Invoice automation is one of the topics currently gaining the most importance in accounting. Many companies have digitised their invoice processes in recent years, and paper has largely disappeared from accounting departments. Nevertheless, practice repeatedly shows a specific pattern: digitisation alone does not solve the actual problem. Although the invoice is available electronically, it still does not automatically reach the recipient in the correct format.

Digitised but not automated: the crucial difference

Digitising an invoice initially just means generating it in electronic form, such as a PDF, as XRechnung or as ZUGFeRD-document. Whether it arrives at the correct recipient in the correct format afterwards without manual intervention is another question. Exactly this difference determines whether invoice automation actually saves effort in everyday work or whether someone has to manually intervene again in the end.

In practice, several typical reasons can be observed why companies frequently fail at invoice automation. These include grown, fragmented IT landscapes with different ERP and CRM systems, inconsistent recipient preferences regarding format and channel, a growing variety of formats with short version cycles, as well as errors in the generation and checking of invoice data. Each of these points seems manageable in its own right. In combination, however, they are precisely what creates the gap between digitised and automated that many companies underestimate.

Recipient preferences regarding format and channel as a central hurdle

Anyone who sends invoices to a large number of customers knows the problem from personal experience. One recipient wants to receive ZUGFeRD by email, the next expects an XRechnung via a customer portal, and a third insists on a format via Peppol, and yet another still demands the traditional letter. Moreover, these recipient preferences regarding format and channel change regularly, without the invoice issuer being automatically informed about it.

Without a system that knows these preferences and automatically takes them into account, the only option left is manual checking before every dispatch. This is precisely the point where many supposedly digitised processes in practice slip back into manual routines and consume the efficiency gains of digitisation.

The last mile of invoicing

The last-mile image originally comes from logistics, where it describes the final, often most complex section of a delivery to the recipient's front door. Transferred to the invoice process, the last mile of the invoice is precisely the step from the completed, digital invoice to actual delivery tailored to the recipient. Today, the creation of an invoice can be mapped largely in an automated way. Delivery in the respective suitable format and via the respective suitable channel, on the other hand, is frequently the section where the process becomes manual again.

Especially with regard to the mandatory electronic invoice in Germany and the growing variety of formats and channels, this bottleneck is becoming increasingly palpable for companies with heterogeneous customer structures. An invoice that does not reach the recipient in the expected form leads to queries, corrections and, in the worst-case scenario, delayed payments.

Why does invoice automation frequently fail in practice?

Invoice automation in practice usually fails not because of the technology used to create invoices, but because of the last mile to the recipient. Fragmented system landscapes, inconsistent format requirements and changing recipient preferences mean that companies have to intervene manually precisely where rework should no longer be necessary. Added to this are validation errors caused by missing mandatory details, invalid formats or inconsistent tax information, which additionally interrupt automated dispatch.

How do I automate sending invoices to different recipients?

In order to Invoice despatch To automate [the process] to different recipients, a company needs a central entity that knows the format and channel preference of each individual recipient and automatically controls the dispatch accordingly. This is precisely where our e-invoicing platform ivi Instead of merely digitising invoices, ivi takes care of automated delivery to the recipient in their preferred format and via their preferred channel, whether XRechnung via Peppol, ZUGFeRD by email, upload to a customer portal or traditional postal delivery as a fallback solution. The platform automatically recognises the respective recipient preference, meaning that no manual readjustment is required in day-to-day business.

For companies, this means a dual effect. Operational effort decreases because format checking and channel selection are no longer the responsibility of their own employees. At the same time, delivery reliability increases, as every invoice arrives at the recipient in the form that they can actually process.

Shipping obligation from 2027 and 2028 makes action necessary now

Since 1 January 2025, all domestic B2B companies have already had to issue electronic invoices receive and process can. From 1st January 2027, the obligation to send comes into force for companies with a previous year's turnover of more than 800,000 euros; they will then be legally required to issue domestic B2B invoices as e-invoices. For smaller companies, a transitional period applies until 31st December 2027, before the sending obligation applies to all domestic B2B companies from 1st January 2028, regardless of turnover.

As soon as the sending of electronic invoices becomes mandatory, the number of different recipient formats and delivery channels that a company has to service will increase simultaneously. Anyone who has only digitised by then, but not automated, will scarcely be able to manage this additional complexity without a growing manual workload.

Conclusion

The relevant question for one's own invoicing process is not whether invoices are already created digitally, but whether delivery to every single recipient works without manual intervention. Anyone who cannot answer this question with an unreserved yes generally still has an automation gap on the last mile, regardless of how modern the upstream processes already are. With our e-invoicing platform ivi, we close precisely this gap and turn a digitised invoicing process into a truly automated one.

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