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British Energy switches to e-Invoicing with OB10

British Energy joins the world’s largest e-Invoicing network

London 28. August 2009 – British Energy, part of EDF Energy, the UK’s largest electricity generator, has today announced its decision to implement electronic invoicing with OB10, the world's leading e-Invoicing network.  

British Energy selected OB10 after identifying an immediate opportunity to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the payment process.  The company already has good terms with its suppliers, but wished to improve the efficiency and cycle time of the process.

OB10 was selected due to the fact that the solution British Energy needed had to be flexible and have the potential, in the long term, to accommodate all of their suppliers.   British Energy had evaluated EDI previously and understood that it is limited to suppliers that send very high volumes of invoices.  It was therefore too costly for the number of suppliers that would be able to use it.  As OB10 manages supplier enrolment and the OB10 solution enables organisations of all sizes to send invoices electronically, this was the ideal solution for British Energy.

Robert Gilhooly, business services manager (finance), British Energy said:
“We were looking to make our accounts payable department more efficient and improve invoice processing accuracy and efficiency. We were aware of OB10’s reputation and track record of supplier enrolment and feel that we will be able to achieve our objective of having a more efficient team.  This in turn will allow us to bring additional services into our Shared Services group, without having to grow the size of the operation in the short term.”

Gilhooly added:
“We are already on very good terms with our suppliers, however e-Invoicing will allow us to pay our suppliers across the country more efficiently and therefore further strengthen our ties with them.  Joining the OB10 network offers us a flexible solution which supports our suppliers, enabling suppliers of any size to benefit from e-Invoicing.  OB10 has a significant presence among our current supplier base and this was also a key factor in their selection. Using e-Invoicing will allow our Shared Service function as a whole to manage more work and add more value across the organisation.”

Jamie Gunn, CEO of OB10, said:
“We’re thrilled that another blue-chip company such as British Energy has joined the OB10 e-Invoicing network.  We believe that the level of support we offer to both our customers and their suppliers is unrivalled in this industry.  The speed at which OB10 can deliver an e-Invoicing programme, which also ticks all the legal and compliance boxes, makes us an ideal partner for a forward thinking organisation like British Energy.”

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About OB10
OB10 (www.OB10.com) is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network.  OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organisations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats.  OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less than a year if the programme follows OB10’s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 100 countries.  To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.  

Customers include:  Agilent Technologies, BP, Barclays, Cargill, DHL, DSG International, Eli Lilly & Company, Fisher Scientific, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kellogg’s, Logica, Lufthansa, Mohawk Industries, Norwich Union, SaraLee, Shaw Industries, Steria and VWR.

Company contact
Clare Briggs, Marketing Manager, OB10
tel: +44 (0) 20 7632 0913
email: clare.briggs@OB10.com
website: www.OB10.com

Press contact
Nick Bolshaw
Rostrum Communications
tel: +44(0)207 392 2632
email:  nick@rostrumpr.com

OB10 and the OB10 logo are trade marks of OB10 Limited and are protected by law

About EDF Energy
The combination of EDF Energy and British Energy forms one of the UK’s largest energy companies. The combined business is the UK’s largest producer of electricity. With a current installed capacity of around 16.5GW, we produce almost one-quarter of the nation's electricity from our nuclear, coal and gas power stations, as well as combined heat and power plants and wind farms.