(02/01/10) CWT France dematerialises its customer invoices
Carlson Wagonlit Travel France dematerialises its customer
invoices thanks to Accelya: a new stage has been
launched, involving nearly 3 million invoices / year
1st February 2010: Carlson Wagonlit Travel France (CWT), a leading operator of business travel in France and worldwide, has chosen Accelya, a major player in electronic invoicing and specialist in paperless flows for over 30 years, to launch and roll out a multi-phase project to dematerialise CWT's customer invoices. This project consists of several stages and involves the cooperation of Accelya and the synergies provided by its internal teams, to provide better service to its customers, regardless of size.
A large-scale project
Significant numbers of invoices are exchanged in the business travel sector: one trip requires one invoice. After many customers asked to switch to electronic invoicing, CWT France started considering its project for customer e-invoicing early 2007.
The company then issued an invitation to tender in order to find a player that could help implement the e-invoicing project within its France Business Travel unit. With nearly 5 million invoices sent annually, the stakes were very high. In September 2007, the project was launched with Accelya.
Why Accelya?
“Given the breadth and impact of the customer tax-compliant e-invoicing project, it was strategically important to CWT France," says Antoine de Noyer, CFO of CWT France. "Accelya's experience in the area of e-invoicing and its service-based culture convinced us that we made the right choice. E-invoicing projects are indeed a company-wide undertaking and involve a range of departments, including Sales, Operations, Accounts, Legal and IT. For the projects to succeed, we had to prepare the ground carefully and obtain good advice. The availability of the technical teams and Accelya's assistance during deployment were also critical to our project's success.”
Going Paperless: Phases and Solutions
CWT France offers its key account customers a choice of two solutions, based on the status of their e-invoicing: either interoperability with an existing e-invoicing platform, or a full package for customers without any facilities, including adaptation to their data format, archiving of invoices with probative value for 10 years and access to invoice originals via the Clear’ Invoice portal. These electronic invoices, produced in a structured format, are recognised by tax authorities, in accordance with article 289-bis of France’s Code Général des Impôts (Tax code).
New phase for 2009: CWT France wants to "go paperless" with all customers.
Accelya recommends using its Clear' Invoice “Massive Deployment” service to dematerialise invoices in the form of PDF files with electronic signature (in accordance with article 289-V of France’s Code Général des Impôts), to archive with probative value for 10 years, to deliver invoices via e-mail, to access originals from the portal and, most importantly, to work with Accelya to prepare CWT France’s customers and to provide marketing and training tools for rolling out the service.
A true company project for customer satisfaction
This critical phase requires thorough knowledge of CWT France’s customers in order to provide them with the most appropriate solution. A designated team has been established within CWT France for that purpose. The sales teams are also familiar with the project and have received training in the area of e-invoicing and the various solutions available to customers.
The roll-out is a gradual process, as customers may choose whether to opt for e-invoices or paper ones. By late 2010 / early 2011, 5,800 customer invoicing accounts should thus receive their tax-compliant e-invoices in PDF formats, for a total of nearly 3 million invoices.
In addition to reducing the volume of paper received and the number of disputed invoices, this project has also created real synergies within CWT France teams, expanding its service offer and increasing customer satisfaction.
About CWT:
Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) is a global leader in business travel management.
Present in more than 150 countries, CWT serves companies of all sizes as well as government institutions and non-governmental organisations.
By leveraging both the expertise of its people and leading-edge technologies, CWT helps customers derive the greatest value from their business travel programmes in terms of savings, service, security and sustainability. The company is also committed to providing best-in-class services and assistance to travellers.
CWT services and solutions comprise four lines of business: Traveller & Transaction Services, Programme Optimisation, Safety & Security, and Meetings & Events.
For more information, please visit: www.carlsonwagonlit.com
About Accelya:
Accelya has specialised in handling sensitive data and paperless flows for more than 30 years, employs more than 600 people worldwide, and is a major player in electronic invoicing.
Accelya offers Clear’ Invoice, an outsourced, extensive e-invoicing service capable of handling all supplier, customer or intra-group internal invoices. The service can adapt to the formats required by the various parties (free or structured formats), and enables different types of dematerialisation to be combined and paper invoices to be managed in the context of overall projects.
In order to optimise company processes and increase productivity, Clear’ Invoice includes workflow, reconciliation and dispute management modules, as well as archiving with probative value and applications with online access to enable information to be accessed easily.
Accelya helps companies combine various types of dematerialisation and roll out e-invoicing quickly to all their commercial partners. It guarantees that the Clear' Invoice service complies with legal and tax requirements at an international level.
For more information: clear-invoice@accelya.com
