Digitization is a great ally for freelancers and SMEs. It helps automate many processes that previously had to be done manually, such as the financial management of a business, which includes accounting and billing.
An advance that, in addition, can save us time to dedicate to activities of greater added value that produce a greater return for the business. Now is the best time for companies with between 3 to 9 employees to digitize at no cost, thanks to the aid of up to 6,000 euros per company offered by the Kit Digital program.
This European Funds program allows companies to have a voucher for the acquisition of digitization solutions that cover up to 100% of the cost of solutions, such as electronic invoicing.
This solution offers great facilities to keep all finances up to date since, sometimes, the owner of a business waited until the end of the day or once it was closed to the public to be able to consult invoices, make a budget or review the accounting.
In fact, according to a study by Grupo Seres carried out in 2020, electronic invoicing resulted in savings of more than 2,300 million euros in management costs and avoided using paper (equivalent to the feeling of more than 15,000 pine trees).
The recent Crea y Crece Law, to promote digitization and fight delinquency, has established the obligation of electronic invoicing by 2023 in the case of businesses that have a year of more than 8 million and by 2025 for those companies with a lower amount.
The mandatory use of electronic invoicing is another decisive step in the digitization of businesses. Its implementation brings great advantages that all companies can take advantage of such as greater security and reliability of electronic transactions and greater traceability and control of payments between suppliers and customers.
What is electronic invoicing?
As the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation explains on its website, an electronic invoice is, above all, an invoice that must be issued and received in digital format. Like the traditional one on paper, it is conditional on the recipient’s consent. We are talking about a legal alternative that also provides multiple benefits. Above all, in the cases of entrepreneurs or small businesses.
Electronic invoices are governed by Royal Decree 1619/2012 of November 30, which establishes the regulation that regulates billing obligations and includes such important aspects as content, conservation and legibility.
Being digital, it also includes other characteristics, such as the authenticity of its origin and the integrity of its content, to verify that they have not been modified after being sent.
The benefits of an electronic invoicing system
There are many advantages of contracting an electronic invoicing system. The first and most obvious is that it allows invoices to be issued at any time, facilitating quick, agile and permanent access.
In addition, these types of systems are wider than invoice management. They include creating and sending pro forma invoices, budgets, delivery notes and programming periodic expenses to cover the entire business billing process.
It is a software suite that allows all documentation to be centralized and always available in the cloud, which means great agility in management and considerable time savings.
Another of its advantages is that of eliminating printing and postage costs, which positively affect the environment, reducing the physical space where they are stored thanks to digital storage, favourably reducing the chances of document loss. We should not forget it and should not ignore it; in addition, that strengthens the fight against tax fraud.
On the other hand, an electronic invoicing system, given its online conception, tends to integrate easily with other platforms considered industry standards. It could be the case of activating the collection of invoices not only through bank transfers but also with PayPal.
Must also face certain challenges and must also meet certain challenges to extract the maximum potential benefit from this type of system.
The main one is its widespread adoption by SMEs, which constitute the most important segment of the Spanish and European business fabric. Thanks to the Digital Kit program of the European Funds, freelancers and SMEs with 3 to 9 employees can implement this solution at no cost.
Orange, in its role as a digitizing agent of the Kit Digital program, aims to promote the digital transformation of companies and the self-employed in our country. In this way, it contributes decisively to the economy’s modernization and the information society’s development.
With this intention, the Orange Empresas Electronic Billing service covers the entire billing process of a business. It is a 100% online application that facilitates permanent, easy, agile and efficient access.
Recurring elements can be programmed and viewed, and the balance between expenses and income is easier, thanks to its centralized panel.