54 billion € - too much or not enough?

Deutsche Bank Research report came out with this cost saving figure - referring to research at Hanover University. Is it too much - or not enough? The answer is yes...

1. If you only think about cost savings achieved with dematerialization of paper (30 billion invoices and envelopes on EU level a year..) and saving stamps  the estimate looks far too high.

2. But if you look further into payment automation and supply chain automation savings it is well in line with earlier estimates.

3. If you add the logical next steps enabled - automated accounting, automated invoice financing it is already on the low side.

4. If you add lower fraud risks, more efficient VAT auditing, lower credit risks/insurance costs via more frequent "next-to-no-cost-invoicing" it is of course far from enough.

So it is of course only a question of where you draw the line. Those clinging to the past - perhaps believing that manual invoicing have some sort of future - want to draw the line next to the stamp costs. Those who see this as the next step on a ladder to wide cross-market and cross-process digitalization have no doubt - this is only the beginning.