Invoicing Software for Small Businesses
Invoicing software solutions are multi-functional systems designed to assist in the automation of billing and collecting payments. These solutions are typically used in finance and accounting.
Invoicing is often a tedious task, prone to human error. Through invoicing software solutions, mistakes are lessened considerably and the overall flow of collection is made more efficient.
Small businesses usually have a much smaller workforce compared to larger enterprises or corporations. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean their customer pool is also small. As small businesses grow with time the business increasingly requires a system to better track their clients and customers to maintain a good relationship with them. This is the reason why many invoicing software solutions can integrate with or incorporate customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities.
Invoicing software, as a result, overlaps with various complex processes, such as inventory management and CRM. Nowadays, online invoicing has been made easier with the benefits of technological advances, such as electronic transfers, card payments, and online banking. As a result, more small businesses are turning to invoicing software as a means to improve the overall management of their cash flow and job orders.
Freshbooks is a powerful yet simple solution that covers invoicing and wider accounting needs alike. The solution was designed with small businesses in mind and streamlines the entire invoicing process.
Invoicing software focuses on a myriad of tasks involved with accounting and financing. Without a proper cloud-based system, problems can easily arise—this includes missing files, erroneous billing, and delayed payables. To avoid situations such as these, small businesses are rapidly starting to utilize invoicing software solutions, which eliminate the need for double entry and improves the accuracy of the data.
Additionally, the software primarily handles creating and customizing invoices, facilitating billing and payments, as well as generating reports
Small businesses are thriving companies who are active in the process of making a name for themselves within their industry. By being able to create and customize their own invoices, they are also building a brand to be easily remembered by their customer pool. It also means they are able to process and customize their invoices in accordance with their own rules and standards. This allows them the opportunity to customize invoice elements depending on what is required, such as customer names, order quantities, amount of money outstanding, discounts, sales tax, and more.
Tracking finances and monitoring expenses can also be part of the functions invoicing software provides. Ultimately, they are systems designed specifically for automation and accuracy. As a result, invoicing solutions facilitate convenient and streamlined operational processes. An example of this is FreshBooks—an accounting software product developed for small to medium-sized businesses popular for its ability to greatly streamline client invoicing and time tracking processes.
With that being the case, here are additional key features most invoicing software solutions offer:
Invoice history refers to the process of gathering information for a client-by-client archive where several invoices are kept for accurate reporting, risk management, client relations, and sales data mining. This feature essentially keeps a record of every interaction and notification sent to the client by the software and provides a status beside it. Additionally, it provides a timeline to go along with those interactions. This maximizes the company’s organization skills and decreases the chances of missing files.
Due to its integrated functionality, small businesses can now work on multiple processes using a single cloud-based system. Since the invoicing software is cloud-based, the need for manual and paper-based billing is no longer necessary. This allows you to deliver and display invoices easily, making it accessible to both the business and the customer. Furthermore, this also opens several payment options when you invoice customers for the services or products they’ve bought. You can now more easily accept credit cards and be paid faster.
This also works alongside CRM tools. Since CRMs gather data regarding customer information, sending invoices based on this becomes an automated process. It becomes easier to issue payments when there’s already an existing system collecting the information to fill these invoices out.
This feature provides automation in regards to billable hours and expenses. What this ensures is compensation for every task you’ve completed so far. Examples of this involve tracking the time you’ve spent on a task, the miles you’ve traveled and the expenses (lunch, hotel, and any consumables) you’ve spent for a client. Once everything has been settled and properly accounted for, you can then automatically send invoices.
One of the best features invoicing software offers is mobile applications and accessibility. Through cloud-based applications, employees within the small business are now given access via their computers and mobile devices. This makes it easier to send invoices and receive payments from your home, work or while you’re on the go. Furthermore, you are also given the option of being notified if late payments have been made or if the system has reminded a client regarding dues. With the help of this feature, you’ll remain organized and on top of your small business without missing out on any important financial matter.
In order to increase productivity, small businesses often summarize their sales by the end of the day. To lessen time and effort in summarizing hundreds of numbers each day, generating reports is a feature every good invoicing software should have. It eliminates the need for external systems while generating reports on the taxes, payments, and invoices issued by the organization.
Overall, the invoicing software’s job is to make sending invoices and receiving payments easier for growing companies. Since not all small businesses have a dedicated finance department to go over these tasks, it’s helpful to have an automated system do these tasks for you. This increases the productivity of the workforce by taking away tedious and time-consuming tasks not necessarily related to their core functions.
When using the invoicing software system, you primarily garner technical benefits due to the automation, integrations, and simplicity offered by these solutions.
By efficiently managing all invoice-related tasks through the software solution, the small business minimizes the chances of missing payments, maintains a professional image and helps streamlines both accounting and financial processes. The features provided by the system is what the business needs in order to lessen the time spent on manual tasks and focus more on giving the customers what they want. The enhanced process of selling products and services, sending invoices, and receiving payments, therefore, improves overall customer satisfaction.
