10^th November at Wokefield Park in Reading, UK, don’t forget that Palette is exhibiting at the event.
 

Palette customer, Selecta, Europe's largest vending service company,is hosting a speaker session at the event, called ‘Make Invoice Approval Fun & Gain Compliance’, delivered by the company’s former CFO, Per Ekstedt.

You can benefit from a 20% registration discount for the event by filling in this form: http://www.palette-group.com/utskick/dokument/palette-iapp-discount-form.pdf

Or for details of the event, follow the link: http://theiapp.co.uk/ViewItem-607.do?parentCatId=373

We have just launched PaletteOnline to give companies the fastest and easiest possible access to more efficient, automated invoice processing, with minimal set-up and configuration.

The new cloud-based invoice management service will enable businesses of any size to benefit from an automated, paperless invoice processing solution in a matter of days, helping to improve customers’ accounts and reduce costs.

PaletteOnline is available in three versions, PaletteOnline Unplugged, PaletteOnline Express, and PaletteOnline Arena, enabling companies to choose the solution to suit their exact needs, from simple automation to a complete, integrated cloud suite.

Lars Ola Petters, Palette’s CEO, said: “For many companies, it’s a big decision to introduce an automated invoice processing system because of the costs and deployment time required by traditional solutions. PaletteOnline removes this threshold and make the transition to automated invoice processing as easy as possible.”

User subscription is simple and efficient, as customers are charged per invoice, so only pay for what they use. PaletteOnline can process e-invoices or handle paper-based invoices scanned by the user. 

For more information about, click here:  http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2011/Oct/25/palette-launches-new-cloud-based-solution-for-invoice-processing-paletteonline.html

BancTec, the global leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) for financial transaction automation and document management, has chosen PaletteArena to power its AP Master SaaS solution which was launched in the UK recently.

BancTec’s AP Master software suite is a comprehensive and fully automated web-based SaaS Accounts Payable solution. AP Master was launched by BancTec in the US two years ago and is now available in the UK to provide additional benefits in managing the complete accounts payable cycle for corporations and businesses operating in the UK and Europe.

Powered by PaletteArena, the solution is offered to customers as either a hosted environment or licensed for customers to deploy in-house.  David Ogden, sales director for BancTec, said: “With our established partnership with Palette already benefiting businesses across the US, we wanted to extend the benefits of AP Master to the UK. We will be able to offer businesses of any size an automated, paperless processing solution to help improve customers’ accounts payable efficiency and reduce costs.”

http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2011/Oct/10/banctec-launches-web-based-accounts-payable-automation-services-in-the-uk-powered-by-palette.html