In most businesses, choosing an integrator is reduced to comparing prices per document. However, the true cost of this decision becomes apparent on the day the system fails.
An afternoon when you cannot issue invoices costs far more than a fraction-of-a-cent price difference. Shipments wait, collections are delayed, and customers call.
In this article, we have gathered the criteria to consider when selecting an integrator, the questions to ask, and points to pay attention to during the transition process.
Table of Contents
What does an integrator do?
An integrator is the bridge between your system and the Revenue Administration (Gib) infrastructure. It converts the document into standard format, signs it, transmits it, and delivers incoming documents to you.
It is possible to work without this bridge; documents can be issued one by one through the portal. However, for a business issuing more than a few documents a day, this method is unsustainable.
Choosing an integrator may seem like a technical detail, but it directly determines operational speed. How many seconds it takes to transmit a document, how clear the error message is, and how fast the support team responds affect day-to-day business.
Seven comparison criteria
1. Document type scope. Is it only e-invoice, or do they also support e-archive, e-waybill, e-producer receipt, and e-self-employment receipt? A document type you don't need today might be required six months from now.
2. Outage history and SLA. Ask about the provider's uptime commitment and past outage logs. The answer "There has never been an outage" is unrealistic; what matters is how long the outage lasted and how it was communicated.
3. Support model. Phone or support ticket? What is the response time? You need to know in advance who to reach out to when you cannot issue invoices on the last day of the month.
4. Integration capability. Is there a ready-made connection with the system you use, or is custom development required?
5. Cost structure. Per-document fees, fixed packages, overage charges, and the fate of unused credits must be clarified.
6. Archive and data ownership. Your documents belong to you; but can you perform a bulk export when you leave the provider? Ask this question during the contracting stage.
7. Design flexibility. Can you customize the invoice appearance according to your own brand identity? We discussed this side in the XSLT document design article.
Estimate your volume accurately
Since pricing is based on volume, forecasting errors directly reflect on costs. Calculating based on monthly averages is a common mistake; the determining factor is the peak month.
In retail and e-commerce, campaign periods multiply volume. In distribution, end-of-month congestion occurs. In manufacturing, the shipment schedule is decisive.
Take incoming documents into account as well. Counting only the invoices you issue gives an incomplete picture. We detailed the planning method in the e-document credit planning article.
Why does integration depth matter?
In a superficial integration, the document is transmitted, and that's where it ends. In a deep integration, the document is linked to the order, stock, and current account.
The difference is visible in daily work. With a superficial setup, searching between two screens is required to answer "which order did this invoice belong to?". With a deep setup, the answer is right on the document.
The e-Document module supports more than eleven integrator definitions; document flow is carried out on the same account as sales, purchasing, and inventory. Thus, even if the provider changes, the operation screen remains unchanged.
This is a significant advantage that reduces integrator dependency. The team views documents on their own platform; the provider stays in the background.
Can multiple integrators be used?
This situation is common in multi-company structures. One of the group companies may have contracted with a different provider in the past, and the contract period is ongoing.
What matters in this scenario is that documents coming from different providers appear in a single list. Otherwise, separate panels must be entered for each company, scattering tracking.
Company-based scope separation is provided by the multi-company model; the user only sees documents of the company they are authorized for.
Changing your integrator
Switching providers is possible, but timing is important. Making a transition in the middle of the month splits period reports into two parts.
Clarify three things before the transition: how past documents will be transferred, how the numbering series will continue, and when the test invoice will be issued.
We gathered the general steps of the transition process in the e-document transition checklist article. The same discipline works during a provider change as well.
Questions to ask during the demo
Demo presentations are usually similar across all providers: screens are shown, a test invoice is issued, and everything works fast. What makes the difference are the questions you ask.
The first question should be about volume: how does the system behave if I issue five hundred documents on a busy day? Is there bulk submission support, how is the queue managed?
The second question is about error management. When a document is rejected, how am I notified, and how explanatory is the error message? An incomprehensible error code means calling support every time.
The third question should be about transition: how does the migration from my current provider work, what happens to my past documents, is a seamless handover possible?
Finally, ask for references. Talking to a customer operating in a similar volume and sector as you will tell you everything you don't see in the demo. We gathered general questions to ask when choosing software in the 10 questions to ask when choosing software article.
What will you do in case of an outage?
No provider can guarantee one hundred percent uptime. What matters is not avoiding outages, but knowing what to do when one occurs.
This scenario should be written before the transition. How many minutes of downtime affects your operation? Can shipments be delayed, or does the vehicle get stuck at the door?
For some businesses, a few hours of downtime is tolerable; documents are sent in bulk later. In structures where shipments depend on the document, the same outage halts the day.
For critical operations, a secondary provider backup can be considered. This incurs additional cost, but it should be compared against the cost of downtime.
The downtime plan should be an item on the transition checklist; you can check out the e-document transition checklist article.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the portal and an integrator?
In the portal, documents are edited manually one by one. With an integrator, you operate in bulk and automatically from your own system.
Will the cheapest integrator be sufficient?
It might be for a low-volume business with high delay tolerance. In structures where downtime halts shipments, uptime comes before price.
Do my documents remain with the provider?
The storage obligation belongs to you. Set up your own archiving order according to the framework in the e-document archiving article.
What if my current accounting software is not supported?
You can work through the platform and transfer data to the accounting side with system sync.
Choosing an integrator is not a software decision, but an operational decision. When comparing prices, put accessibility, support, and integration depth into the same table.
By talking to the EQLEM team, you can evaluate how to keep your current provider while gathering document operations into a single account.