Atex Media Solutions signed an agreement in January with Innovectra Corp. to market Innovectra’s full suite of software products to newspapers worldwide.

Atex will first concentrate on marketing Innovectra’s electronic tearsheet technology to newspaper publishers. Innovectra’s e-tearsheet software, eBill, links a tearsheet image with the correct electronic invoice. The system can reduce costs in a publisher’s back office.

“For about 100 years, newspapers have sent full-page tearsheets to their advertisers as proof of an ad’s publication. It’s costly, time-consuming and fraught with errors,” said Max Coebergh, president and chief executive officer of Atex. “With a newspaper employing an e-tearsheets solution from Atex, advertisers will be able to retrieve digital images of their tearsheets online as soon as the ad runs. They don’t have to wait for a print version to arrive through the mail from the newspaper.”

By attaching an online invoice to the e-tearsheet, billing is immediate and the payment cycle is cut by up to a week. “In this economy, any service that brings in cash faster is a service that we believe will appeal to the newspaper industry,” Coebergh said.s