Electronic Billing: a key to open the doors of digitization

It is inevitable not to talk about technology today. The viralization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT or Midjourney, They have put a question on the table: is this a fashion or a necessity?

The objective of this note is to answer this and other questions that arise around the entry of digitization into the lives of not only large corporations, but also “ordinary” people.

Many say that millions of jobs will disappear and that it is best to leave things “as they are”, because why change what works?

The truth is that it costs more not to change what already works, instead of always staying in the same place. Because? Well, for the simple reason that everything evolves very quickly and if we don’t go at the same speed, we are going to be relegated in a great way.

What are the benefits of innovating?

There are many and although it is true each industry has its particularity, in general, the following can be mentioned:

It drives our growth to optimal levels.
Create a culture of constant empowerment.
It helps us get out of the zone in which we are comfortable.
Create in us the need to want to learn much more.
It is synonymous with development and a high sense of evolution.

For Rafael Montero, CEO of GuruSoft, and an expert in finance and software: “talking about innovation today can be very gassy and generic, but when we land on the concept and put it into practice, acquiring new technology, training in it and promoting a culture of constant learning, there we really get the most out of it. The final result will inevitably be development.

A key to open the doors of digitization

And if we talk about technologies, one of the fastest growing worldwide, but especially in Latin America, is the Electronic Invoice.

What is it about?

It is basically a modality that replaces the manual invoice, that is, we go from paper to virtuality.

And we will land specifically now in Panama, one of the countries in the region that has had the greatest growth in both its dissemination and implementation.

As mentioned by the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI), which is the Panamanian tax entity: “The Electronic Invoice is a legally valid digital fiscal document, which supports commercial operations between seller and buyer, signed electronically, which gives it authenticity , integrity and non-repudiation of its content.

In the country, this modality took its first steps back in 2016, with the start of the project “Electronic Invoice System of Panama (SFEP)”, to then move to 2021, the date on which a stage of voluntary massification began, which consisted in the fact that any taxpayer could spontaneously request to be the issuer of these electronic documents.

According to Montero: “as has happened in every country that adopts this innovative tool, in Panama it first started with 43 companies, which were part of the Pilot Plan, which consisted of testing the tool, to determine its effectiveness. Everything was a true success, which prompted the other taxpayers not yet obligated to switch to the beneficial system.

One of the largest groups that made this system mandatory were State providers, who since October 31, 2022 could only issue invoices under this modality. Then passed the suppliers of goods and services that they contracted with Educational Centers of the Ministry of Education of Panama, which began to issue them on April 1, 2023.

And for the remainder of 2023, there are more groups that must adopt this technology. If you want to know more, click here.

Until the end of March 2023, the DGI reported more than 81.3 million authorized electronic documents, which shows that the implementation has been a real success.

A necessary step to modernity

As we mentioned at the beginning of the note, it is necessary to move forward and not stop, even more so if Electronic Invoicing allows: