200,000 Sonera consumer customers have adopted electronic invoicing
- 2008-10-15 10:19 UTC
Sonera has been positively surprised by Finnish consumers’ willingness to receive electronic invoices instead of paper ones. As many as 200,000 Sonera consumer customers have already changed over to electronic invoicing. A third of Sonera’s broadband customers have completely abandoned paper invoices and now receive their invoices in electronic format.
Sonera’s customers are enthusiastic about electronic services. “Customers who have changed over to electronic invoices don’t want to return to using paper bills,” says Hannu Savolainen, Head of Invoicing at TeliaSonera Finland.
Instead of conventional paper bills, customers can choose to receive their invoices in electronic format either as e-invoices at their web bank or as email invoices. Sonera charges one euro for paper bills for broadband services, which has encouraged the broadband customers to change over to electronic invoicing.
“The number of broadband customers who have chosen electronic invoicing has grown six-fold during this year. As many as 31 per cent of our broadband customers already receive and pay their invoices electronically. In addition, six per cent of our mobile phone customers and two per cent of our fixed-line phone customers have also changed over to electronic invoices,” says Hannu Savolainen.
No more typing errors
The e-Invoice service sends broadband, mobile phone, home phone and combined invoices in electronic format directly to the customer’s web bank for review and approval. The service user does not have to key in the invoice data and thus avoids any unfortunate typing errors. The e-Invoice service can be ordered at the web banks of the OP-Pohjola Group, Sampo Bank, Nordea, Aktia, the Finnish Savings Banks Group, and the Finnish Local Cooperative Bank Group.
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions
Sonera sends out over 15 million invoices each year. If printed out, they would take about 36 million sheets, which is equivalent to 180,000 kg of paper. In terms of paper consumption and transport of invoices, electronic invoicing can potentially reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,100 tons, which corresponds to about 5.5 million kilometres travelled by car.
Further information:
Hannu Savolainen, Head of Invoicing, TeliaSonera Broadband Services Finland
Tel.: +358 40 302 3312
Email: firstname.lastname@teliasonera.com
