DHL says goodbye to its 6 million paper invoices per year

DHL, the global leader in the international express and logistics […]

October 30, 2008

DHL, the global leader in the international express and logistics industry, today announced it plans to eliminate over one third of the 18 million paper invoices it sends out across Europe annually by 2010, thus saving approximately 2400 trees and 600 tonnes of C02 each year. DHL customers using the e-Billing service no longer need to receive their invoices on paper. They simply login to an online portal to view and approve them electronically.

Accountis, a division of Fundtech and leading global provider of secure financial document exchange and payment systems, has been working with DHL for two years developing their e-Billing capabilities, and will support their expansion into most major European territories by the end of this year.

The environmental benefits of e-Billing were high on the agenda when DHL launched the service for customers in Belgium in 2007. Brian Thumwood, DHL’s e-Billing manger for Europe said “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. We are currently experiencing a 30% increase in the number of e-invoices sent through the system each month, proving that organisations across Europe are ready and able to embrace this greener technology.”

Brian Thumwood continues, “Protecting the environment is very important to DHL and e-Billing plays an significant role in our organisation’s social responsibility and sustainability plan. The marketing strap line for this project is “e-Billing – loved by trees” since we know that this issue really matters to our customers too. Valuable resources including paper, ink, electricity and fuel are all consumed unnecessarily in the paper invoicing process every day. We want to play our part in reducing this waste and the detrimental impact it is having on our planet.”

DHL aims to improve the carbon efficiency of its own as well as its subcontracted services by 30% by 2020 and in addition is constantly expanding its climate-friendly services for customers.

Peter Radcliffe, Executive Chairman, Accountis, said: “Accountis enables organisations like DHL to achieve their green objectives by implementing a more sustainable technology. 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. Paper delivery notes, purchase orders, statements, remittances and other related documents can all be taken online using our system. We are delighted that more and more companies across Europe are switching to a greener, faster and more efficient invoicing process.”

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