We are pleased to support Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, who opened a seminar yesterday at the Department for Business attended by the public and private sector to spearhead a campaign to promote interoperable e-procurement and e-invoicing networks. This could save billions of pounds, and streamline efficiencies, within the UK and across Europe.

For example, the DoH aims to save over £7 billion per annum, reducing by 20% its purchases of high carbon items. This process can be automated using the new e-procurement platform developed for utilities by cloudBuy in close consultation with leading sustainability organisations such as the NHS Sustainable Development Unit.

The utilities technology standard supported by BIS via the Technology Strategy Board and British Gas, EDF, NPower, SSE and Total Gas & Power, paves the way for billions of pounds of savings through mass adoption of e-invoicing. For large organisations such as government departments, it has already been proven that a typical organisation can save approximately £170,000 per year from such automation. The total potential saving for business is £300 million per annum, and is a significant step forward towards the potential billions that could be saved if all invoices were electronic.

Following the launch of the new e-procurement platform on Monday, the Department for Business, together with the UK National e-Invoicing Forum, is hosting a roundtable to drive adoption of e-invoicing so that business and government can benefit from the billions of potential savings that are required in the current financial circumstances.

Ronald Duncan Chairman and CIO of cloudBuy said, "The first pilot of the e-procurement platform was launched by Richard Benyon MP, Minister of the Natural Environment on 7th October 2010 in the form of the @UK PLC Green Marketplace, and last year we used the data for the NHS Carbon Hotspots project. The technology has been a significant undertaking by the software industry, and we are now seeing international interest in the standard, since it addresses the difficult issues of carbon reduction and supply traceability.”