Together with BancTec, we’re exhibiting at the 12th Annual Shared Services and Outsourcing Week event in Amsterdam from 14 – 16 May.

BancTec already uses our complete purchase-to-pay suite, PaletteArena to power the BancTec AP Master SaaS solution which it offers internationally.  AP Master is a comprehensive and fully automated web-based SaaS Accounts Payable solution, offered to customers as either a hosted environment or licensed for customers to deploy in-house. 

Palette and BancTec are also working together to offer the PaletteOnline cloud solution to customers in Sweden to enable more efficient invoice processing, giving companies of any size the fastest possible route to easier, more flexible invoice processing. 

Come along and find out more about our range of advanced solutions to help automate your key business processes.   More details at:  http://www.ssoweek.com/Event.aspx?id=575176

We’ll be attending Fusion 2012, the Institute of Financial Operations’ premiere conference, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, Nashville, USA, May 13-17th.  The event offers five days of breakout sessions, thought leader sessions, keynotes and networking opportunities across a full spectrum of financial operations, to over 1700 attendees. 

At Fusion we’ll be showcasing PaletteOnline, our cloud-based invoicing automation solution, which gives companies access to easier and more efficient invoice processing without the need for lengthy and costly set-up, as well as our PaletteArena, our complete enterprise purchase-to-pay suite.

Find out more about Fusion 2012 at http://www.financialops.org/web/conferences/fusion-2012

A recent report from commercial credit referencing agency, Graydon, which has found that late payment of invoices is a problem for more than half of UK businesses – almost a quarter of whom call it a “serious problem” – has prompted a discussion of the options for business on late payments at a summit in central London this week.  

Late payments are continuing to undermine businesses’ ability to invest in growth through innovation because of the damage they are causing to the economy. The research from Graydon highlights the “domino effect” of late payments on the supply chain, with 56% of UK businesses which have not been paid on time admitting to having paid their supplier late as a direct result.

Of course, there are multiple reasons and behaviours that lead to persistent late payment across economies.  But automating invoicing processing can be a step in helping businesses to address the issue, giving better visibility and control of purchase to pay processes, without demanding significant upfront investment. 

Read more here: http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/13887/online-news/quarter-of-businesses-call-late-payment-a-serious-problem

The issue of late payments continues to plague businesses of all sizes, and as such it has gained awareness at a national level.  Recently, the Government held its first working party to look at this problem, calling upon a group of business representatives to examine the issues behind late payment of suppliers.

Next year will see the introduction of the EU Late Payment directive, which sets 30 days as the standard payment term and enables suppliers to levy penalties and interest on late settlements, helping them to avoid costly delays.

Our UK Sales Director, Lucy Beck, discussed the issue of late payments and the costly effects on small businesses in an article published in Real Business magazine. The article looks at the negative impact of late payments on SMEs, and how it can be avoided with better management so that payment systems and processes can track and hit settlement deadlines.

You can read the full article on avoiding late payment penalties here:  http://realbusiness.co.uk/advice_and_guides/avoiding-late-payment-penalties-terms-of-endearment

The drive towards e-invoicing has picked up further momentum with the announcement that as of July 1st 2012, the Norwegian government will  only accept invoices from suppliers in electronic format. 

The decision means millions of e-invoices will now be sent to a central electronic payment processing point, which both suppliers and public sector bodies can access.

Data from Norway’s official procurement body shows around 11m invoices are received by state bodies annually, many of which are still in paper format.  It’s believed that nearly 500,000 organisations will have to start submitting invoices electronically rather than on paper.

We’ve covered the potential savings and benefits from wide-scale e-invoice deployments before:  it will be interesting to see how many national governments follow the lead from Norway.

Link:  http://eeiplatform.com/7638/norway-to-accept-only-e-invoices-as-from-1-july-2012-through-a-single-provider/

We have collaborated with automation and BPO company, Converga, to launch a new business e-invoicing platform, aimed at companies in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

The e-invoicing platform, which is powered by our PaletteArena accounts payable suite and goes lives early next month, provides transaction brokering between buyers and suppliers, and will help customers to cut their transaction costs, speed up invoice processing times, and enhance supplier relationships.

