Less than half of German companies are currently able to receive e‑invoices – despite this being mandatory from 2025. Insiders recom­mends flexible solutions that integrate standards and enable com­pre­hen­sive, digital invoice manage­ment.

In view of a recent study by the digital asso­cia­tion Bitkom – according to which the imple­men­ta­tion of mandatory e‑invoicing has so far been rather slow despite the approa­ching deadline – Insiders empha­sizes the need for a holistic, intel­li­gent invoice manage­ment solution that opens up new pos­si­bi­li­ties for auto­ma­tion and veri­fi­ca­tion in addition to receipt and dispatch and also manages the con­cur­rency of the various formats and channels.

The intro­duc­tion of the mandatory receipt of e‑invoices in business tran­sac­tions from January 1, 2025 is imminent. Nevert­heless, less than half – 45% – of German companies are still able to receive e‑invoices. This is the result of a recent survey by the digital asso­cia­tion Bitkom. Insiders sees an urgent need for action and points out the central importance of flexible and future-proof solutions.

The repre­sen­ta­tive Bitkom study, for which 1,103 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany were surveyed, shows that many companies are strugg­ling with the multitude of standards and transport channels for receiving e‑invoices. Email remains the main channel for invoices – according to the study, prac­ti­cally all companies currently use email to send invoices, for example in the form of PDF files – more than half still use letter post. Larger companies are incre­asingly relying on stan­dar­dized processes such as Peppol. In order to meet these requi­re­ments, solutions are needed that cover all common standards and formats and at the same time can react flexibly to different company requi­re­ments.

Fur­ther­more, e‑invoicing goes far beyond just receiving and sending. The key added values include automated checking of the form and content of invoice content, detection of anomalies, dark pro­ces­sing if the order reference is correct, inte­gra­tion into approval processes and auto-assign­ment. Com­pre­hen­sive invoice manage­ment, such as the 360-degree approach pursued by Insiders, is becoming a decisive com­pe­ti­tive advantage for companies.

The study also under­lines that a hybrid reality con­sis­ting of e‑invoices, tra­di­tional PDF invoices and paper receipts will continue to exist for years to come. Companies therefore need solutions that enable stan­dar­dized pro­ces­sing across all channels and formats and at the same time meet the legal requi­re­ments of the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion.

Dr. Maxi­mi­lian Schwenger, Head of E‑Finance Deve­lo­p­ment at Insiders, empha­sizes: “The results of the Bitkom study show that companies urgently need to prepare for the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion. It is not enough to just consider indi­vi­dual formats or channels. A modern invoice manage­ment solution must support standards such as Peppol or ZUGFeRD as well as hybrid scenarios with PDF or paper documents. This is the only way to truly automate processes and achieve effi­ci­ency gains.”

Insiders supports companies in mastering these chal­lenges. With intel­li­gent e‑invoicing solutions that enable both seamless inte­gra­tion into existing IT systems and the auto­ma­tion of end-to-end processes, the company offers its customers the basis for efficient and legally compliant invoice manage­ment.