Thomas and Julia head the procurement department at a major manufacturing company in Munich. With over 200 active suppliers, many of them small manufacturers, they faced a unique challenge: How to efficiently implement e-invoice reception from small suppliers without burdening them financially?
"While our ERP system is powerful, the real challenge was receiving invoices from small suppliers who lack the capability to send structured electronic invoices - especially now that it's becoming a legal requirement," explains Thomas. "Some send PDFs via email, others even send scans of paper invoices."
Julia adds: "Previously, we employed a team to manually enter invoice data into our system. This wasn't just time-consuming; it was highly prone to errors."
The implementation of the Meine e-Rechnung platform provided an elegant solution. The platform serves as a central hub for receiving all incoming e-invoices. We informed our business partners about the opportunity to register for free on the Meine e-Rechnung platform. Now, they can all send e-invoices in the legally required format via the web. We receive their e-invoices directly in our system in ZUGFeRD format. How does it work? The Meine e-Rechnung platform features data transfer via an SFTP interface, converting incoming invoices into the XRechnung format that is used by our ERP system, enabling direct integration.
"The greatest advantage is that our smaller suppliers now have an easier way to send invoices. It's free for them to use, and they can utilize the same platform to send invoices to their other customers," Thomas explains..
Key benefits for the company:
- Automated processing of incoming invoices
- Significant time savings in invoice processing
- Minimal adaptation effort for small suppliers
- Automatic data validation before ERP import
"We particularly appreciate that our suppliers have received a solution that helps them meet legal requirements without additional costs, while making our invoice processing easier," Julia emphasizes..
For larger enterprises working with numerous smaller suppliers, the Meine e-Rechnung platform also offers:
- Flexible integration via SFTP and REST API
- Automatic conversion of four EN 16931 formats
- Data validation before import
- Free solution for both small and large suppliers when both are using the Meine e-Rechnung platform for e-invoice exchange
A good digital solution doesn't mean a complex system - it means finding what works for both larger and smaller businesses. “What's particularly satisfying,” Julia points out, “is seeing our suppliers extend this solution to their other business partners. It just makes sense.”