At first, billing may not have been top of mind when starting up your online business unless you are an accountant interested in documentation.
As you pursue business expansion and product creation, billing and invoicing remain essential. No matter their motivations for running their enterprise, billing software must keep operations moving smoothly with little downtime for the professionals involved. Here we present ten features every billing software should have to help select an ideal billing software option:
- Simplicity
- Usefulness
- Functionality
- Compliance
- Management and Revenue Recovery
- Reporting
- Customization
- Fraud Protection
- Third-Party Integrating Integration
- Support
Simplicity
Continue reading to gain more knowledge of the essential features of billing software. As a small business owner, rather than an accountant, your goal should be making your billing software user-friendly so you and any employees managing it can access and use it efficiently.
Billing involves complex math that helps determine when, who and how much tax to charge on every transaction. Billing software makes life more straightforward as it automatically handles this complicated calculation for you; also, make sure the interface is user-friendly so it can manage any number of transactions smoothly.
Usefulness
Before purchasing the billing software, test-driving it is recommended. Take note of its user interface; does it seem intuitive enough for you? Are you confident you'll easily navigate it and find all its features?
Your preferences dictate which software, layout, and functionality will suit you best regarding invoicing and billing. Consider onboarding times; is the software easy to set up? Is it compatible with other platforms and software?
Functionality
Check to see if it can do the job you want. Does it support multiple payment methods? Does it support foreign currency? Does it accept subscriptions? It is essential to have functional billing software to offer multiple plans, adding-ons or subscriptions. Your billing software should be able to implement frequent and rapid changes.
Compliance
Many rules and regulations govern both domestic and international commerce. The fact that the rules are constantly evolving makes it even more difficult. No one, mainly if you run an online business, has the time to stay on top of every rule and adhere to it. It would be best to have billing software to do this for you.
You need to look for a compliance platform that can manage the following:
- GDPR: The EU General Data Protection Regulation. You can conduct online business with EU customers. It's also important that your billing software "complies" with the EU US Privacy Shield Framework, as established by the US Department of Commerce, regarding collecting and using personal data from EU member countries.
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard: Protects customers and their data while shopping online or at stores.
P.S. Arion ERP has been certified PCI Level 1 and GDPR compliant, the highest certification available.
Management and Revenue Recovery
You can reduce credit card declines by using Dunning Management and Revenue Recovery Tools. These tools are especially crucial for subscriptions/recurring billing. Here's how it works.
- This technology checks for expiring credit cards and monitors the customer account.
- The customer is then notified of the expiration date.
- They are encouraged to update payment details.
Dunning management is essential if you sell subscriptions. Make sure that your billing system offers dunning management.
Also Read: How is ERP System Beneficial to the Users in an Organization
Reporting
You want to be as transparent and visible as possible when billing is time. You can't determine your company's health without detailed reporting. Confirm that your billing system gives you access to tax and revenue summaries.
You'll also need to provide custom reports if you sell subscriptions.
- Monthly Recurring Income (MRR).
- The Average Monthly MRR per Subscription
- Subscribe to Active Subscriptions
- Total number of subscribers
- Subscribe Now
- Rebills to be issued
- Actives
- Cancellations
- Conversion Rate
- Upgrades/Downgrades
- Rebills to be issued
- The Lifetime Value
Customization
Arion ERP makes it possible to monitor individual subscriber activity, enabling you to monitor their status and changes over time. Please refer to our documentation for details regarding subscription reports. Even though a third-party handles billing for you, all correspondence regarding billing and digital invoices must reflect your brand.
Also, ensure your timeframes and billing amounts can easily be customized for customers' needs. Can you offer split payments so customers have multiple payment options, or set monthly/quarterly/yearly billing cycles if applicable?
Fraud Protection
Before handling other people's credit and personal card details, it's essential that you fully understand the risks. Pay special attention when searching for billing software like Arion EPP that features security features to detect fraud with multiple factors - this way, they can block fraudulent transactions without disrupting the customer experience. Once your chosen system has been chosen, add security information to your website's navigation to give customers peace of mind.
Third-Party Integration
Third-party integrations can help you ensure that your billing information is where it needs to be to make the best decisions. Use an API or webhooks for viewing order details, managing invoice deliveries, monitoring billing cycles and more. Find out more about Arion ERP's integrations.
Support
Install and use billing software without encountering difficulties, knowing customer support will always be there if needed. Look out for onboarding documents, developer tips & tutorials or articles which provide helpful guidance while using this new billing system.
