DHL uses the Accountis EIPP platform to deliver compliant e-invoices to all major European territories. Three years into the project we ask Brian Thumwood, e-Billing Programme Manager, to share some of his thoughts on their e-Billing service.
DHL Case Study | DHL e-Billing Demo
Q1. What has been the highlight of your project so far?
The major highlight for me has been replacing a slow paper billing process with a fresh, new technology. DHL e-Billing is a multilingual online service that makes life easier for everyone involved and it’s a welcome change to the never-ending paper chase! e-billing also gives us the opportunity to build better relationships with our customer by reopening an important communication channel . In terms of project implementation, a real highlight came about one year into the project when countries who didn’t have the system starting chasing us for it. That’s the point when I really knew we were doing something right.
Q2. e-Billing has many benefits. If you had to choose one, what would it be?
The fact that it puts a stop to all the unnecessary work involved in the paper invoicing process. We have been able to kick old habits by introducing new standards and a more automated service. The actual invoicing process hasn’t changed much but we have been able to eliminate time consuming tasks such as dealing with copy invoice requests. It’s also so much quicker. In some cases, it’s near real-time processing, which is unheard of with paper invoicing. For example, many of our e-billing customers react instantly to an email prompt and deal with their invoices immediately, rather than placing them in an ‘in-tray’ pile. They access their invoices when they want to and from any location, which is much quicker and easier for them. Also, the fact that they do some of the administration work themselves speeds up the process and reduces work for our finance team. It also means that we get paid quicker. e-Billing has definitely proved to be a win, win, win situation - for us, our customers and, of course, the environment.
Q3. Your e-Billing system is packed full of features. What is your favourite?
That has to be Airway Bills. Our finance staff and customers can use the e-Billing service to check original shipment documents for delivery details such as sender, receiver and contents. It is a simple, yet powerful feature that has helped reduce the number of customer queries we receive relating to deliveries. One other major benefit of adding Airway Bills is that we built a link to our document archiving platform to make it work. We are now going to use this link to present other documents such as custom and duty notes. That’s the beauty of using a scalable online system such as Accountis that can grow and develop with your business needs.
Q4. What advice would you give other e-Billing project managers?
First, don’t see e-Billing as a finance function. It should be seen as part of your organisation’s overall e-commerce strategy. Through the e-Billing system you are able to grab the attention of your customer on a one-to-one basis. For example, from a sales and marketing perspective it’s a great way to communicate with your customers on a regular basis to cross sell and drive traffic to your corporate website. We use advertising banners on our e-Billing site that link to our e-shipping pages. Second, keep it simple. So many projects promise the earth but then fail to deliver, so don’t expect to build the ultimate e-Billing system from day one. We worked with Accountis to build a scalable, flexible e-Billing system that could be launched country by country. The pilot-to-rollout approach really worked for us and I would strongly recommend that approach. It also helps to spread implementation costs and achieve ROI.
Q5. What is on your ‘to do’ list for 2010?
In 2010 we’ll continue to build on the success of this project by extending reach into more countries across Europe. We’re also going to be rolling-out Airway Bills beyond the UK and have plans to implement integrated payments, such as by credit card, direct debits etc. We’ve certainly achieved our goal of introducing paperless self-service billing, but we are always asking ourselves; what costs us money and what takes up our time? We then try to think of a way of solving those issues electronically to make the service even better.
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