ESPOO, Finland, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Basware Connectivity Enables Suppliers and Buyers to Eliminate Paper From Purchase to pay Processes, Reduce Cost per Transaction, Speed up Time to Payment and Communicate Better With Trading Partners

Basware (http://www.basware.com), the leading provider of purchase to pay solutions, today announced the launch of Basware Connectivity ( http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/Pages/default... ), a new set of enabling services to increase the adoption of electronic document exchange in difficult economic times for businesses. Basware Connectivity services allow suppliers and buyers of all sizes and maturity to transact electronically across the Basware partner network to drive down processing costs and increase internal visibility between procurement and finance. With the Basware services, transaction and processing costs can be cut by half.

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Basware Connectivity services include Basware Scan and Capture (http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/scan_and_capt...), a completely outsourced scanning service that reduces the manual burden on internal departments and enables buyers to receive all their invoices in electronic format. To encourage suppliers to start sending invoices electronically, Basware offers the buyers an outsourced supplier activation service (http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/supplier_acti...). Basware Business Transactions (http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/e_invoicing/P...), a monitored transfer and conversion service, supports the integrated exchange of e-invoices and purchase messages, enabling faster processing and improving accuracy. Basware Supplier Portal (http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/purchase_mess...) completes the services, allowing buyers and suppliers to upload or download purchasing related documents and complete transactions, such as submitting an invoice, online.

The new services complete Basware's existing purchase to pay offering, allowing customers to further enhance process automation by including their business partners as part of their accounts receivable, accounts payable and procurement functions. With the Basware Connectivity services, companies gain visibility to an audit trail that can be traced from order to goods delivery and invoice. The services generate savings in time and resources, by increasing accuracy in order based deliveries as well as data quality of invoices. Thanks to reduced invoice processing times, buyers are able to negotiate cash discounts, prevent late payment fees and improve working capital management. In turn, suppliers are able to secure invoice delivery via the Basware Business Transactions platform and gain competitive advantage by offering an environmentally friendly and accurate way of invoicing, as well as providing more timely and efficient customer service.

According to Forrester Research reports by Duncan Jones, the clear, demonstrable benefits, such as operational savings and error reduction, and the large, available market for automation of purchase to pay processes continue to drive market growth, particularly with the prevailing economic pressures on businesses and their supply chains. Companies see their current inefficient, error-prone invoice-to-pay (I2P) processes as an opportunity for rapid savings through judicious use of technology, but are unsure where to start. Best practice research from Forrester highlights that embarking on this journey, it is important to work with cross-functional stakeholders within the company, strive for 100% straight through processing, as well as looking to maximize supplier participation.

Basware Connectivity services are offered without any need to implement or maintain the solution in a customer's IT environment. This reduces claims on internal IT resources, lowers the total cost of ownership and above all, lets organizations start communicating electronically with their business partners quickly, regardless of their size or current purchase to pay processes.

With our Basware Connectivity services, we are the first to able to deliver all purchase to pay related documents through one solution. We are making this far simpler for our customers by managing the process for them both internally and externally, said Esa Tihila, SVP, Basware Global Operations. By offering different services for companies at different stages in their purchase to pay journey, we will accelerate the process of enabling more transactions to take place globally.

Over 3,500 organizations are currently integrated to the Basware Business Transactions platform through the Basware Connectivity services. Basware has over 150,000 suppliers transacting electronically through its platform and processes over 8 million invoices across its network annually. With the launch of Basware Connectivity services, the goal is to increase this exponentially and allow more suppliers and buyers to build better transactional relationships both at home and overseas.

We decided to make a strategic move to e-invoicing already in 2002. Our goal is to expand e-invoicing as much as possible, both in Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable processes, says Kari Littunen, President, Shared Services at Metso, an early Basware Connectivity customer. Our strategy is to have one technical partner, which enables a controlled way of exchanging messages and information. With Basware Connectivity services we are able to reach all our business partners through one single solution.

About Basware Connectivity

Basware Business Transactions

(http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/e_invoicing/P...) - A monitored transfer and conversion service for e-invoices and other purchasing related documents, such as e-orders. Basware Business Transactions converts e-invoices and other purchasing related documents into the correct format and delivers them to the right recipients through one single connection to suppliers and buyers.

Basware Supplier Portal

(http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/purchase_mess...) - A web interface for suppliers to key-in invoices, to receive orders electronically, send order confirmations as well as upload and create electronic catalogs. The buyer is able to use the same Business Transactions platform to integrate to their invoice processing and procurement solutions.

Basware Scan and Capture

(http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/scan_and_capt...) - A fully outsourced service to convert all paper invoices to electronic format. Basware provides the scanning and validation of incoming paper invoices and delivers them to the buyer's invoice processing system. Coupled with the Basware Supplier Activation service, converting from paper invoices to true e-invoices enables to reduce processing costs even further.

Basware Supplier Activation

(http://www.basware.com/our_solutions/supplier_connectivity/supplier_acti...) - An outsourced service to communicate with the suppliers, assist and activate them to connect to the buyers' purchase to pay process.

Learn more about these services at http://connectivity.basware.com.

Forrester Research references taken from reports by analyst Duncan Jones

The Forrester Wave(TM): AP-EIPP, Q2 2008 (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,42711,00.html)

Best Practices: Invoice-To-Pay Process Automation (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,46909,00.html)

About Basware

Basware is the global leader in purchase to pay solutions with more than 1,500 customers and 650,000 users in over 50 countries around the world. Basware solutions automate business-critical financial processes and deliver value by providing compliance and control, as well as fast return on investment. The solutions are distributed and implemented in Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific through an extensive network of Basware offices and business partners.

In 2008, net sales reached EUR 86 million. Founded in 1985, Basware Corporation is a public company listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. Headquartered in Finland, it has seven subsidiaries in Europe and one in the US. For more information, visit http://www.basware.com.

Press contact: Chris Ewens, Lakshmi Rajendran and Sarah Martinez, Octopus Communications, basware@octopuscomms.net or +44(0)845-700-655