Yinson: Driving Global E-Invoicing Transformation

Yinson operates in a highly specialized segment of the energy industry. Known for its Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels and Floating, Storage, and Offloading (FSO) units, as well as solar, wind and electric vehicle infrastructure, the company has a global footprint and high visibility in the markets it operates in — something that places extra emphasis on compliance.

Alex Tan, Group CIO at Yinson Holdings Berhad, recalls how the company shifted its strategy. “All along, for the last two to three years, there have been efforts to try to look for invoice automation”, he says. “Initially, compliance and automation were two separate initiatives. But as regulatory requirements evolved, we combined them — and looked for a partner who could handle both..”

Although e-invoicing had been on the radar for several years, new regulations across multiple jurisdictions brought urgency to the project. What had once been parallel goals — automation and compliance — were now merged into a single business-critical initiative.

Pagero had already been on the radar before the tender process began, and their global knowledge helped them stand out. Internally, Pagero was recognized as the solution that would deliver added value to Yinson, with team members acknowledging its comprehensive features and service standards.

“Our business is large enough for us to always be on the national radar of most countries we operate in. If we are not compliant in any area, they will gladly try to take us to task — and for us, reputation is very important,” says Kang Ghee Keong, Head of Strategic IT Delivery at Yinson.

Yinson selected Pagero in the spring of 2024 and began implementation almost immediately — with strict compliance deadlines looming.

“We were working day by day,” says Kang. “Authorities changed requirements multiple times during implementation. That required very fast manoeuvring between both our teams.”

One key to staying on track was time-zone alignment. “It was good that Pagero had an Asian team member assigned to us,” Kang adds. “So we were able to communicate and work faster. Everyone was pretty much in the same time zone, which made a real difference.”

Pagero was integrated into Yinson's IFS ERP system, enabling direct and automated flows in invoice data between the company and tax authority in Malaysia, following the Malaysia tax authority format. Yinson is also connected via the Peppol network in Norway and The Netherlands.

The changes were quickly felt across teams — particularly among finance staff used to working manually.

“Our team in Oslo has seen invoices come directly into IFS,” Kang says. “They will never want to go back to manual entry. In the past, they would receive invoices by email and then type them into the system manually. Now, it comes in straight from some of our suppliers.”

This shift in mindset is becoming widespread. “The people on the ground have converted — they don’t want to go back”, Kang notes. The efficiency gains and ease of use have created internal momentum for expanding the rollout.

The switch to a fully digital process has also made errors easier to trace. “When you’re on a digital method of data transfer, it really cannot go wrong,” says Kang. “If there’s ever an error, we don’t question the network. We go straight to the supplier and ask them to check their data.”

Beyond day-to-day operations, the team works closely with Pagero on regulatory insights to plan their next steps. “We’re already exploring Nigeria and Ghana,” Kang says. 

Yinson’s long-term goal is to harmonize its invoicing operations across all business units and countries, using Pagero as a key platform.

“Right now, we’re going country by country” says Kang. “We’ve just begun with Singapore’s new compliance requirements, and we’re exploring possibilities in Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Peru, Brazil, Italy — wherever our business units are active.”

The vision is to create a global invoicing network with seamless, automated flows between Yinson and its clients and suppliers. “Eventually, we want the whole company seamlessly integrated into an e-invoicing network — with all our clients and suppliers communicating with us with practically zero errors” Kang explains.

The overall experience has been positive. An intangible benefit we observed is how our people reconsidered their work processes while accommodating regulatory needs. This helped inter-team communication and collaboration resulting in a new streamlined process.