Leading logistics provider CB Cargo has successfully digitalised and standardised its international outgoing invoice processes in partnership with Unifiedpost.
DB Cargo AG is a key player in the international transport and logistics sector and is responsible for consolidating all national and international rail freight activities of Deutsche Bahn. As a subsidiary of one of Europe’s largest railway companies, CB Cargo operates in 18 European countries, setting benchmarks for efficiency and innovation in freight transport.
To meet the demands of a globally operating organisation, Deutsche Bahn set itself the goal of streamlining and standardising its group-wide outgoing invoicing processes. For this large-scale project, Deutsche Bahn’s digitalisation partner DB Systel worked with Unifiedpost (formerly “crossinx”) as its global invoicing service provider.
As the initiator and “first user” of the new service, DB Cargo’s task was to optimise the existing outgoing invoicing processes across all 15 DB Cargo entities, in line with the specific legal requirements in each country, using Unifiedpost solutions exclusively and consistently across Europe. Standardising 15 units across different countries undoubtedly posed challenges. With varying legal obligations and approximately 150,000 outgoing invoices per year, this complex international project was highly multifaceted. However, after nine successful months of process transformation, the project was completed.
Customer details
Company: DB Cargo AG
Industry: International transport and logistics
Location: 18 European countries
Challenges of international invoicing
In terms of kilometres travelled, DB Cargo is a leader in both Germany and Europe. It is also a pioneer in the digitalisation of invoice dispatch: more than ten years ago, the company set the course for digital transformation and adapted all related processes accordingly.
However, the complexity of cross-border group structures and processes continues to grow, and the lack of harmonised legal frameworks across EU member states adds a new layer of challenge. This prompted Deutsche Bahn’s finance department to commission its digitalisation partner DB Systel to develop a unified outgoing invoice service for all business units.
Across all entities, DB Cargo issues approximately 150,000 outgoing invoices annually – and they are far from simple. Invoices may include extensive attachments such as train movements, route details, wagon types and usage, and transported weights. This results in enormous data volumes, with up to five layers of detail per invoice line item. Creating such large PDF files requires significant computing power on Unifiedpost's side. In addition, the invoice structure was governed by complex logic that had been individually developed over many years by internal IT departments to meet the specific needs of each entity.
"Understanding this logic in detail and translating it into a new system was a major challenge for [Unifiedpost]," says von Ammon. "A straightforward 1:1 implementation wasn’t possible, but [Unifiedpost] worked tirelessly to identify all the specific requirements and found solutions for nearly every single one. Today, some features may not be quite as flexible as they once were, but overall, the standardisation brings us clear benefits – in terms of process efficiency, system maintenance and future-readiness," the project manager sums up.
Achieving success together with Unifiedpost
Standardising systems across different entities has been a goal for Deutsche Bahn since 2018. DB Cargo was the first business unit to launch the project with Unifiedpost at the end of 2019.
"Our situation was certainly somewhat unusual for [Unifiedpost]: we were already digitalised, but we wanted to move away from the existing solution, which had grown over ten years and was no longer fit for the future," says von Ammon.
In 2016, the ratio of electronic invoices to paper mail at DB Cargo was 42 to 58 percent. By 2019, this had shifted to 65 to 35 percent, and by summer 2020, it had reached 71 to 29 percent.
In addition to electronic invoicing, DB Cargo expanded its collaboration with Unifiedpost to include the dispatch of invoice mailings.
"[Unifiedpost] proved to be a provider capable of meeting the diverse international requirements for digital invoice dispatch via a central outbound channel for Deutsche Bahn," says von Ammon.
All legal requirements, such as audit-proof archiving, were also fulfilled. DB Cargo receives all sent invoices back into its own archive. A dedicated return channel to DB Cargo's archiving system was implemented specifically for this purpose.
Efficiency, standardisation and future-proofing
- Increase in electronic invoice share from 42% (2016) to 71% (2020)
- Central management of international invoice dispatch
- Compliance with a wide range of international requirements
- Audit-proof archiving
- Standardised processes with reduced maintenance effort
- Future-proof solution
A successful partnership for a digital future
In Unifiedpost, DB Cargo has found a partner who understands the high demands of international invoicing and delivers a future-proof, standardised solution. The successful completion of the project demonstrates that even highly complex and already digitalised structures can be optimised and adapted to meet the latest requirements.
