On November 25, 2014 the Electronic Billing Conference organized by AMETIC (Association of Electronic, Information and Communication Technologies and Digital Content Companies) was held, this year with a special focus on the regulatory framework and with sponsorship from Indra.

Just two months ahead of the January 15, 2015 watershed that will make it compulsory to issue electronic bills for public administrations and in certain sectors that are particularly important for the country's economy, the conference became the key event for examining the status of e-billing in Spain.

The principal aims of Law 25/2013 on the Promotion of Electronic Billing and the Creation of Accounting Records in the Public Sector are to reduce arrears by public administrations and encourage e-billing in the Spanish business sector. As Aitor Cubo, General Secretary of Electronic Administration Programs, Studies and Promotion at the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, pointed out: “The ultimate aim is to improve the competitiveness of the business sector by protecting suppliers."

Indra was a prominent presence at the event, having played a key role in the conference organization and logistics. We ensured that all the key actors were present and that they had a specific section in which to put across their messages and voice their queries. We are referring to the three levels of public administration (central government, regional governments and local authorities) as well as providers of e-billing services and e-billing issuers.

The event was attended physically by more than 200 people and more than 400 live-streaming connections were recorded, with continuous following throughout the day.

The status of the public administrations in the wake of Law 25/2013 reveals some very interesting facts:

• More than 2,500 public administrations have registered with the Entry Point to Central Government Electronic Bills (FACe), and this general point is supported by several commercial solutions, including Indra's B2BConecta.
• With regard to the regional governments, although the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration has invested enormous efforts into encouraging them to sign up to FACe, the scenario is less than uniform. There are several autonomous communities that do not facilitate interoperability and unfortunately there is no official source to shed light on the situation. The directive is nevertheless very clear: “In the absence of a proprietary point of entry in keeping with the law, registration with FACe offers a guarantee for public administration suppliers.”

For example, Víctor Cano, Financial Controller of the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha, explained the efforts undertaken in his autonomous community to comply with all the legal and technical requirements and start operating. The regional government has had its own e-billing solution, built on Indra's B2BConecta platform, since 2007. It has now decided to join FACe and is also exploring the possibility of turning its solution into the region's general point of entry for bills, servicing the provincial and local councils.

This uncertain and changing scenario has given rise to e-billing operators who interoperate with other e-billing service providers, adapt their interconnection capacities (formats, signature, etc.) and mechanisms to the new regulations, make the technological complexities transparent to all the intermediaries (public and private), and have experience in these types of projects in which the key to success lies not only in the technology but in the way in which change management is addressed.

In short, we are witnessing the advent of a new business model that will improve the traceability and efficiency of e-billing processes.

The event also reinforced the fact that e-billing has been a reality for many private companies for several years. In fact, the conference was attended by delegates from companies that belong to sectors where e-billing is mandatory. One of these companies was Unión Fenosa Gas, a client of Indra's. The head of customer management, Jesús Montejo, presented concrete figures to demonstrate the savings and efficiency gained through the introduction of e-billing in the organization, as well as a 60% reduction in the budget for printing and processing paper bills, and the use of e-billing as tool for building client loyalty.

The general impression of the participants, organizers and sponsors is that the conference was a resounding success all round, in terms of attendance and staging as well as content, new contacts made, and networking opportunities.

Indra's positioning was clearly reinforced. Now we must continue to work hard to consolidate e-billing and, in general, the exchange of electronic documents between organizations as a reality that makes Spanish companies more competitive.