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Disclaimer: This is a free English translation of the PR issued in French, only provided for the convenience of English readers.

Press release

Paris, 4 July 2016

Sage makes it easier to send and receive e-invoices with its interoperable Sage eFacture platform, developed with Cegedim

System lets companies bring themselves into compliance with the legal framework for e-invoicing that will take effect between 2017 and 2020

Sage, the market leader in integrated accounting/sales management, payroll and online payment solutions, announces that its Sage eFacture offering now boasts interoperability with numerous clients in France. The service was developed in partnership with Cegedim, and lets small and mid- sized companies send e-invoices to clients who require specific invoice formats.

All French organizations and companies will need to be able to accept digitized e-invoices from their suppliers according to a timeline set by the French parliament: 2017 for large companies and public institutions, 2018 for intermediate-sized enterprises (ETIs), 2019 for small and mid-sized companies (SMEs), and 2020 for very small companies (TPEs). At present, according to an April 2016* survey, only 28% of companies use e-invoice technologies.

To get SMEs and TPEs ready for these deadlines, and to help them create invoices with the formats required by public institutions and large companies, Sage is endowing its Sage eFacture solution with an interoperability platform developed in partnership with Cegedim, a European leader in invoice digitization. The platform integrates easily and seamlessly with Sage eFacture, allowing users to convert an invoice into the format required by a particular client when there is no established standard in France or in Europe. The conversion uses an XML format to transfer the invoice data, but the end result for users is a conventional PDF file.

Simplify e-invoicing in order to enjoy all the benefits

For SMEs and TPEs, this interoperability platform will deliver major benefits, notably optimizing cash management. Using the right format for e-invoices cuts down on the risk of returned invoices and thus shortens payment times, which helps the company have a clearer picture of when its clients will make payments.

The Sage eFacture portal gives users a comprehensive view of the state of e-invoices that have been sent to clients, thereby ensuring a material reduction in payment times. Lastly, e-invoices cost significantly less (€0.80 per invoice with Sage eFacture) than traditional invoices, which can cost up to €5 apiece.

"The use of e-invoices is going to be more and more common for small and mid-sized companies. This isn't a burden; it's an opportunity to boost productivity and improve cash management," says Laurent Luce, Product Marketing Manager at Sage. "Our partnership with the specialists at Cegedim has allowed us to make life even easier for SMEs and TPEs by removing any concern about the format of their e-invoices and giving their clients the assurance that they have robust technical solutions. Today, the key to e- invoicing is not to create a universal format, but to design the broadest possible interoperability, and Sage is one of the few software publishers who does it.

"TPEs and SMEs are now going to be required to digitize the invoices they send to public institutions. This is going to transform the market, significantly increasing the volume of e-invoices, and given the lack of a universal standard, billing departments will need to be able to convert their invoices into multiple formats," says Patrick Schuller, Sales and Marketing Director at Cegedim. "The Sage eFacture platform that we developed jointly with Sage is designed to give clients transparent, stress-free access to invoice digitization via an automated solution requiring zero human input to ensure maximum reliability."

Sage eFacture, launched in 2013, is flawlessly integrated into Sage's Génération i7 solutions, which also incorporate the entire electronic invoicing process, including sending and legally-compliant storage. It meets legal requirements for invoice accuracy, authenticity and legibility. With Génération i7, users can not only send clients e-invoices quickly and securely, they can also integrate supplier invoices into Sage software to save the accounting department time on processing.

* Sage customer survey, April 2016

About Sage

Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the UK 35 years ago and over 13,000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs across 23 countries as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation.

Sage will be holding its second annual global meeting, Sage Summit, the world's biggest gathering of entrepreneurs and SME senior managers. More than 20,000 attendees from around the world will come together in Chicago from July 25th to the 28th to share their passion for entrepreneurship.

For more information: www.sage.com About Cegedim

Founded in 1969, Cegedim is an innovative technology and services company in the field of digital data flow management for healthcare ecosystems and B2B, and a business software publisher for healthcare and insurance professionals. Cegedim employs more than 3,600 people in 11 countries and generated revenue of €426 million in 2015. Cegedim SA is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: CGM).

To learn more, please visit: www.cegedim.com

And follow Cegedim on Twitter: @CegedimGroup

Agence LEWIS

Mathieu Micout / Anne-Julie Lagadic Tel: 01 83 94 04 95 / 01 55 31 75 64

mathieu.micout@teamlewis.comannejulie.lagadic@teamlewis.com

Sage

Pely Mendy pely.mendy@sage.com Twitter: @PelyMendy Tel: 01 41 66 22 15

Press Contacts Sage

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Follow all news on Sage website: https://www.sage.fr/fr

Cegedim

Aude BALLEYDIER

Media Relations

Tel: +33 (0)1 49 09 68 81

aude.balleydier@cegedim.com

Agence PRPA

Guillaume DE CHAMISSO Relations Presse

Tel: +33 (0)1 77 35 60 99

guillaume.dechamisso@prpa.fr

Cegedim SA published this content on 04 July 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 05 July 2016 06:30:04 UTC.

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