•Administration

–Reduce the time and cost required to produce documents

–Reduce errors and re-work through the use of inherited data

–Reducte post, telecommunications and courier costs

•Accounts payable processing

–Eliminate the need to re-key commercial invoice data and to manage the associated errors

–Facilitate automated reconciliation of purchase orders against commercial invoices

–Enable a seamless link to electronic payment facilities

•Accounts receivable processing

–Eliminate the need to manually reconcile credit/payment advices with commercial invoices

–Allow focus on exception processing to reduce the need for dispute management

•Working capital

–Remove the processing barrier to taking advantage of discount terms

–Enable optimal working capital finance by streamlining the receivables process

–Reduce the requirement for working capital by improving visibility of outstanding payables and receivables

•Cash flow

–Remove unnecessary float that exists because of paper-based processes

–Accelerate cash cycle for the supplier against optimal payment terms for the buyer

•Payment processing

–Create opportunities for managed payment processing services based upon integration with the accounts receivable process

–Reduce the cost of payment processing by supporting the emergence of new payment services

•Documentary settlement processes

–Reduce the risk and cost of discrepancies with improved data quality

–Enable banks to improve the document checking turnaround time by automating the reconciliation process

–Improve the competitiveness of letters of credit by increasing efficiency

•Resource utilisation

–Remove the knock-on effects that the burden of paper documents can have on capital-intensive resources

–Ensure seamless movement of goods without the threat of delays associated with documentation

•Contingent liabilities

–Reduce the requirements for indemnities when paper documents are misplaced or delayed

–Reduce the risk of improper release of cargo or documents by carriers and banks

•Risk management

–Enable greater visibility of goods movements and cash requirements

–Reduce the opportunities for fraud by improving document security

–Support compliance with new regulatory requirements, including those designed to reduce the threat of terrorism

•Customer service

–Enable logistics providers to improve customer service by supporting rapid creation and release of documentation

–Enable the financial community to define new payables, receivables and working capital solutions based upon the management of electronic information