Höörs municipality implemented e-invoicing for better elderly care

Höör is a municipality located in the south of Sweden. It is part of the growing economic area known as the Öresund region, which includes cities like Lund, Malmö, and Copenhagen. Höör offers a blend of natural beauty and the benefits of a small-town lifestyle, attracting many new residents and making it the fastest-growing municipality in the region per capita.

The local economy benefits from its proximity to bigger cities but is also driven by a vibrant cultural life and numerous small to medium-sized enterprises. However, the largest employer in Höör is the municipality itself, with over 1,000 employees. Since January 2024, the municipality has implemented Pagero's solutions to enhance the efficiency of invoice handling. Charlotta Lindhe, responsible for accounting in Höör, explains why it was important to make a change.

“As a municipality, we’re funded by taxpayers. So, everything we do is about ensuring the efficient use of these funds and the satisfaction of our residents are priorities. We operate within predefined budgets and differ from companies since we’re not trying to increase profits but to make sure that spending doesn’t get out of hand,” she says. “It’s about delivering services such as elderly care, education, culture, support for non-profit organizations, libraries, school buses, and so on. All the things that we, as a society, have come to expect.”

Höör receives around 35,000 invoices annually, creating a significant workload for the financial unit. This was the reason that prompted the municipality to seek a more efficient administrative solution to increase e-invoicing. To support such efforts, a governmental digitalisation initiative is in place. While the backing of legislation certainly makes things easier, Lindhe says there are also considerations to be made for smaller suppliers who may not be ready to make the switch. 

“As a public entity, we can require that all organizations we purchase from send e-invoices since it’s a legal requirement. However, smaller businesses, like lecturers, have a harder time adopting this. That’s one of the great things about Pagero, since we can now direct them to the Pagero portal, where they can send e-invoices for free. This makes it easy for them to comply,” she explains.

For most municipalities, including Höör, salaries represent the largest expense. In the financial unit, there are about ten employees, three of whom focus on invoice management. Beyond the financial team, approximately 20 staff members from various departments are involved in sending invoices, while around 100 employees are involved in the approval of invoices from suppliers. Implementing Pagero’s e-invoicing solutions has significantly improved efficiency, enabling the municipality to reallocate resources to more complex tasks. 

“We’re seeing efficiencies where we can reduce the number of jobs doing simpler tasks and redirect efforts to more complicated tasks like analytics that help drive further efficiencies. In the future, I believe there will be even less need to handle work tasks like building permit applications since they can also be handled by e-services and automation,” Lindhe says.

As administrative personnel are freed from some tasks, the benefits of working with Pagero have begun to show. After just a few months, the staff in Höör have been able to organize training and education, which was previously impossible due to lack of time.

“It’s exciting working in the public sector; if I make this change here, how can we benefit elsewhere? Of course, these changes don’t happen overnight; you must look at them over time.”

Ultimately, the benefits of digitalisation's efficiencies mean greater value for inhabitants, an easily overlooked connection. Lindhe explains how it works.

“When we don’t have to spend time doing mundane tasks, we can focus on more valuable duties, like analytics,” she says. “For example, how do we evaluate when a senior citizen should be offered a place in a care home rather than having staff travelling to assist them in their home? Where’s the tipping point?” she says.

Such discussions are held with the family and the seniors, of course. But analysts can help make financial calculations, and in the end, that means more people can get better care because the municipality is making better decisions based on data and insights. 

“People want more services and lower taxes. It’s not easy to get it right,” she says. “However, there’s a direct link between making efficiencies and providing better care for the elderly. It means we can move our resources to where they are put to better use.”

Höör implemented Pagero’s e-invoicing solution in January 2024, and quickly realized they needed the suppliers to make the switch to e-invoicing to truly benefit from the solution. They decided to run a supplier onboarding project with Pagero, where Höör simply handed over a supplier list to Pagero, who then did all the heavy lifting, contacting all suppliers, following up, and offering support

“We received much more assistance from Pagero than we had expected. They answered questions and were very helpful in assisting our suppliers. We’re very grateful for that and would never have been able to do it alone,” Lindhe says.

Höör employs Unit4 as its ERP system, which integrates seamlessly with Pagero. In implementing the e-invoicing, Pagero made customizations to detect invoice data placed in incorrect fields by suppliers—a common issue that often results in time-consuming manual corrections, leading to delays and frustration for many organizations.

“Pagero helped us ensure that data is tagged correctly. When information is placed in the wrong field, the invoices end up in a bulk folder that must be fixed manually. But now, the system looks for information across the entire invoice to sort this out.”

It’s only been six months, but improvements are clear for Höör. All regular suppliers are on board, and the municipality reduced traditional invoices by around 50% in just the first six months, representing roughly 2,500 fewer paper invoices annually.
In terms of future initiatives, Lindhe says that they are always looking to improve.

“We’re not best in class; other municipalities have come further along this path. So we look at what they are doing and copy them, using the same services they use or robots they’ve built.”

And if Höör is asked about their experience with e-invoicing, would they recommend Pagero?

“Yes, we would most definitely recommend Pagero! They’ve been a great help, and we’re now considering implementing more of their services.”