E-invoicing services give both suppliers and purchasers better control over their cash flow, through faster, more accurate and efficient accounting processes. Converga has an excellent track record in delivering advanced outsourced services to businesses in the region, making them the natural choice of partner for this hosted solution.

Paul Bellette, general manager, sales and marketing for Converga said: “We’re already seeing strong interest from our customers: at launch we expect to be handling over 60,000 invoices per month, and this is likely to double by the end of 2012.”

There’s more information at:  http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2012/Mar/22/palette-delivers-e-invoicing-platform-to-australia-and-asia-pacific-region.html

The UK Government’s Business and Enterprise Minister, Mark Prisk, hosted a workshop with a range of industry bodies to discuss the changing culture of late payments, and how businesses can work together to develop practical solutions to create better cashflow management systems.

Representatives from the Institute of Credit Management (ICM), the Forum of Private Business (FPB) and the Association of Certified Charted Accountants (ACCA) attended the workshop to discuss the increasingly frequent problem of late payments, which create significant cashflow problems for SMEs.

As part of the Government’s Finance Fitness campaign to support UK SMEs, they have worked alongside businesses to develop the Prompt Payment Code (PPC), which looks to encourage and promote best practice between organisations and their suppliers. Over 1000 of the UK biggest businesses are already signed up.

Mark Prisk said: “By looking at which business sectors have good practice and those that don’t we can start to identify where practical improvements can be made and understand the behaviours that lead to a culture of late payment. It’s vital that all business sectors understand the importance that prompt payment has in the cashflow management of a business.”

We couldn’t put it better ourselves.  You can read more about the workshop and the Government’s Prompt Payment Code here:  http://blogs.bis.gov.uk/blog/2012/03/08/prompting-faster-payments/

It’s sometimes said that you can gauge the success of a technology or initiative because someone will develop a criminal scam related to it.  Unfortunately, e-invoicing is no exception, according to a report on Shared Services Link:  http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/file/94374/einvoice-scam-uncovered.html

It reports  that networking company Cisco’s Security Intelligence Operations has detected "significant activity" related to spam email messages claiming to contain electronic invoices.

Written in Portuguese, the fake invoices direct recipients to .zip files that can infect their computers with virus software related to the Trojan.Win32.Generic family.  Once installed on a user's machine, these download malicious files including a ‘back door’, enabling interrogation from a remote host.

As with any digital transactional system, security is paramount.  This threat should be nullified by updated anti-virus software and firewalls, but it’s certainly worth noting as more organisations move to e-invoicing.

Our UK sales director Lucy Beck has been discussing the advantages of outsourcing accounts in one of the UK’s leading entrepreneur-led publications, Talk Business.

The article looks at the functions of an organisation, and how outsourcing could be the difference between success and failure for any start-up business. Lucy observes that Accounts are often the first area considered for outsourcing, as these processes can be both time-consuming and time-sensitive.

Lucy said: “Allocating Accounts responsibility to someone else can be a huge relief for any business. More importantly, dealing with company accounts requires an in-depth understanding of a higher regulated industry, where failing to comply can lead to serious consequences such as large fines and penalties.”

You can read the full article here, on page 81 of the digital magazine:

http://talkbusinessmagazine.co.uk/latest-magazine/

Late payments are a bugbear for many businesses.  Just how big the problem has become was highlighted by recent survey data from BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing Services) in the UK.  The average UK small company is now owed £39,000 at any one time, and that businesses are owed on average 10% more than last year.  Worse, those hit by late payment are waiting on average 28 days beyond their payment terms to have invoices settled. 

It's a critical issue that we look at in our latest article, published on AccountsPayableNews.org.  The key point is, impending EU Late Payment legislation means that companies may not have to put up with it for too much longer, as the legislation will give firms the ability to apply penalties.  The article looks at the issues and suggests solutions here:  

http://www.accountspayablenews.org/payments/353-terms-of-endearment-avoiding-late-payment-penalties.html

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