How e-invoicing can help you grow your sustainable business

Did you know that the energy required to produce paper invoices equals the annual energy usage of 20 million households? That's a lot, and most people are unaware of the significant impact that even seemingly minor adjustments may have in the overall scheme of things. Here are some reasons why switching to e-invoicing is a sustainable business strategy that is beneficial for your business and the environment.

Consider how many papers are scattered across the office in your department. Moving invoices from desk to desk, just to have them scanned again into the system and then discarded?

Paper invoices are not good for the environment because they require cutting down trees and have a short lifespan. One astonishing 10 percent of all trees destroyed worldwide are due to paper invoicing. This 10 percent might have been easily avoided because modern technology makes it possible to completely replace paper. This technology will much improve your ability to govern and manage your finances.

Why should it matter how much paper is used for invoices?

According to the most recent Billentis estimate, there are over 550 billion invoices in circulation worldwide, and by 2035, that figure is expected to triple. In the paper, 55 billion is a fascinating number to think about. Approximately that many electronic invoices are exchanged each year, with a 10–20% annual growth predicted.

Despite the fact that more companies than ever are digitizing their invoicing procedures, we continue to print enormous amounts of paper. Also, shipping bills all over the world have an adverse effect on forests and CO2 emissions.

E-invoicing is one of the simplest ways for businesses to boost their efforts in sustainable business because paper invoices emit three times more CO2 than e-invoices. Although some carbon emissions are also produced by technology, using e-invoicing lessens the overall environmental impact of processing invoices. Companies that send and receive papers electronically not only use less paper but also lessen the pollution caused by shipping and sending fossil fuels.

“Paper invoices produce three times more CO2 than e-invoices, making e-invoicing one of the easiest ways to improve sustainable business efforts.”

With an average of 2.5 pages, the paper envelope, stamps, shipping, and energy needed to create them, paper invoices have a considerable environmental impact. Eliminating paper invoicing should be a primary priority for every company since trees absorb greenhouse gases that cause climate change and global warming. Paper invoices have a large negative environmental impact: 1 tree produces 8,500 pieces of paper, 1 million invoices require 118 trees, 1 million invoices produce 36 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), and 1 billion invoices require 118,000 trees. Every business's first priority should be to stop using paper invoices.

What are the advantages of e-invoicing?

According to the most recent Billentis Study, automated e-invoicing "would result in cost reductions of 60–80% in most circumstances compared to conventional paper invoice processing." ("The E-invoicing Journey 2019–2025," Bruno Koch, 4.1.5).

Where did you get all those savings? When done correctly, e-invoicing gives you the overview and intelligence you need to reduce expenses and boost profit margins in ways traditional PDF and paper-heavy invoicing simply cannot. These are a few e-invoicing benefits that contribute to a high return on investment, long-term savings, and better business operations overall.

E-invoicing improves the accounts payable process, allowing human resources to be spent on more value-adding tasks. A study by Sterling Commerce showed that companies can save up to 90% in their accounts payable department by switching to fully automated e-invoicing. Manually-processed invoices cost companies $30 per invoice to process, while fully-automated invoices average only $3.50 per invoice to process. Digital archiving provides savings of 67% for supplier invoices compared to other archiving types, over a ten-year period. This means that trees can prolong their life expectancy while cutting costs and utilizing resources on more value-adding tasks.

Be more sustainable with Fordeer PDF Invoice

The Fordeer PDF invoice app is a professional alternative to Shopify Order Printer. This awesome tool has an advanced feature called “Email Automation” which allows users to set up emails with PDF invoice attachments triggered by specific events.

By using email automation, you help your company move towards more efficient business practices and the protection of the environment. Although PDF invoices do not affect how your organization operates, they do offer a shift for the better. It's a cutting-edge and efficient solution to increase productivity, control costs, and boost employee, customer, and business partner satisfaction. As a simple approach to furthering your efforts in sustainable business, you can reduce your company's carbon footprint while doing so.

Take action today

Although initially, it may seem like a financial burden, investing in more effective instruments and environmentally friendly processes is worth it. Higher efficiency and lower expenses for your company are the outcomes of taking the required steps to create a more sustainable business and investing in technology that may assist you in managing your operational processes and inventories.

Additionally, the United Nations warns that if we don't make adjustments today, our planet will suffer irreparable harm within the next 10 years. Take action today to begin the important process of rebuilding our planet for future generations.