Invoice: PDF, Paper and UBL, the evolution

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Accountants of the future embrace digital invoice pdf processing in the cloud

The internet has had profound effects on business. Markets are more transparent and accessible, but also change faster. Successful entrepreneurs know how to adapt smartly by responding flexibly to new opportunities and trends. For many entrepreneurs, however, changes around the financial process are a hindrance. Large or small company; technological developments around administration follow each other in quick succession and often cost a lot of time, and therefore money. The accountant with knowledge of current software possibilities can anticipate this. There is a new development ready for them: digital invoice processing in the cloud.

A new era of digitisation and automation

The accountancy profession is rapidly evolving with new cloud technologies . Since the introduction of online software, the profession has gained momentum. Digitisation means administrations are becoming larger and more complex. This mountain of work falls upon the accountant, who becomes increasingly busy and, as a result, looks for solutions to further automate. Thanks to the technological revolution, accountants can now keep their accounts fully digital and online.

For instance, there are several types of accounting software available where it is possible to store the cash book, bank book, purchase book, sales book and memorandum in a digital storage folder. So why do many accountants and bookkeepers still cling so frenetically to cabinets full of binders and all those paper invoices that still need to be entered manually?

Paper versus the cloud

Despite the wave of digitisation engulfing the entire business world, many accountants (and entrepreneurs) are still struggling to let go of using paper. There is an apparent need for tangibility, black and white, from the point of view of habituation. Perhaps another factor is that the cloud is uncharted territory. On the other hand, many accountants do predict a successful future for the cloud. The cloud gives business owners and consumers access to all kinds of applications and their personal documents on the internet, without having to install these documents on their computers.

This technology has made computing more efficient by offering a centralised storage base. Companies like TriFact365 that offer a cloud solution have created a platform via the web browser. This is secure and much easier and cheaper to use than server solutions. There is a trend where more and more companies are choosing to run their business processes through the cloud.

Invoice PDF and the growth of digital formats such as PDF and UBL

Fortunately, we signal that the delivery of paper invoices via shoeboxes and binders is becoming less and less due to digitisation. The proof? At TriFact365, we see accountants and entrepreneurs processing more and more digital invoices. Market forces in recent years have clearly shown that PDF has become the winning format (>95%) for the delivery of digital invoices. The UBL 2.0 as standard XML format, introduced since 2013, is now also starting to make inroads. Our view is that PDF will remain the most widely used format for invoice processing for the time being.

We cannot see into the future, but the use of PDF has only continued to increase in recent years at the expense of other formats such as JPG, Excel and Word. Possible regulation by governments, such as the Dutch government making UBL mandatory since 1 January 2017, may increase the use of UBL in the future. At TriFact365, we are pragmatic, closely monitoring market developments and adapting our software as soon as opportunities arise.

Revolution in invoice processing: from manual to digital in the cloud

In a nutshell, invoice processing has a long tradition of manual processing. The rise of the internet has meant that accounting software is increasingly able to receive accounting entries digitally. Successful entrepreneurs and accountants are increasingly choosing to introduce invoice recognition. To this end, TriFact365 offers an efficient cloud solution where both digital and paper invoices can be processed faster.

TriFact365’s scanning and recognition solution also offers UBL invoice processing. This allows business owners to invoice with the system that suits them best and move invoice processing to the cloud.

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