With Internet-automated billing on the agenda for a growing number of businesses, does this mean the end of the paper invoice? David Merrylees, senior partner at Dannemann Siemsen Partnerships, tells Elodie Brice about their e-billing experiences and the vital role played by CPA Inprotech.

As one of the biggest cities in Brazil – and certainly the most well known for its culture of innovation, creativity and celebration – it makes sense that Rio de Janeiro is home to not only the nation’s main patent office, but also to its leading IP management and litigation firms, the Dannemann Siemsen Partnerships.

Established in 1900, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo, and a new one opening in Brazilia this year, the company now employs more than 550 staff and boasts hundreds of clients from all over the world including the US, UK, France and Germany.

In July 2005, coincidentally the partnership’s 105th anniversary, Dannemann implemented a new method of invoicing that has become prevalent across a variety of industries in recent years: e-billing.

Paying dividends
‘Dannemann caught on to the e-billing concept at the beginning of 2004,’ explains senior partner David Merrylees. ‘In-depth research confirmed its potential as a fantastic way to improve efficiency and cut paperwork and costs – especially for a global company with large numbers of clients and hundreds of bills to process every day. By July 2005, and thanks in part to the functionality of CPA Inprotech, Dannemann had the system up and running, accessible to all offices and on offer to all clients.

‘E-billing is mutually beneficial, to us and to our clients,’ enthuses David. ‘For Dannemann, the key benefit is that we get paid faster! As the process matures, we should see more benefits, including less need to key in complicated information and the use of less paper – although some paper bills do still need to be produced.

'While it is too early to see a marked effect on company profits, we expect to see some cost-cutting in this area and would definitely recommend e-billing as the financial way forward for all businesses.'

‘For clients, it means better tracking of costs, improved efficiency for invoice processing and less paper and manual work. It’s also easier to compare figures through more concise presentation and coded representation, and helps companies in the US comply with the Sarbannes-Oxley law, drawn up in light of the WorldComm accounting scandal.’

The challenges
Of course, e-billing is a relatively new apparatus and must merge with other office procedures. As such, there are bound to be some teething problems. For Dannemann, the issue of accounting codes has proven to be one of the biggest challenges. ‘As with most large companies, Dannemann uses internal codes in order to produce its invoices,’ says David. ‘These relate to work type, business categories or productivity. In addition, our new e-billing system must comply with clients’ individual codes, including adherence to the UTBMS system mainly used by the US. Building an intermediate system to map these codes and getting the two to work together smoothly, was one of our main challenges and will be even more important as more clients sign up to the service.’

A valuable resource
When it came to the practical side of implementing e-billing at Dannemann, CPA Inprotech proved to be a valuable resource. ‘We already used CPA Inprotech to help us with a variety of IP services from registrations to renewals and litigations,’ says David. ‘The customised service means we can deal with clients in several different languages and this, of course, applies to processing financial data and invoices, too.

‘Essentially, CPA Inprotech employs a middleman role in translating, consolidating and pushing out data for clients who already have electronic billing software such as Tymetrix, Serengeti Tracker, CounselLink, DirectInvoice™ and OB10.’

Although the e-billing service is still in its infancy at Dannemann, feedback so far has shown a substantially positive effect on efficiency for both clients and staff. As David concludes: ‘While it is too early to see a marked effect on company profits, we expect to see some cost-cutting in this area and would definitely recommend e-billing as the financial way forward for all businesses.

‘Dannemann is now proud to announce that if any of our clients want to work with e-billing in the future, all they need do is drop us a line.’

To find out how CPA Inprotech can help business, please visit www.cpaglobal.com/software or e-mail ebrice@cpaglobal.com

David Merrylees is senior partner at Dannemann Siemsen Partnerships – Brazil’s largest firm dealing in IP management and litigation.

This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 14

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