October 8, 2007

SupplyOn, a leading supplier of Internet services to the automotive and manufacturing industries, is introducing Advanced Digital Signature, enabling fully digitized and legally recognized invoicing between suppliers and customers. The new service simplifies the invoicing process and automates data gathering at the recipient’s end, resulting in considerable time and cost savings.

Legally accepted seal for digital transactions
Digital signatures give electronic documents a private and a public key. This makes it possible to identify exactly who “signed” the document and when it was produced. The only legally accepted seal for business documents is the so-called qualified electronic signature, which SupplyOn is now introducing under the name Advanced Digital Signature. In the eyes of the law, it is the only method that satisfies all the necessary security requirements, making it the electronic equivalent of a hand-written signature. “Advanced Digital Signature, which our customers will soon be able to use for sending and receiving invoices, satisfies the most stringent legal requirements,” says Dr. Stefan Brandner, Director of Product Management at SupplyOn.

Quick and easy to implement
The digital signature process is part of the SupplyOn EDI and WebEDI solution. It eliminates interfaces between different media, saves time and reduces process costs for both parties. And because there is no need to install extra hardware or software, the new service is simplicity itself to implement. The supplier simply approves the electronic invoicing process once, and can then send out customer invoices using a standardized screen. SupplyOn handles the encryption of the incoming data and forwards it to the invoice recipient.

More efficiency and process quality
Using Advanced Digital Signature eliminates postage costs and the time involved in producing summary sheets. User-friendly download functions are also available for the signed invoices. Users benefit from a fully integrated and standardized process where everything is handled electronically, from ordering and delivery through to the signed invoice. Because the invoice data is imported automatically, it doesn’t have to be recorded manually. This not only saves time, it also eliminates the risk of errors in data entry. Another advantage is that the incoming signed invoices fulfill the requirements of the new German Signature Act and can be used for input tax deduction purposes. “Because of its many advantages the qualified digital signature process is set to become the European standard,” says Brandner.

Back