Today a group of 15 students presented the final results of extraordinary internships at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Equens, NXP Semiconductors and OPG Group. During the summer this group of students went straight to work at actual IBM customers. The objective of the interships was to make recommendations to companies without any preconceived notions and to surprise them as much as possible with new insights.
For the Extreme Blue Team deployed at Equens the focus was on the many different invoice formats. The challenge: How do we make electronic invoicing as easy as electronic payments? Having one standard format can lead to an easy exchange of invoices between different parties. The students hope that their solution – translating formats and drawing up a new standard format based on the continued learning of the participating parties – can provide an extra stimulus for e-invoicing in the market.
Dave Rietveld, General Manager New Business Equens: “Recent technological developments make new, more efficient payment methods feasible. That is why Equens is adopting an innovative policy, geared to developing new payment products based on market desires. Our participation in IBM's Extreme Blue program offers talent within Equens, the possibility to further develop within the dynamic European payments market.”