Every online business is different regarding its billing and invoicing requirements, which makes identifying an optimal billing system essential to its growth and expansion. Are you ready to partner with someone offering full-service ecommerce capabilities like Arion ERP, now available?
What is the Work Of Invoice Software?
This section will give you more clarity and understanding of invoice software, so you can decide whether or not to implement it in your business. You can perform the following processes with invoicing software:
Create Customized Invoices
Cloud-based invoice software is generally easier to use than desktop programs, making it the go-to choice among businesses today. Cloud-based software offers several advantages over its counterpart: quickly creating invoices while personalizing them according to brand positioning; creating new ones quickly by selecting "create an invoice" followed by any of these details:
- Name of the customer
- The list of products or services bought
- The number of digital products and services purchased
- If any discounts
- Sales tax
If required, add any other relevant details about your company and customer purchases. Alternatively, invoice software offers preconfigured templates, so all that must be filled out are required fields - you don't even need your logo or company symbols.
To include your client on their invoice, create them from scratch or import their details and name into an existing client database before creating or sending. These invoicing programs also enable you to convert clients' approved estimates or quotations directly into invoices; you can email these invoices directly to customers or direct them toward an online portal; this tool is particularly effective at automating recurring bills in all volume of transactions under all tax compliance in the entire process of preferred payment method or payment gateway in all strata of invoice payment and online payment via a effective complete payment solution or billing solution.
Easy Billing and Payment
Online invoicing software requires no extra setup to process payments quickly and effortlessly by creating an online portal where clients can pay you instantly and directly via credit/debit card payments or direct deposits. Plus, this billing software comes equipped with features to handle various currencies.
Invoicing software seamlessly connects with payment platforms like PayPal, Paytm and Razorpay for credit card payment processing with tax-exempt transactions in all business size for better customer satisfaction. It should have all the necessary features to support multiple languages, exchange rates, tax return, currencies, tax adjustments, international transactions and tracking offline payments in all subscription model, billing models and pricing model with built-in integrations in the entire payment lifecycle of business processes.
General Reports
Invoicing software allows you to generate various reports that will assist with tracking finances and keeping an eye on unpaid invoices. Automating report generation means saving it all as PDF documents for sharing or receiving via email.
Your billing software allows you to get reports and analyze data to gain critical business insights - for instance, how many invoices have become past due, which ones have sold, and the total outstanding invoice count. You access all essential data through it, including KPIs, to quickly make efficient business decisions.
There Are Many Types Of Invoicing Software
Businesses around the world have benefited from invoicing software. These programs help manage your business' finances efficiently by tracking your expenditures, advance payments and creating accounting reports. They also create invoices, quotes and send them. Understanding the various types of software for invoicing is vital to help you choose the best one for your company.
Online Invoice Software
An online invoicing platform is software that eliminates paper documents while centralizing all financial documents and invoices in one user-friendly system. All that's necessary for online invoicing software to function is accessing any device with the Internet, such as smartphones, laptops, tablets or any Internet-enabled device - and then saving all that info into the cloud storage. You can create invoices on the go using this program; access data stored anywhere thanks to storing in the cloud storage. Invoicing apps typically work across devices.
Online invoicing software simplifies the billing process if you lack accounting experience or knowledge by ensuring all legal compliances and details are entered accurately and timely. Most billing programs also allow users to link payment accounts or card readers, expediting the collection process more rapidly while connecting bank accounts for automated reconciliation.
Online Invoicing Software
Offline invoicing software must be downloaded and saved locally on your computer - it cannot be stored online or saved remotely in the cloud. Excel and Word are two popular offline invoice softwares you can use to quickly generate invoices you can email directly after creating.
Now is when the disadvantages of offline invoicing software become obvious: lengthy processes involving paperwork and manual labor; errors are easy to make due to loss or theft; time is wasted waiting on someone else doing your manual work - which costs extra in both money and resources. This type of software does not offer subscription service but instead costs you to hire outside help for this work.
Offline invoicing software does not create automatic reports; your team must manually assemble them from receipts and invoices. Nonetheless, offline invoicing software can still be installed on a computer connected to the Internet and used for creating invoices/quotes/invoices to be sent out directly to customers as well as viewing accounting records/connect accounts; unlike cloud-based software for invoicing, it's unique system-specific features make this different than online invoicing solutions.
