Initially, only large companies were able to start digitising their business processes, as the solutions available on the market for small and some medium-sized companies did not have economic benefits and it was more convenient, for example, to continue processing some incoming and outgoing invoices on paper or, later, in PDF format.
In Latvia, the first companies to digitise their invoices started around 2007 and were companies with thousands of incoming invoices, of which around 90% were paper-based. For such volumes, the tools available on the market provided an economic advantage in digitising processes for large companies.
As digital processes for incoming and outgoing invoices started to evolve, several solutions appeared on the market to support some part of this process. One solution focused on invoicing, another on invoicing and stock balances, which was very convenient for a small company selling, for example, office equipment and helped to solve a basic need by moving a part of the process to a digital environment, and other solutions focused on a specific process or need. There were also tools that helped to move the company's incoming invoices to the digital process at low volumes, but basically it meant scanning them and digitally transferring them to accounting.
As digital processes evolve and everyday work becomes increasingly mobile, e-invoicing operators around the world have started to think about solutions that can be offered not only to large enterprises, but also to small and medium-sized businesses. These e-invoicing operators have so far helped companies to streamline either their outbound invoicing processes or their inbound invoicing digitisation processes. From this experience, e-invoicing operators have set up or are starting to set up portals for themselves, from which a small business can also send invoices via different invoice delivery channels and at the same time receive invoices from its suppliers via this portal, providing various invoice import options.
Unifiedpost has created the Banqup portal for its customers, which brings together the different experiences of working with large companies on invoicing and digitisation into a single portal for small and medium-sized businesses. Banqup enables invoices to be sent via several channels: a PDF invoice can be sent by email, an e-invoice can be sent to invoice recipients who are already ready to receive and process the invoice in a structured data format (including a recipient who wants to receive their invoice in their Banqup environment) and an invoice can be sent over the Peppol network.
Along with sending, Banqup also provides the company with invoicing. Unifiedpost will gradually provide all companies that currently receive their invoices via www.rekini.lv with the possibility to receive their invoices via Banqup. The moment a company creates a Banqup account, all invoices previously sent from www.rekini.lv will be available on Banqup and not only that, Banqup will also provide the possibility to upload a PDF invoice or to send this PDF invoice to the email address of their Banqup profile and this invoice will be digitised. Paper invoices or cheques can be photographed using the Banqup app, followed by the digitisation process. Similarly, invoices can be received directly in Banqup without additional processes from other Banqup users who use Banqup to send invoices. With 2025 approaching and e-invoicing becoming mandatory in Latvia, Banqup provides both invoicing in the Latvian e-invoicing standard and processing of this standard when a supplier starts sending e-invoices.
In addition to sending and receiving invoices, Banqup also provides the additional functionality of sending and importing invoices into the accounting software, whether the company has in-house accounting or outsources accounting. With outsourced accounting in Banqup, you can easily exchange other documents with your accountant. If the company does not pay invoices from the accounting software, Banqup also provides the possibility to pay invoices.
