How Peppol Invoice Responses Transform Daily Operations

by | Nov 17, 2021 | E-invoicing

November 17th, 2021

Do you (or your team) spend a lot of time responding to supplier inquiries regarding the status of their invoices? Do you want this to stop? Well, if you’re exchanging invoices via the Peppol network, we’ve got good news for you.

Do you (or your team) spend a lot of time responding to supplier inquiries regarding the status of their invoices? Do you want this to stop? Well, if you’re exchanging invoices via the Peppol network, we’ve got good news for you.

Peppol invoice response messages (Peppol BIS Invoice Response 3.1) keep popping up more and more in the world of e-invoicing. As the name implies, invoice responses are electronic messages that you send after your supplier sends you an invoice. And despite the fact that Peppol invoice response messages are fairly easy to implement, they can bring great value to your business.

Do you want to optimize your cash flow? What about make your procure-to-pay (or your suppliers’ order-to-cash) process more efficient? Then quick! Keep reading.

What Is a Peppol Invoice Response?

The Peppol BIS Invoice Response is actually a set of electronic messages under the umbrella term “Invoice Response.” Simply put, each individual invoice response message is used to provide an update on the status of an invoice. This way, your supplier is always informed when you have received, approved, paid, or rejected the invoice (and for what reason).

Invoice Response Messages

Several message types are supported by the Peppol BIS Invoice Response:

  • Acknowledged: The invoice has been received for processing.
  • In Process: Processing of the invoice has begun in the buyer’s system.
  • Under Query: Further processing of the invoice has been stopped. The buyer informs the supplier that additional information is required.
  • Conditionally Accepted: The invoice is accepted under specific conditions. Payment will be made if the conditions are accepted by the supplier.
  • Rejected: The invoice does not correspond to the offer or transaction referred to in the invoice (e.g., the quote) and is not accepted by the buyer for that reason.
  • Accepted and Approved: The invoice has been accepted by the buyer. The next step is payment.
  • Paid: The invoice has been paid by the buyer.

Invoice Responses Save Time

As you can imagine, invoice responses have the potential to result in significant time savings when you’re communicating with your suppliers via the Peppol network. In fact, they work so well that invoice-status-related emails and phone calls from your suppliers virtually disappear. This frees up a lot of time internally for you and your team to focus on other important activities, such as growing your business.

But saving time is not the only benefit of the Peppol Invoice Response….

Improve Transparency and Collaboration

If you want to optimize your procure-to-pay process, it’s important to consider your suppliers’ order-to-cash processes as well. Achieving transparency throughout the exchange process is one of the most common challenges for companies today, but it doesn’t have to be.

When you don’t proactively inform your suppliers on the status of their invoices, you’re leaving them in the dark. This creates a constant state of ambiguity, which isn’t good for collaboration, and it certainly isn’t good for building successful business relationships. And if there’s no easy way to track invoice processing on your end, you lack necessary data that you could use to optimize your internal processes.

Invoice response messages provide you with a quick-and-easy way to create transparency and eliminate the need to engage in status-related conversations with your suppliers on a daily basis. This helps you to optimize your procure-to-pay process based on data and creates clarity for your suppliers. This not only saves you time and gives you more control over your procure-to-pay process and cash flow; it also improves collaboration. A win-win.

Getting Started with Peppol Invoice Response Messages

The prerequisite for exchanging invoice response messages is that both you and your supplier(s) exchange e-invoices via the Peppol network. Not all service providers can say that they’re a certified Peppol Access Point, but SPS Commerce is one of them.

It’s also good to know that SPS Commerce belongs to a select group of service providers that first started working with Peppol invoice response messages, so we know what it takes to get you up and running ASAP.

Aleksandra Vovchenko
Latest posts by Aleksandra Vovchenko (see all)

RELATED POSTS