Originally posted at: http://cot.ag/bfeBBZ / http://www.greenerbilling.com/blog/2010/05/clueless-10-things-your-business-simply-cant-miss/
Every dollar counts. This is more than a mere fact in any business, big or small. There are days when everything was inked ledger. With modern technology comes innovative ways of making invoices and estimates. It’s always about the fastest solution that gets you paid in a fraction of a second. In other words, it’s all about CONVENIENCE.
Time is essential for business owners and having a better way of getting cash from customers is always a never-ending struggle. Grandma might have dealt with time-consuming ways of doing invoices. Aren’t you lucky you don’t need to suffer the same fate? Now, you have more options of creating, sending, and tracking invoices – if only you know what features to look for. They are listed here.What Should Online Invoicing Provide?
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1. E-mail Reminders
Choose a solution that helps you keep track of your payment schedule and customer invoices by sending you a notice through e-mail. You need an option to send alerts to your customers before their invoice is due, and remind them when their invoices are past due. Customers also need an email verification when you receive their payment and YOU need to know when you are paid!
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2. Automatic Invoicing
If there are clients who need recurring invoices, be sure your online invoicing solution allows you to set your e-Bill to autopilot. Set it and forget it!
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3. Customized Invoices
Your online invoicing needs to allow your personal touch to your invoice, e.g. your company logo, payment terms, thank you note. Look for a solution that lets you give discounts to your customers, show images of your products or services, and gives you the correct tax type for your region (i.e. Sales Tax, VAT, GST).
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4. Merging Estimates
Look for an online invoicing solution that lets you change an existing estimate into an instant invoice. It saves you precious time.
5. Compatibility
Choose an online invoicing solution that runs on any platform – PC, Mac, the Web, or even a handheld smartphone. Make sure it can work with your existing data. It’s all about integration, less work and faster pay!
6. Handy Format
Your customers may want to download their invoices and estimates in PDF, or view them online in HTML format.
7. Accepts Online Payment
When more business is done online, it is only logical to have a solution that accepts payment on the web, like having a gateway such as Paypal that accepts instant payments from customers.
8. Security
The most important feature that online invoicing provides to its users is SECURITY. Be sure that the online invoicing solution you choose protects all data with the latest of SSL technology, and that backups are done FREQUENTLY.
9. Great Customer Service
Look for a service that has a 24/7 support group which you can contact for help worldwide. Get that timely, professional and friendly response when, where, and how you need it. Make sure they are accessible!
10. Good Reputation
When you are investing your time and money in a solution that will help you manage your business finances, be sure to do your homework. Being the cheapest, the biggest, or the oldest does not automatically signal being the best. You build your business on a good reputation. Find online invoicing solutions that do the same.
Ergo: Think of Your Needs First! Always choose the best solution to help you manage your finances. Survey says that 60% of business owners have cash flow issues. This means you need something user-friendly, faster, safe, and efficient when it comes to getting an online invoicing solution that will work for you. You should spend more time on growing your business, not on a mountain of invoices. Get Smart!
Nice article but I miss one critical point. The article does not mention the automatic (electronic) way of handling the invoice. It still mentions “PDF” and in my opinion that is a step back (like faxing over the internet..). Yes; it should be easy to use and all those things but it should also be a step forward. By using pdf you are just replacing the way of sending and receiving the invoice. You are not changing the entire process of handling (as long as OCR is not 100 % reliable).
Ah yes,
Aim for the stars, you can always land on the moon. Isn’t that what we’re doing right now? We aim for full end to end processing of e-invoices between all trade partners in the EU. But what did we end up with (statistically): relatively low levels of trust and adoption and massive use of PDF (as this article underlines) and e-mail.
So full end to end processing of e-invoices between all trade partners in the EU is wishfull, but mostly wishfull thinking. Before we reach that level we need to take action to create awareness of e-invoicing as such.
Cheers.