eInvoicing and Human Behaviour: What Will Really Change?

This European eInvoicing reform is one of the biggest transformations in the financial ecosystem in decades. Most conversations today focus on technical and regulatory aspects: registration, formats, APIs, compliance timelines, etc. But there is another dimension that deserves just as much attention: human behaviour.

Because technology is never neutral. It changes how we work, how we collaborate, and even how we do business.

Let’s explore three concrete examples of how eInvoicing may reshape everyday practices for finance teams and business leaders.

1. Paid or Not Paid? A Step Toward Peace of Mind

For every CEO, CFO, or finance manager, the same question comes back at the end of the month: “Has this invoice been paid?”

Today, the answer is often murky. Payment status depends on multiple banks, delayed reconciliations, and fragmented information across systems. Visibility is patchy at best.

With eInvoicing, things won’t be perfect — at least not immediately. The reform does not introduce real-time payment confirmation. However, it does guarantee something new: certainty that the invoice has been received by the customer.

That may seem like a small step, but it’s a significant one. Instead of wondering whether an invoice got lost in a spam folder or buried in an inbox, finance teams will have a reliable checkpoint: the customer has received it.

This shift reduces uncertainty and gives financial managers greater peace of mind — a foundation on which future innovations (like payment tracking) can build.

2. The Disappearance of “Sending an Invoice”? Not So Fast.

Today, invoices travel in many ways:

• Email attachments

• Postal mail (still!)

• Billing portals

• Procurement gateways

Tomorrow, the reform envisions something simpler: a centralised electronic platform where invoices are directly exchanged between businesses.

On paper, this eliminates the need to “send” invoices to customers. But here’s the catch: sending an invoice has never been a purely administrative act.

It’s also a relational moment. An opportunity to:

• Thank a customer for their trust

• Clarify a billing component (a discount, an expense, a correction made)

• Identify new business needs

• Position your company for the next project

Will businesses really give up this touchpoint? Unlikely. Instead, we may see new practices emerge, where the formal exchange of invoices is separated from the relational follow-up. Finance and sales teams will need to reinvent how they nurture these interactions alongside the new technical process.

3. Collaboration Between Finance and Other Teams

Another subtle but important change will be in how finance collaborates internally.

Today, invoice management often requires chasing colleagues:

• Asking project managers if a milestone was completed before invoicing

• Checking with sales whether a discount was approved

• Confirming with procurement if a supplier invoice is legitimate

Because invoices flow through emails, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems, these interactions are ad hoc and often reactive.

With eInvoicing, invoice data will become more structured and standardised. That means:

• Finance teams can share a single, reliable source of truth across departments

• Exceptions (a rejected invoice, a missing detail) will surface faster

• Collaboration will shift from reactive firefighting to proactive alignment

In practice, this will change human behaviour inside companies. Instead of endless back-and-forths, teams will rely more on shared workflows and visible checkpoints, leading to smoother collaboration.

The Human Factor in a Standardised World

eInvoicing will bring huge benefits: greater compliance, better data quality, and a step toward real-time financial visibility. But it won’t remove uncertainty (Was the payment made?) or erase the human role in commercial relationships.

Instead, the reform will force us to rethink our practices:

• Finance teams will have to adapt how they monitor payments and collaborate internally.

• Business leaders will need to preserve human touchpoints with customers.

• Software providers will have the opportunity to design solutions that don’t just check compliance boxes, but also help businesses preserve and enhance collaboration in the age of eInvoicing.

Conclusion

The European eInvoicing reform is not just a technical challenge. It’s also a cultural and behavioural shift.

It will standardise flows, yes. But it will not erase the uncertainties of payment, the need for internal collaboration, or the human touch in customer relationships. In fact, it may highlight them even more.

At Well, we believe the future of financial software lies not only in compliance, but in helping businesses bridge the gap between standardisation and human collaboration.