Electronic bill presentment and payment

Although various authors have postulated the benefits of Electronic Bill Present­ment and Payment (EBPP), penetration of electronic invoicing in practice is still low. The following article investigates the status of European EBPP implementations in B2B relationships. Based on an empirical survey of 26 companies, it provides a state-of-the-art analysis of EBPP implementations in an industrial environment. As with other e-business scenarios, network externalities can serve as explanation of the relatively low dissemination of EBPP. The article discusses the key decisions related to EBPP which determine network externalities: the choice of the EBPP model, the electronic channel and the invoice formats. Based on the survey results, it derives three stages of EBPP implementation characterised by specific EBPP models, channels and formats. As a conclusion, the existence of hub-to-hub connections between EBPP consolidators is regarded as a major success factor for the future penetration of EBPP.