E-commerce brings stronger customer focus

Why e-commerce? The arguments are many. Manual handling is reduced and electronic documentation is created that is traceable and searchable. It also makes invoicing faster and more efficient, reduces the risk of errors and has been shown to lead to faster payment. Last but not least, it contributes to a better environment.
Patrik Lindvall, Manager Projects & E-commerce at Tele2, says that their increased focus on e-commerce is a natural step.
- "We see that electronic commerce is the present. There are important effects to gain in the short term. Like this with reduced administration. But it is also the future. We are in a development where it is more and more assumed that you are compatible with the requirements of e-commerce. The public sector in particular is making this a condition," Patrik says and clarifies:
- "In 95 percent of the procurements we respond to, there is a requirement to be able to handle electronic orders in one way or another.

Freeing up time for new added value

Put simply, e-commerce is about creating an electronic link between buyer (purchaser) and seller (supplier). It is this integration that InExchange performs by setting up an e-commerce service for Tele2.
Patrik confirms that it is long overdue. The group he is in charge of at Tele2, e-commerce and projects, operates in B2B and implements new large customers who often forward the ordering procedure to the users.
This makes for a lot of single orders that eat up a lot of time.
- We have been doing this manually for years. We'd much rather create other values for our customers than deal with order processing. The people who do this are extremely knowledgeable about our products and the industry in general. Not utilizing their skills in the right way feels like a waste of resources," says Patrik Lindvall.

Easy for companies to join

At the same time, let's turn the perspective around and look at it from the opposite direction. How does a company sign up for e-commerce with Tele2?
Per Löfving, key account manager at InExchange, says it's a straightforward procedure.
- "To do e-commerce with Tele2, you need a connection, via the operator or Peppol. It doesn't matter which format you want to use, as we automatically convert to Tele2's format. Get in touch with InExchange or your operator for help in arranging this," Per advises, pointing out that there is great interest in e-commerce services in the market:
- "Companies see the benefits of managing their order flows electronically, both to streamline the delivery process and to automate the flow from order to invoice management.

Has InExchange as an access point in Peppol

A major reason why Tele2 turned to InExchange was the chance to avoid spending energy on different formats. Tele2 wanted InExchange to be their access point in Peppol. That is, the network for e-commerce and electronic purchasing - established by the EU - whose purpose is to bring together the world's countries in the work of agreeing on standardization.
- Peppol is also being used in more and more procurements. As we were not able to handle it ourselves, we let InExchange become our access point in Peppol. Now we have a format that goes to InExchange that always looks the same. InExchange takes care of the conversion," explains Patrik Lindvall happily.
Finally, Patrik, why did you choose InExchange?
- "We want to create this together with a reliable partner who is a professional in the field. We support e-commerce in several ways already today, but have now secured a partner who can help and facilitate us going forward. We see that there is more and more e-commerce. We both want and need to be active in that development.