"2023 was the year of Continuous Transaction Control"

The beginning of a new year is always a great time to look back as well as forward. What went well? What went less well? How can we learn from them? And What can we expect in 2024?? We put these questions to Vincent Wouters, managing director of ICreative.  

"I look back on 2023 with a satisfied feeling and have high hopes for 2024," Vincent drops in. "The new year is off to a good start at ICreative. Indeed, we were able to welcome no fewer than five new colleagues in January. With this boost to our capacity we can better serve new and existing customers and we can further fulfill our ambition: reducing administrative burdens for companies." 

To that end, he says, they are looking beyond the familiar, trusted solutions such as Basware and ICreative Validation Service. "We also want to introduce our relations to other solutions."

Receive and send e-invoices with one solution 

He continues: "ICreative has traditionally specialized in receiving e-invoices and other electronic documents. Sister company Diesis, also part of 4CEE, is precisely an expert in sending these types of documents. And Easy Systems has its own Peppol Access Point infrastructure."

That is why ICreative, Diesis and Easy Systems joined forces. By bringing together their existing products, they came up with a single solution for receiving, sending, checking and processing electronic documents: 4Exchange.

"And with that, we are not a day too early," Vincent asserts. "In fact, 2023 was the year of Continuous Transaction Control in Europe." More and more countries are already moving to a system where VAT is declared at invoice level, making e-invoicing mandatory.

Italy, Poland and Spain are some of the countries where significant steps have been taken by 2023 and where tax reporting is now done via invoice. In addition, the VAT in the Digital Age bill, or ViDA for short, is taking shape. "The rules for e-invoicing, among other things, are changing rapidly and drastically. There is a lot coming at companies. With 4Exchange we can relieve them even better in this area." 

READ ALSO: From post-audit to clearance model: what does it mean for compliance?

Capabilities of Robotic Process Automation 

Vincent also points to the potential of Robotic Process Automation, or RPA for short, for the Finance department. "With software robots, repetitive work is automated, leaving us time for the very work that adds value or that we don't get around to right now."

"For example, software robots can keep supplier data up-to-date between different systems, automatically check creditworthiness or generate (monthly) reports. In this way, we can make the lives of finance staff a little easier or more fun." 

READING TIP: Discover the possibilities of RPA for Finance at our sister company Coforce 

Customer satisfaction is paramount 

"We want to help companies achieve the most efficient and optimal purchase-to-pay process possible. That also means that sometimes we have to look just a little bit further, for example at things that are directly or indirectly related to this," Vincent said. "The most important thing is that our customers are satisfied with the result."  

The director explains that ICreative struggled somewhat with the tight labor market last year. A number of colleagues opted for a new challenge elsewhere, while work continued unabated. "As a result, we were sometimes forced to make choices. We did not have the capacity to tackle everything and deliver the quality we were aiming for everywhere. We invariably put our existing clients first, even if that meant letting new projects slide. Fortunately, we have now found the necessary reinforcement and can go full steam ahead again." 

"With our new colleagues, new solutions and new energy, we are completely ready for 2024," Vincent concludes enthusiastically.