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18/12/2008 : Carrefour chooses Babelway for their electronic invoicing
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Carrefour Belgium is planning to rely on electronic invoices even more with the addition of 320 more suppliers in 2009. In the Belgian mass distribution market, Carrefour is way ahead of the competition in terms of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Today, more than 80% of invoices coming into Carrefour (more than 75,000 invoices a month) are already submitted electronically.
To stay ahead of the game, Carrefour Belgium released a call for tender to different electronic invoicing suppliers to help convert the next wave of goods suppliers to using electronic invoices.
Carrefour appreciated the innovative approach put forward by Babelway and so chose to make them their preferred partner. Babelway offers a platform which digitalises information exchanges using Software-as-a-Service which does not require any software installation and makes it easy to automate any type of exchange (invoices, orders, delivery notifications, to name but a few) between 2 companies using the same IT systems. In the preceding months, Carrefour had already been given the chance to test the system and get positive feedback from suppliers using Babelway.
In the contract agreed with Babelway, Carrefour’s suppliers will have their own space to automate the exchange of electronic documents with Carrefour initially, but then with any other partners for whom they feel it would be appropriate. Carrefour’s suppliers will be given training on how to use the system, as well as the support they need to set information exchanges in motion. After one day of training at the BABEL ACADEMY, the EDI school set up by Babelway, participants will be able to automate invoicing for what is likely to be their biggest client
Carrefour chose Babelway exclusively for this project so that they could provide a clear, simple solution that all suppliers could use. However, suppliers using other electronic invoicing solutions can obviously use it too. The project will be launched next January, when suppliers (from Belgium and further afield) will be contacted first, and then the system will be rolled out during the course of 2009.
With this agreement, Carrefour embraces the innovative concept created by Babelway, a young company from Louvain-la-Neuve, confirming its place at the cutting edge of EDI solutions currently available on the market.
Pieter Vanhoutte, EDI Manager, Carrefour Belgium: “Since we have been working on EDI with Babelway, we have had nothing but positive feedback. We were bowled over by the solution that Babelway offered us. We have also greatly appreciated their desire to innovate and bring concrete answers to the needs of our suppliers, with solutions which are both practical, and straightforward and user-friendly”.
Francois Van Uffelen, Managing Director, Babelway: “This kind of agreement rewards over 2 years of innovative development. We are proud and grateful to have won the trust of one of the market leaders. We feel we are ready, willing and able to deliver on our promise of electronic invoicing, to help clients and suppliers alike”.
See the video presentation of Carrefour to suppliers
