Tradeshift, the business-to-business social network, has been selected by French agency ADETEF to help build its stake in PEPPOL, an initiative to supply e-invoicing and e-procurement services across the European Union.
The PEPPOL scheme will become a universal standard for European states and, aims to create one shared infrastructure for all e-procurement transactions processed by EU governmental bodies.
The initial ADETEF deployment will cover a handful of French government departments, with these organisations able to connect with suppliers on the secure Tradeshift online platform and manage all invoicing electronically. Adoption rates of Tradeshift among suppliers are very high since the system is free to use for suppliers and provides many features that can save time and money.
The first institutions to use Tradeshift as part of the PEPPOL initiative include the Ministry of Finance and the Aube county, with a target of connecting 30,000 suppliers in the first 6 months. A key advantage of Tradeshift's commitment to open standards is its ability to connect with the current French ministerial system, Chorus, and ensure seamless integration.
"Interoperability is crucial to the success of the PEPPOL initiative," explains Mikkel Hippe Brun, Chief Strategy Officer at Tradeshift, and a former Technical Director of the PEPPOL project. "While initiatives like European Monetary Union have brought European governmental departments closer to financial integration, the infrastructure help them interact with ease still lags behind. With it's incredibly low barriers to adoption, Tradeshift finally puts in place a critical part of the jigsaw that points towards a more integrated future."