UZ Brussel was ready for e-invoicing in just two weeks thanks to Arco

“In 2018, e-invoicing was all the rage,” recalls Peter Rooseleers. He is Head of Management Control & Accounting at UZ Brussel. At that time, the hospital decided to join a project that enjoyed support from the European Commission. Unfortunately, it never came together and a later attempt to implement an e-invoicing project also stalled.

“In the meantime, time was running out to digitize our incoming invoice flows,” says Peter. “So we visited several hospitals to see how they approached the topic. This time we wanted to do it right from the start. Many hospitals were already working with Arco – a name I had heard many times. Due to circumstances, we had not come to a collaboration before. Once the decision was made, we naturally wanted it to move forward as quickly as possible.”

Ready for action in only two weeks

What started out in 2018 as an ambition to be a pioneer in e-invoicing turned out differently. “At one point, we found ourselves being left behind,” Peter explains. “With this catch-up we want to reposition ourselves in the middle of the peloton, and in time hopefully regain a leading position.”

But “every disadvantage has its advantage”, and that proved to be the case here as well. Arco gained so much experience with other hospital groups over the past few years that the implementation of e-invoicing at UZ Brussel was completed in just two weeks. “Before this project, we were already supporting some 45 hospitals in their digitization efforts,” says Diane Ruysschaert, Senior Operational Account Manager at Arco. “Today, it is standard procedure for us to set up e-invoicing with such partners. And if difficulties do arise in, for example, the link with the ERP system, they are quickly remedied thanks to our good cooperation with Zorgi, an IT specialist for the healthcare sector.”

“I can’t say a bad word about the implementation process,” Peter adds. “Our contact with Arco was always very dynamic. Obstacles we encountered were predicted by them in advance, so we knew what to expect. And they were addressed immediately when they occurred. So we were able to take full advantage of their accumulated experience: the teething problems had already been fixed and most of the partners already knew what was expected of them in the context of mandatory EDI.”

Positive outlook on the future

Onboarding UZ Brussel’s suppliers did not take long. In the first month after implementation, they immediately received 350 e-invoices. One month later, that number had already increased fivefold. “Over half of the first one hundred suppliers we activated are currently already working with us, and another third are in the process of onboarding,” says Peter. “Here, too, we enjoy Arco’s unburdening and experience: they take all the questions from our suppliers. Sometimes suppliers don’t even know exactly what e-invoicing means, for example that a PDF is not considered a digital invoice.”

The next step is outbound e-invoicing. “We are now working intensively with Arco to make this possible,” Peter says. “This project is related to other ERP updates and internal process optimizations, but the plans are ready. This will be followed by e-ordering.”

“In the short term, we have realized a nice project with UZ Brussel. It is nice working with a customer who knows what he wants and realizes what is needed to achieve the goals. In addition, I would like to give kudos to our Product Director Ivan Vanhaecht for his enthusiasm and problem-solving ability in this case,” concludes Diane.