An Itella survey among German visitors of this year’s DMS (Digital Management Solutions Expo) proves that there is still much confusion on the subject of electronic invoices.
 
About 90% of the surveyed visitors in Cologne believed that violations of the German Signature Act have serious consequences such as fines, warnings or non-recognition of the invoice. On the other hand, only 19% knew that without Qualified Electronic Signature (QES), the tax is not claimed or a tax audit can be reclaimed. Moreover, nearly half of all respondents feels extremely badly informed regarding electronic invoices.
 
The aim of this survey was to gain background information about the low distribution of electronic invoices and QES in Germany which was the result of an earlier study by Itella. An electronic invoice -combined with QES for over 96% of DMS respondents- offers the ideal mix of safety, reliability and practicality. However, according to the original study only 30% of the companies use electronic forwarding methods. 50% of the surveyed visitors consider lack of confidence in safety and the lack of acceptance by the business as the main reasons for the low adoption level.
 
“Concerns about security are largely unjustified,” says Raimund Schlotmann, CEO of Itella Germany. “When it comes to security, the qualified electronic signature - especially for complete implementation by a service provider – is a fast, simple and reliable solution. We therefore even recommend to apply the QES in building consumer confidence. Neither senders nor receivers bear additional expenses if a service provider is on board. In comparison to the paper bill, the security even increases.”
 
Also, the potential savings in the editing workflow are not clear to most DMS visitors. Two-third of the respondents thought that an automated data input and output would save 10 to 50% in document processing. “These estimates are very conservative because the savings are often much higher: up to 90% is possible,” says Raimund Schlotmann. “Companies do not know how much time and money they spend unnecessarily.”
 
Source: www.itella.de