Photon Commerce infuses AI into the USA’s B2B payments network with the DBNAlliance
Photon Commerce alongside other B2B industry leaders is launching the USA’s largest B2B, e-invoicing, and e-remittance network. The initiative has been pioneered by the Business Payments Coalition, now incorporated as a not-for-profit organization named the Digital Business Networks Alliance (DBNAlliance).
The Digital Business Network Alliance (DBNAlliance) is an open exchange network to safely exchange e-invoices and other supply chain documents. Analogous to the PEPPOL network in Europe, the framework streamlines the B2B e-invoicing system of the United States.
Once connected, businesses reach all participants and all participants can reach the business to digitize commerce, trade, invoicing, and payments.
Photon Commerce’s AI/OCR enables any business to send e-invoices and/or e-remittances even without an ERP system, even if businesses only have PDFs and emails. This is due to the AI engines converting any PDF or email into e-invoice or e-remittance format. The B2B exchange framework supports additional B2B transactions like those that EDI had been used for decades.
The framework enables trading partners to continue to use EDI and other electronic interfaces with their existing or new B2B service providers that participate in the exchange framework.
Buyers and suppliers will be able to reach all of their trading partners connected to any of these participating service providers.
Interoperability is enabled through a connect once; connect all process where the service providers exchange transactions using the prescribed standards between each other as they convert to and from their client specific requirements.
Building awareness of how an exchange framework alleviates the major pain point of manually retrieving invoice and remittance information from emails and portals is key to automating the order-to-pay and procure-to-pay processes through delivery of electronic invoices and remittance information.
Photon Commerce has supported the construction of a exchange framework, enabling any business to connect with other businesses to exchange payments-related information, leveraging the benefits of Straight-Through-Processing (STP).
The exchange framework contains four types of participants – the supplier, two access points otherwise known as service providers, and the buyer – known as a four-corner network. The exchange framework enables the exchange of an e-invoice between businesses – regardless of software used – by enabling a reliable connection and document exchange standards.
What is e-invoicing anyway?
Electronic invoicing, or e-invoicing, is a process that minimizes or eliminates the usage of paper or PDF invoices. It is a form of accounts payable automation that allows for easier processing, tracking, and storage of invoices. E-invoicing is a convenient way to send billing information from one company to another. It is presented to the buyer in an electronic format via a predefined structured data exchange. This electronic document exchange between buyer and seller can help streamline and automate portions of the accounts payable process.
E-invoicing enables businesses to automate accounts payable processes while simultaneously allowing customers to automate accounts receivable processes, especially when e-invoicing functions are integrated into their business applications. E-invoicing software is a solution for operating in the world of AP. The distinguishing factors of e-invoicing are its use of compatible vendor system to customer system data standards. E-invoicing accounts payable enables the workflow simply by approving invoices and tracking payable and improves the staff efficiency and reduces the time spent on manual data entry of paper invoices.
With e-invoicing, most aspects of the AP department become automated, from invoice receipt to payment. Your suppliers submit invoice forms over a web portal, which saves time in the receiving process. It also allows you to handle any issues or exceptions more directly. Additionally, because your supplier also has access to the portal, any necessary edits are made in real time.
All changes and conversation history are then recorded on the invoice for audit preparation. In high-level automation solutions, electronic invoicing software will track and match PO information. Non-PO invoices will automatically be routed for approval based on your unique controls that you set in place. Customers and suppliers can easily track and view any invoice with just the click of a button. This makes electronic invoicing a perfect solution for auditing and archiving problems. Additionally, all invoices are securely stored on a server for easy access through the web application.
Approved/matched invoices are either fed back into your payables system for payment, or paid automatically depending on how you organize your workflow. A process that once took weeks or even months can now take a few days with electronic invoicing. E-invoicing reduces costs, increases accuracy, and allows for faster payments. Adopting e-invoicing reduces the need for paper invoices, helping organizations cut their carbon footprint dramatically. E-invoicing is a game-changer for the supply chain, automating the entire process from invoice receipt to timely payment.
The implementation of an electronic invoicing system may seem like a daunting task, but it is actually much simpler than it sounds. With modern technology, you do not need to be a tech expert to eliminate the hassle of paper-based processes. Once you decide to switch to electronic invoicing, the solution provider can guide you through the entire process, from implementation to supplier adoption and support. Electronic invoicing is a technology that can significantly reduce the costs and difficulties associated with the accounts payable department.
In today's business world, paper-based processes are outdated, and PDFs are heading in the same direction. Electronic invoicing uses online technology to enhance business processes within accounts payable. Electronic invoicing is the future of accounts payable, and it can help you reduce costs by eliminating paper, postage, printing, and storage expenses, as well as improving efficiency, accuracy, and compliance
Enabling national and global e-invoicing
The goal of the DBNA is to make sure that all financial packages interconnect on a data level. Sending electronic invoices will then become just as simple as sending Whatsapp messages.
Within seconds the invoices will be delivered as a booking proposal in the ERP system of the receiver, resulting in a secure transport, no manual processing and an immediate delivery to and from the validated business partners.
The DBNA network uses access points to exchange electronic business documents. Once connected you can reach all participants and all participants can reach you. Photon Commerce is an experienced access point and we can help businesses of any size with setting up e-invoicing processes.
Suppliers send invoice information to their access provider. Their access point connects to the Exchange Framework and searches for the Buyer's access point. Once located, the supplier's access point packages the invoice into the exchange standard, and securely sends the invoice to the buyer's access point. The Buyer's access point forwards the invoice data into the Buyer's AP system for approval and processing for payment.
The History of the DBNAlliance
The DBNAlliance Exchange Framework was developed to address the challenge businesses face when trying to connect with each other. It allows businesses to connect once and share electronic invoices with each other, regardless of the platform, system, application, or network they use for processing invoices. The framework provides a streamlined approach to the exchange of business documents, enabling all members of a company's supply chain to connect to the framework and submit invoices electronically to their customers, regardless of the Access Point Service Provider used.
For suppliers, the framework streamlines the invoice-to-cash process and reduces exceptions, enabling organizations to exchange business documents with their customers. The framework also promotes an environment of interoperability, allowing suppliers to easily connect to virtually any e-invoicing Access Point service provider and submit invoices to customers.
For Access Point service providers, the framework simplifies a supplier's connection and ensures that connection meets their customers' business rules, facilitating the connection of buyers and suppliers. The framework enables Access Point service providers to enroll more suppliers onto their network, providing greater supply chain engagement for their buyer clients and improving straight-through processing.
The DBNAlliance initiative has been presented at NACHA’s Smart Faster Payments conference, the Faster Payments Council, and numerous other venues.
Real-Time API connections to any business
Connecting to DBNAlliance and other networks means:
Connecting with Photon APIs means that you will be connected to all DBNAlliance participants.
Businesses may also automatically connect to the PEPPOL network (Europe, Singapore, Australia, Japan and New Zealand) and other global e-invoicing networks, which activates an instant global connectivity.
Lastly, businesses will be able to send and receive e-invoices (and orders, and e-remittances) in the right format, which immediately makes your business compliant while reducing risk.
If you wish to connect your business or software to DBNAlliance, you can build a simple integration with our RESTful API. Contact us get access to APIs for national and global e-invoicing and e-remittances.
