I’ve just come out of Philip Learmont’s session at the ABFA Conference, ‘Reducing Risk and Cost with Document Automation’.

It is not just that he is a genuinely good bloke (I enjoyed a great fish and chip supper with him and the guys from Vision Critical last night) but that he conveys a strong message to the industry with clarity and purpose as to the competitive advantages of e-based solutions throughout the ‘Order to Cash Process’.

All too often, document management is seen as an ‘end of life’ activity, whereas dematerializing it as early as possible in the process permits a step change in processing at cost, cash flow, risk and process levels.

The savings are obvious, not only in terms of postage but also in staff costs. The cash flow benefit is similarly compelling: Transparency in terms of debtor activity, focus on those who need chasing, speed of same day delivery, communication and query capability, supporting information such as linked PODs and copy invoices. Philip then outlines risks and mitigation through e- based solutions.

The technology is now available to the receivables and ABL markets to achieve effective document automation. This is certainly proven in other markets and there is the potential for strong first mover advantage.

As Oliver Chadwick recently mentioned in his column in Business Money magazine: “If all 8 million transactions processed by OSMO^® had all been sent as traditional invoices, it would have resulted in 51 metric tons of paper. That, in turn, represents 960 trees which have been saved, in addition to 113 barrels of oil, 231,785 kilowatts of electricity, 138 cubic metres of landfill space and 1,515 kilograms of air pollutants. Consider that across Europe, there are currently some 15 billion paper invoice transactions and you can see the scale of both the problem and the opportunity for the commercial finance industry. It is time that everyone involved in the receivables industry started taking CSER generally and e-invoicing specifically very seriously indeed.”

Add this to the comments made by Philip and it becomes a very persuasive story indeed, which at least one female audience member described as ‘seductive’.