At Philips, we always keep an eye out for the latest trends and innovations. We work out how they can improve our lives and work, and implement them. Recently, we’ve seen a surge in the use of online tools. In our private lives, we buy online, and we use e-banking to stay on top of our finances. Businesses are also using more and more online tools, so it makes sense for us to provide our licensees with great online tools.
 

In Q2 2015, we already introduced digital invoicing. This quarter we are rolling out our Licensee Portal. We have created a single, secure environment that looks great, is easy to use and offers many useful features. And as we move forward, we will expand the functionality to include even greater integration and automation.
 

Licensees testing the pilot version have already seen how much more convenient it is to report royalties. This is because the data submission tool, which is template-based, offers several significant advantages. The first advantage is clear guidance in submitting royalty reports. This ensures high accuracy, and a smooth, easy process.
 

Additionally, the templates come preloaded with some of the required data. Simply log in and input your figures. Once submitted, our systems will verify the calculations, and immediately provide feedback. Furthermore, the tool automatically calculates royalties and exchange rates for different currencies.
 

Another key advantage of the Licensee Portal is having everything in one place. All reports and invoices submitted via the portal are backed up and stored in our databases. They remain available for viewing and downloading. This provides a great overview for the users, and additional redundancy against data loss.
 

Finally, we also provide several options to fit the specific needs of our licensees. All licensees have the option to choose between using an online template and a downloadable excel template to report royalties. The online template is convenient for flat rate licensees, as they can input their numbers manually. Licensees using itemized rates however, typically work with much larger datasets. To help with this, we created downloadable excel templates. Simply pull the data from your systems, drop it into the excel file, and send it right back to us. Quick, easy and secure.