TLDR: For small to medium-sized businesses who are used to traditional invoicing practices, making the necessary transition to e-invoicing can feel like an unwanted burden. SimplyBooks relieves this problem through an easy-to-use online invoicing tool that seamlessly incorporates e-invoicing, in harmony with other everyday financial administration tasks. The Flowin API, which connects SimplyBooks with the Peppol e-invoicing network, plays a crucial role in making this possible. SimplyBooks founder Wim Verstuyf talks about the rationale behind SimplyBooks and how Flowin enables e-invoicing functionality without adding to the price.
SimplyBooks (EenvoudigFactureren) is an online B2B invoicing tool for small to medium-sized businesses. Designed for speed and ease, it focusses on making connected digital invoicing accessible and affordable for smaller businesses. The provision of e-invoicing via Peppol is a key feature in achieving this aim.
Company founder Wim Verstuyf talked about why this capability is something for users to get excited about, and shared his experience of integrating Peppol within SimplyBooks.
The importance of Peppol for small to medium-sized businesses
Wim: “Small business owners want to dedicate their time to making money, not to invoicing or other administration. SimplyBooks appeals to them because it minimises the time and effort they need to spend on these tasks. Automation and integration with other platforms and services such as web shops, accounting software and, of course, Peppol, are key to achieving this.”
|
Feature |
Paper – hard copy |
Paper – emailed file (e.g. PDF) |
e-invoicing |
|
Speed |
Can take several days. |
Seconds to minutes. |
Seconds. |
| Cost of spending* | 4.44 EUR | 2.02 EUR | 1.20 EUR |
| Cost of receiving* | 8.04 EUR | 7.69 EUR | 2.27 EUR |
|
Reliability |
Depends on multiple manual and physical processes, and external postal system. |
Risks being classed as spam, or not noticed by recipient. |
Need to address things like how recipients are alerted. |
|
Security |
Can very easily be intercepted. |
Can be intercepted. |
Vendors are verified. Content cannot be intercepted. |
|
Efficiency |
Requires effort from multiple resources. |
Requires human effort. |
High amount of automation. |
* Source of sending and receiving costs https://efactuur.belgium.be/
“We first encountered Peppol quite a few years ago through our relationship with CodaBox, and gradually started utilising it in our software. Initially, we just thought of Peppol as a nice new method for exchanging documents. But as time progressed, it became more important, and more customers started asking for it. We soon got to the point where Peppol integration became a key factor in people’s decisions to choose SimplyBooks for their invoicing.
“Peppol enabled us to extend SimplyBooks’ automation capabilities for invoice approval and entering invoice payment into the user’s accounting system, by complementing these with e-invoicing and entry of purchase orders into the user’s accounting system. It means we can take even more work off business owners’ busy hands.”
Discover more: Fast-track your customers’ efficiency and compliance by implementing Peppol-first
Breaking down administration barriers with an affordable and user-friendly e-invoicing tool
E-invoicing is undoubtedly exciting for those who are into tech solutions. But what about small business owners for whom this new way of working is outside of their comfort zone, who maybe fear e-invoicing software is going to be costly or difficult to learn?
Wim: “SimplyBooks has already proven that digital invoicing tools do not have to be expensive or difficult to use. And we are able to provide Peppol integration capabilities without charging extra. When an invoicing tool is well-designed, adapting to e-invoicing via Peppol takes very little effort. Those who’ve made the switch using SimplyBooks have got up-to-speed with the e-invoicing process in no time.
“While Peppol-aware users appreciate its value, others don’t even notice its involvement. That’s how smoothly the integration works. There are many small businesses out there who don’t even know they want
Peppol, but we have integrated it because we know it’s exactly what they need.
“Of course, this transition feels like a bigger leap for some than for others. But ultimately, it has to happen because the time is fast-approaching when e-invoicing via Peppol will become a mandatory B2B requirement. My best advice is to get on board now with a good e-invoicing tool that supports small business’s needs. Features such as data validation, automatic submission of sales invoices and purchase orders to accounting software, together with automatic data backup are benefits that help everyone, and are easier to make use of than some people realise.
“To prove this point, SimplyBooks has a demo version available for potential new users to try without any obligation.”
How Flowin enables the seamless e-invoicing integration behind SimplyBooks
On the process SimplyBooks went through to integrate Peppol e-invoicing, Wim explained: “The Flowin API played a big part in achieving this, and continues to do so. Flowin’s personalised approach, support and guidance enabled us to seamlessly build Peppol into SimplyBooks, where it now operates pretty much invisibly behind the scenes.
“Flowin gives us flexibility in how we incorporate and utilise Peppol. For example, Flowin can handle KYC for new businesses, and at first we made use of that capability. But eventually, we switched over to our own KYC process which is tailored to the specific needs of our small business users and affiliated accounting firms.
“Flowin’s pricing model has also been very beneficial, because it enables us to offer Peppol within our own existing pricing model, however high or low our users’ invoice volumes are. This means we can easily offer Peppol as an option for sending and receiving invoices, without our customers having to work things out for themselves. With mandatory e-invoicing via Peppol on the horizon, we’re really glad to be ahead of the game.”