Open Source Invoicing Software
Modifying and programming open-source software to meet your specific business requirements is possible. The source code of open-source software is available to programmers, allowing them to study and modify the software and distribute it when needed. Many online invoice systems provide API paper in the way of data and code for coders on their websites.
What To Consider When Choosing Your Invoicing Software
You should carefully consider the following factors when choosing an invoicing program for your company:
How Should You Fit Your Business?
You should identify your company's entire billing and invoice process before choosing your invoicing software. You can determine how your new invoice software will make you and the rest of your staff more productive. Selecting an invoicing program that meets your needs is better than opting for multi-functional software.
Bills Should Look Professional And Be Easy to Understand
Your bill shouldn't look dreary and dull. The details you include in it are essential, but the overall design should be appealing. Your invoices reflect your company and brand. They are your marketing tool. Your invoices need to be professional, clear and well-designed. Your clients will be less likely to hold you in high regard if they see that your invoices are directly copied from a spreadsheet application.
It Must Be Safe To Use
Your invoicing software must be secure, with an excellent security reputation. As invoicing deals with financial details, any breach could damage your reputation and cost money through reduced net sales or a hacker attack. To safeguard company data and customer privacy, you must choose an invoicing program with strong safeguards.
Customers Must Get Solid Support
Cloud-based invoicing software will unavoidably have issues and bugs. Therefore, when selecting an invoicing program, it must have responsive customer support teams which are easy to contact; in addition to offering helpful insight into your financial operations, they should offer additional assistance such as knowledge centers, guide tutorials or help desks.
Also Read: What Role Does ERP Software Play In The Manufacturing Industry?
Arion ERP - A Well-Established And Reputable Invoicing Software
Arion ERP user-friendly invoice software will assist your company in tracking bills efficiently while creating professional-looking invoices in seconds. With Arion ERP simple user interface and quick invoice creation times, this tool will enable your team to be productive without spending much of its precious time creating invoices that look professional.
Arion ERP comes equipped with preconfigured invoice templates that can be personalized according to your specifications, giving you complete flexibility when producing invoices that impress clients and get them paid quicker. One of Arion ERP critical benefits as an invoice software solution is accepting credit card or online transfer payments terms directly into Arion ERP accounts via payment links provided within Arion ERP accounts - making paying much more straightforward for clients.
The Latest Trends In Invoicing Software
Invoice software is a crucial tool for invoicing.
Adoption by the Government
Many countries are gradually adopting electronic invoicing by moving toward regional areas like Scandinavia or South America as well as individual nations like Mexico or Brazil, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are quickly catching up to North American and European nations; South Africa and South America also show great promise of meeting all e-invoicing regulations. The governments in each of these regions are pushing hard toward compliance.
The US Office of Management and Budget has mandated that by 2023, all US federal government agencies switch over to electronic invoicing for all their purchases; similarly, EU public administrators must accept electronic invoices starting November 2023.
What Is Driving The Real-Time Economy?
Businesses and governments are shifting toward "real-time economies," as invoicing software allows faster, more accurate, and timely data between buyers and suppliers. Buyers can quickly validate data submitted from suppliers before responding instantly with customized invoices sent immediately back. This system will reduce penalties or late payments and speed up sales processes to close more deals quickly while receiving faster payment for those you have already sold to.
AI Expanded Automation and Invoice Process
As software capabilities advance, invoicing automation will increase. Soon enough, automated financial transactions for each potential customer no longer need manual monitoring - leading to reduced errors and late payment incidents due to automation. AI technology is also helping invoicing become an integral component of financial strategies by automating reconciliation, improving cash flow management and detecting invoice fraud.
Conclusion
Automation and accuracy are at the core of invoicing software's objectives. By automating and streamlining invoice processes, invoicing software helps businesses that send out regular invoices save time, reduce errors, get paid faster, monitor sales performance, keep tabs on business metrics, remind of payment due dates, and assist with compliance with tax laws.
Invoicing software has quickly become the go-to technology of choice for governments across the board, as its real-time updates ensure accurate records with limited chance for errors and increased productivity. Although its use only began recently, its benefits and significance will only continue to expand with advances in AI technology.
As invoicing software vendors strive to address security and global standardization concerns, progress has been made; however, improvements can always be made. Once these have been addressed, invoice software usage will increase; its versatile pricing structure features, such as customization capabilities and flexible pricing, make invoice software essential for long-term successful operations. Get in touch with the best and most reliable software solution to manage invoicing operations efficiently.
