International Air Transport Association takes steps toward going paperless

According to figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), members of the airline industry grapple with approximately 160 tons of invoices and other documentation each year just related to interline invoicing and settlement processes. Clearly, there is room for business process automation – which is where an electronic invoicing solution recently developed for members of the international industry trade group comes in, according to E-Invoicing Platform.

By eliminating unnecessary paper-based operational paradigms, facilitating back-office processes and streamlining invoicing standards, the IATA Financial Simplified Interline Services platform is expected to generate annual cost savings of as much as $700 million. The savings will be realized in several ways, including the following:

• lower mail charges and courier fees
• a reduced reliance on paper documentation (leading to decreased paper- and ink-related expenses)
• bolstered organizational processes (resulting in fewer instances of documents being lost and reprinted)

Although IATA is leveraging a custom solution to drive these financial and operational improvements, firms of all sizes can benefit from paper conversion services and document management software without the need to face the price tags associated with customization. Indeed, many small businesses have been able to take advantage of digitization and other paperless processes simply by incorporating scanning hardware and email archiving into their operations.

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