E-bill
E-invoice service provider or software:
What companies must decide now
Since 1 January 2025 businesses in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices, without a transitional period. Staggered deadlines apply to issuing them, with the mandate applying to everyone by 2028 at the latest. Anyone who still does not have a solution for processing electronic invoices now faces a fundamental choice: acquire and operate software themselves, or hand over implementation to a service provider. Both paths are possible, but they suit different business situations.
E-invoice service provider: What that means in concrete terms
A service provider, also referred to as a service provider in the European context, handles not only the technical implementation, but the entire surrounding process: format recognition, conformity with ZUGFeRD, XRechnung or Peppol, ongoing adaptation to regulatory changes and point of contact for queries.
For companies whose internal IT or accounting capacity would be additionally burdened by this issue, this means one thing above all: responsibility for technical and legal compliance no longer lies solely in-house.
Outsourcing accounting: When it is worth it
Outsourcing is particularly worthwhile where invoicing processes go beyond the pure e-invoicing obligation, for instance when additionally Purchase-to-pay processes, Bookkeeping or AI-powered automation plays a role. The more interfaces and dependencies a company has, the more complex in-house software operation becomes, and the more relevant the question of whether a full-service approach is not the more practicable solution.
Software or service provider: The key decision-making questions
Three questions help with the classification:
- Are you looking for a solution tailored from the ground up to your own processes, or is standard software sufficient?
- How complex are your own invoicing processes – just pure e-invoicing or also adjacent areas like P2P and accounting?
- Are you looking more for a one-off technical solution, or ongoing consultancy and process support?
The crucial difference here rarely lies in the technology itself, but in the approach: a service provider generally does not offer a plug-and-play solution, but first gains an understanding of the individual processes and challenges within the company before developing a suitable solution. Anyone looking for tailored guidance rather than a standard solution is generally better served by a service provider than by in-house software.
Conclusion
Software or service provider, the right answer depends on how much responsibility for implementation, maintenance and legal updates a company wants to bear itself and how much it would rather hand over. Anyone looking for a solution that thinks ahead rather than just functioning usually cannot avoid a service provider.
For companies looking for a partner that not only provides a software licence, but also actively shapes the process, solutions such as ivi for the e-invoice a full-service approach from a single source.
