Thursday 1st, September 2011
Survey results of just under 500 Dutch companies revealed that the number of organisations sending electronic invoices is increasing. In 2010, another 15% of Dutch companies switched to e-invoices,  representing the highest growth rate in one year, taking e-invoicing adoption in the Netherlands to an impressive 39%. Furthermore, the survey results pointed towards a staggering 94% adoption rate by 2014.

The Netherlands on the road to universal e-invoicing adoption by 2014:

• 39% of companies currently use electronic invoicing
• A further 34% expect to start within the year
• 21% said they intended to launch between 2012 and 2014

In addition, the survey highlighted the respondents’ attitude towards adopting other financial innovations such as contactless mobile payment (NFC), SEPA, e-mandates, dynamic discounting and using social media. On average more than half of the respondents in medium-sized and large companies in Netherlands, were not aware of these innovations. Those who were, stated that they were unlikely to implement them before 2014.
Interestingly both this survey and  other recent studies into e-invoicing adoption show that organisations experience and refer to electronic invoicing in different ways:

• Over 60% of freelancers and small organisations focus on  PDFs and email for e-invoicing. Essentially they see e-invoicing as a way to replace the mailman with a low-cost alternative that enables the organisation to add a payment incentive.

• Over 30% of larger organisations tended to focus on exchanging electronic invoices that can be imported into their accounting software, improving process and workflow.

No Going Back
With results like these, it would seem that the gathering momentum of e-invoicing in the Netherlands is now unstoppable, and could in fact be used as a blueprint for other European companies to follow.