Arco — Belgian Document Processing and E-Invoicing IDP

Belgian digital transformation provider offering intelligent document processing (IDP) solutions with industry-specific configurations for construction, financial services, government, healthcare, retail, and telecom sectors.

Overview

Based in Belgium, arco software (formally Arco Information NV) provides document management and business process automation built around European compliance requirements: ISO standards, eIDAS, and GDPR. The platform suite handles millions of documents across six primary sectors and has become directly relevant to the Belgian B2B e-invoicing mandate that took effect January 1, 2026.

arco's recognition pipeline combines OCR technology with machine learning, reaching 85% initial accuracy and 99.7% after human validation. The company's positioning centers on compliance depth rather than breadth of AI features, which differentiates it from broader platforms like ABBYY but makes it particularly suited to regulated Belgian and European markets navigating mandatory e-invoicing transitions.

Paul Van Coillie, CEO and founder of Arco Information, described the platform's approach in a company profile on Innovations of the World: "We have a cloud-based systems approach, and our platform can handle inbound and outbound billing processes with various connectors such as Doccle, POM, PEPPOL, Coda and more."

The Belgian e-invoicing mandate and arco's position

Belgium's mandatory B2B e-invoicing law took effect January 1, 2026, requiring all VAT-registered businesses to issue and receive structured electronic invoices in PEPPOL-BIS or EN 16931 format. PDF and paper invoices no longer satisfy B2B compliance requirements, as confirmed by fiskaly.com's January 2026 analysis. Customers are legally obligated to accept structured electronic invoices and cannot refuse them.

A three-month tolerance window ran through March 2026 for businesses demonstrating reasonable compliance steps. Belgium had already required B2G (business-to-government) e-invoicing since 2024; the 2026 extension to B2B significantly widens the addressable market for compliant document processing vendors. According to EY's Global Tax Alert, Belgium submitted its EU derogation request on October 6, 2023, following Italy's precedent under Directive 2006/112/EC.

The regulatory timeline extends further: Belgium plans to introduce near-real-time VAT e-reporting via a five-corner Peppol model around 2028, creating a multi-year compliance upgrade cycle. For arco, whose arco invoice product already supports PEPPOL connectors alongside Doccle, POM, and Coda, this mandate represents both validation of its existing architecture and intensified competition from larger European e-invoicing platforms entering the Belgian market.

How arco software processes documents

arco's platform is a suite of specialized products rather than a single unified tool. Each component addresses a distinct processing need, and they integrate with each other and with external systems like SAP.

arco Recognition handles data extraction using OCR and machine learning. The 85% initial recognition rate reflects what the system captures without human review; the 99.7% figure reflects the validated output after operator correction, which is the metric relevant for downstream accounting and compliance workflows.

arco Doma provides document management for large-scale repositories, handling millions of documents with workflow automation. arco Mail Manager centralizes email processing for inbound and outbound communication, automating categorization, routing, and attachment extraction. arco invoice integrates with SAP for automated invoice data processing, with PEPPOL connector support now directly relevant to the 2026 mandate. The Legal Signing and Legal Store components cover digital signature capabilities and legally compliant document storage under eIDAS.

Industry-specific configurations are available for construction, finance, healthcare, government, retail, and telecom, though arco does not publish the extent of customization per vertical.

Use cases

Accounts payable automation with SAP integration

Organizations deploy arco Recognition and arco invoice together for accounts payable workflows: extracting invoice data at 85% initial accuracy, validating to 99.7%, and pushing structured data into SAP. The PEPPOL connector means incoming structured invoices from the Belgian B2B mandate can flow directly into the processing pipeline without manual reformatting. This is the use case most directly affected by the 2026 regulatory change, as enterprises managing high-volume vendor invoices now face a legal requirement to receive and process structured formats.

Centralized communication management

Companies implement arco Mail Manager for high-volume email processing, automating categorization, routing, and document extraction from attachments. The integration with arco's document management platform keeps extracted content within a GDPR-compliant environment. This use case addresses organizations with scattered inboxes and unstructured inbound communications across departments.

Compliant document storage and signing

The Legal Signing and Legal Store components address organizations that need eIDAS-compliant digital signatures and audit-ready document archives. This is particularly relevant for government and financial services customers operating under strict retention and authenticity requirements.

Technical specifications

Company information

Arco Information NV is headquartered in Belgium. Paul Van Coillie is CEO and founder. The company does not publish employee count, founding year, or revenue figures publicly. As a Belgian-market specialist, arco competes on regulatory depth and local compliance expertise rather than global scale, which is a defensible position in a market where the 2026 e-invoicing mandate and planned 2028 VAT reporting requirements create sustained demand for compliant document processing infrastructure.

Resources

• Website
• Documentation
• Belgium B2B e-invoicing mandate overview (fiskaly.com)
• EY Global Tax Alert: Belgium mandatory e-invoicing