AT&T subsidiary Sterling Commerce today unveiled its e-Invoice Gateway, a software tool built to enable electronic invoicing for companies doing business across borders.
The e-Invoice Gateway aims to tap what Sterling Commerce hopes is a growing market — multinational companies abandoning their paper-based invoicing systems in favor of electronic billing.
Legislation passed by the European Union in 2004 has been the fulcrum for that transition, according to Chris Hayes, senior product marketing manager at Sterling Commerce. Earlier legislation in certain EU member companies had obliged companies to use and keep paper-based invoices, helping those countries to enforce collection of their value-added taxes on goods and services. Prior to 2004, for instance, France, Germany, and Italy did not allow electronic invoicing, while the United Kingdom did. The 2004 ruling forbade countries to mandate paper-based processes, leaving the door ajar for companies to switch to electronic billing.
The new Gateway software is installed on premises and integrates with a company’s existing accounting software. With the Sterling software installed, an employee in the accounting department follows the usual process of creating an invoice in SAP, Oracle, or another system of record.