International express freight and logistics corporation, DHL has announced its intention to eliminate over one third of the 18 million paper invoices it sends out across Europe annually by 2010.  The company advising that customers who use an e-billing service implemented by DHL, will no longer need to  receive their invoices on paper, rather the invoice information is provided via an online portal to view and approve electronically.

Based in the United Kingdom, Accountis Limited, a division of Fundtech Limited, has been working with DHL for more that two years in an effort to develop the freight conglomerates e-billing capabilities.  The company will support the DHL’s rollout of its e-billing system across most major European territories by the end of this years.

DHL estimates that the move to paperless invoices will save some 2400 trees each year, and according to industry calculations, approximately 600 tonnes of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, each year.

Speaking to the e-billing project and European expansion, the projects manager for DHL, Brian Thumwood said that “The success of our e-Billing project has already delivered significant environmental savings but this is a drop in the ocean compared to what we intend to achieve in the near future.”

According to the Thumwood, DHL has seen a thirty percent increase in the number of invoices sent through the e-billing system, proof positive that  “organisations across Europe are ready and able to embrace this greener technology.”  Thumwood continued “Protecting the environment is very important to DHL and e-Billing plays an significant role in our organisation’s social responsibility and sustainability plan. We want to play our part in reducing this waste and the detrimental impact it is having on our planet.”

The Executive Chairman of Accountis, Peter Radcliffe welcomed DHL’s efforts to better the environment through paperless invoicing.  Radcliffe noting that “The paper invoicing process consumes vast quantities of energy and produces huge volumes of waste which is unacceptable in this day and age, especially when an alternative is readily available.”

“Accountis enables organisations like DHL to achieve their green objectives by implementing a more sustainable technology,” continued Radcliffe, “we are delighted that more and more companies across Europe are switching to a greener, faster and more efficient invoicing process.”

Source: Business Wire and Accountis Limited

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 6:51 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.