The data that can be collected via e-invoicing can be put to good use in optimizing business operations, think Sven Dauwe, CEO of Nymus, and Erik van Doorn, CCO of Dutch 4CEE.
“With that data, repetitive operations can be taken over by AI and employees are able to perform other work that contributes to the growth of the organization,” said the two business partners for the Belgian market in e-invoicing and invoice automation.
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What are the key issues within the "Office of the CFO" in business?
Dauwe: “Every organization obviously has its own challenges, but from a helicopter view, we see two developments that require attention everywhere: the introduction of EU legislation ViDA and the advance of AI. For now, the first development is playing out mainly in Belgium, because that is where ViDA since January 1, 2026 entered into force in a first phase.
That EU legislation requires businesses to send and receive e-invoices instead of PDF invoices or paper invoices, record VAT in real time and make all systems in European countries to be interoperable interoperable. Perhaps less urgent in the Netherlands at the moment because the introduction of ViDA there is not until 2030, but it might be interesting precisely for Dutch companies to know how that has gone so far in Belgium.”
How did the introduction of ViDA, or the mandatory adoption of e-invoicing, go in Belgium?
Dauwe: “Not so good, because in practice it appears that only about 5 percent of Belgian companies have now adopted e-invoicing and at the same time using its possibilities to improve their business processes. The majority do not embrace the possibilities that e-invoicing offers and experience the law as a burden, as a cost item. As a result, those companies only do the bare minimum to be compliant. To the benefits of e-invoicing, which the first group of large companies do see, they do not currently value.”
Van Doorn: “Applying that added value, i.e. the opportunities e-invoicing offers for optimizing business processes, has a connection to the second issue at play within the “Office of the CFO. And that is how AI, a relatively new phenomenon that is suddenly visible everywhere, has an impact on the way we work and on a company’s operations. In general, but also precisely within finance. Put more sharply: the question is actually not whether AI has an impact on this, because it certainly does, rather how fast that development is going and what the consequences on the core activities of a company and thus on its continuity. We are convinced that these two developments actually offer opportunities for companies, especially if you combine them.”
So how does this combination between e-invoicing and AI work best in practice?
Dauwe: “Everything in a modern business today revolves around data – more specifically, around reliable and structured data. With that data, it is possible to improve both the internal business processes as well as the competitive position of a company improve. For collecting the necessary data, e-invoicing can play a crucial role. After all, on every incoming e-invoice there is all kinds of data that is needed for more efficient business operations.”
Van Doorn: “An e-invoice is indeed in a source of information, provided a company’s suppliers make that significant data available. You can engage with them on that. That goes beyond simply having the price, quantity and amount of VAT included on the incoming e-invoice. The other, additional data needed to establish more efficient operations depends in part on the industry in which a company operates. So have that conversation with suppliers and stipulate that everyone in the chain will benefit from this data.”
Dauwe: “The data collected in this way can then be used again for an AI model. This is possible by first routing the collected data from the incoming e-invoices to the company’s ERP and/or financial system, either directly or via an invoice automation solution. The next step is based on that data using AI to automate and optimize business processes.”
How does that work?
Van Doorn: “Suppose there were at the 3 way-matching an invoice fails or that there is a VAT problem. Normally, an employee then figures out where it went wrong. But in the AI scenario, for example an AI Agent figures this out based on the source data present on the e-invoice, upon which action can then be taken to correct the error.”
Dauwe: “Another example is that AI links the invoice to a cost item based on historical data and then the invoice is automatically presented for approval to the internal manager.”
Van Doorn: “So for performing repetitive operations, AI is excellent, resulting in employees taking on a more controlling role get and more time have more time to perform other tasks.”
Can you give an example of another task for employees that involves the combination of e-invoicing and AI?
Van Doorn: “Numerous examples can be thought of, which have in common that they offer insights on which to make decisions. One such possibility is having reporting by AI based on internal invoice data. Consider, for example, making analyses of invoices received and sent over a given period. In this way, for example, it is easy to determine for sent invoices what the Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) is of certain customers.”
Dauwe: “Furthermore, AI is very suitable for the collecting data outside the internal organization, for example, for assessing a customer’s financial situation.”
In your view, who within an organization should take the lead with both e-invoicing and its combination with AI?
Dauwe: “In the market we find that it is by far the most effective if the CFO takes the lead in this. He or she should develop a vision of what opportunities e-invoicing offers in combination with AI. At the same time, the CFO could create support within the organization. However, unfortunately, today it is often the case that these issues are pushed to IT. A missed opportunity in our opinion.”
How might a CFO provide support within an organization?
Van Doorn: “An important signal the CFO could send is that AI is focused on efficiency improvement and that the organization does not aim to do the same work with fewer people. But rather, by applying AI, it wants to get more out of the organization, or to do more work with the same people. By the way, this is also in line with the current tightness in the labor market.”
Dauwe: “Finally, it is good to realize that if e-invoicing combined with AI is set up properly, it no longer matters whether a company processes a thousand invoices a year or a hundred thousand. In this way it is possible grow a business scalably in the dynamic world we live in and, moreover, continuity is guaranteed.”
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