A PDF invoice is not an electronic invoice. Many companies don’t realize this. When you send an invoice as a PDF by email, someone on the other side either retypes it into the system manually or at least checks it. Time, errors, unnecessary work.
A true electronic invoice is a structured data file — XML — that the customer’s system can load, process, and post automatically. Retyping? Errors? Waiting? None of that.
Maroš Kumi, Head of Sales at 26HOUSE, puts it simply: a qualified accountant won’t waste time retyping invoices, but can focus on real professional work — accounting, taxes, analysis. So e-invoicing isn’t just a technical change of format. It’s a change in how a company operates.
The biggest problem with e-invoicing? It’s not XML
Implementing e-invoicing isn’t trivial — neither for system vendors nor for companies themselves. Kumi names three technical challenges that ERP and accounting systems must handle at once: the correct XML format according to legislation, integration with a PEPPOL Access Point including sending and receiving invoices, and finally — user-friendliness. Because if the system forces an accountant to fill in ten new fields just to send an invoice, no one will want to use it.
On the company side, it’s a different kind of challenge. Fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge of the laws, and reluctance to think about how invoicing actually works today and whether it can be improved. The only way to overcome it, says Kumi, is to inform, demonstrate, and train. And to have a system that makes the whole thing invisible to the user.
From obligation to competitive advantage
Kumi recommends to companies: “Embrace the change and roll out e-invoicing faster than the competition.”
The logic is simple. A company that implements e-invoicing early can set up processes without pressure, fine-tune integrations, and train people. A company that waits will have to do it in a rush — and is more likely to make mistakes that will cost more than preparing calmly in advance.
What’s more, automated invoice processing brings something with real value for managing a business: real-time visibility into financial flows. You know what’s awaiting payment. You know where the bottlenecks are. You don’t have to wait for the monthly close to find out what your cash flow looks like.
“Embrace the change and roll out e-invoicing faster than the competition.”
Trends that are changing the rules of the game
E-invoicing isn’t an isolated phenomenon. Kumi says the key trends changing how companies work today are AI and the overall digitization of processes. In this context, electronic invoicing is the gateway — the first step toward having data flow through the company automatically, without manual intervention.
When invoices are structured and processed automatically, opportunities open up for further automation: order matching, predicting customers’ payment behavior, automated reminders. Digitization doesn’t stop in one place — on the contrary, one solution opens the door to others.
How to do it: principles that work
Today, 26HOUSE is one of the largest implementation partners of the Odoo ERP system in Slovakia. Interestingly, the company itself started as a customer — using Odoo to manage its own processes before becoming an implementer. That user-side experience still shapes their approach today.
In implementations, they follow a few principles: understand the customer’s processes before proposing a solution. Separate what is a real need from what is just a wish. Use as much of the standard system as possible, and customize only where it’s truly necessary. And perhaps most importantly, there’s no point in implementing old paper-based processes in a new digital system. Digitization is an opportunity for change, not just wrapping the old in a new package.
E-invoicing: not a question of if, but when
The mandate is coming. The question is whether a company will handle it in a rush and under pressure, or prepare ahead of time and get the most out of it. Companies that take it seriously already today don’t add e-invoicing as another administrative layer — but as part of a bigger whole: a digitally managed company where data works instead of people.
If you’re interested in the topic and want to take a closer look at the specific steps, processes, and legislation — that’s exactly what we’ll cover in the webinar on March 24, 2026.
TEXT: Natália Stašíková
PHOTO: Canva
