Lloyds TSB is to offer its customers an online invoicing service,
allowing companies to drastically reduce their billing costs.
Traditional paper-based invoices can cost between £5 and £20 to
administer, yet online invoicing costs can be calculated in terms
of pence not pounds, the high-street bank claimed.
The service, available via Lloyds' corporate banking Web site,
allows customers to securely exchange, store and download invoices.
Customers are charged for the fee-based service largely by the
number of transactions they make. The service has been trialled
with several London councils.
A spokesman for the bank said e-invoices were quicker to produce
and could boost a company's cashflow, if used on a large number of
customers. "When a company sends out an invoice it can take three
to four people to sign it off and it can take about 10 days to
reach a supplier's desk."
The software is supplied by supply chain specialist Causeway
Technologies.