Get Rid of Paper Invoices Once and For All

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Or Why You Should Use Invoice Software

Some of you are probably wondering why we are wasting our time writing an article about such an obvious topic. As it turns out, paper-based invoicing still rules worldwide, incurring huge costs and time. It is a time-consuming, pointlessly expensive and outrageously outdated process, but for some reason more than half the world's businesses and governments still used it.
The benefits of e-invoicing have been talked for years – get rid of manual processes, cut costs by 40-60% and keep track of payments. And make no mistake, using Excel sheets or Word templates is not electronic invoicing.

Simple Online Invoicing

In the past, the invoicing software has been a lot more painful and hard to put into effect. Hereupon, most small and mid-sized companies still believe this is the norm. But this is no longer accurate.

New technologies as Software-as-a-companies.Service (SaaS), client portals, dynamic discounting and mobile capabilities are now opening up the market for all.

If you run a business or have your own, you require a reliable way to keep track of customers, invoicing and payment processing. Instead of using outsourcing or even worse - Excel, you can manage this whole process with billing and invoice software.

This kind of software provides a single online platform in which you can create and send invoices in seconds. The best part is you can log in from any device, and it does not require you to download any files. Generally, invoicing software is easy to use. You will need to set up the system once and it will be ready to send invoices right away.

What does this mean?

When starting for the first time, you need to enter your basic company information and upload your logo. You can choose how your invoices will look and modify invoice fields if needed. For personalizing your invoices, you can edit the elements of the invoice, including the invoice layout, fonts, and colors, add or remove fields.
Once created, by clicking ‘send’ you can send an invoice by email directly to your customers or download it as a pdf file. A paper invoice takes days to get to your customer but sent electronically an invoice gets there instantly. Furthermore, most Billing and Invoicing vendors provide a private customer portal where your clients access their invoices. You are able to set up a payment gateway, customers can pay directly from their portal or manually check when an invoice is paid. You can get paid as quickly as possible.
If you’re using invoicing software such as Composity Invoices, you can easily schedule invoices to be sent automatically to your customers, manage customer accounts, and track payments and past-due accounts. An invoicing management system can help you ensure accuracy and save time of your invoicing process.

Costs for Invoicing Drops Drastically

When we are talking about what it costs businesses to send paper invoices, we are rarely looking beyond the cost of postage and the paper the invoice is printed on. The true cost of invoicing lies in the labor that goes into the preparation and processing of each invoice. Furthermore, manual data entry results in errors. On average, each paper invoice error costs companies $53.50 to rectify. These can result in an exorbitant amount of wasted time and money.

Paper invoicing is calculated to cost by up to 60% more than e-invoicing. Because companies that implement invoicing software can automate and validate most invoicing tasks electronically, the number of hours spent on some tasks can be eliminated. Using software to create and send invoices cut out paper, printing, envelope stuffing, and postage, also, simplify and minimize data entry, eliminating the time and errors of manual reconciliation.

According to Gartner, reducing operation costs can have a significant effect on your profits -5% reduction in operating costs can have the same impact as a 30% increase in sales.

Remarkable, right?

Even more, by migrating e-invoicing and payment, businesses can cut the labor required to send an invoice and process a payment by almost 50%, says Ariana―Michele Moore at the Strategic Resource Institute.

Analytics and Reports

If nothing so far did not manage to convince you to use Billing and Invoicing software then this will. Personally, I believe visual analysis and reports are the greatest advantages that an invoicing software program can provide.
Some of the basic reports you can generate with few clicks are:

General Reports

Income Reports

By Customer - see the income you generate from every customer or which client is bringing in the most money for your business
By Payment Method - see the level of income by each payment method
By Product/Service - see a breakdown for each of your product/service
By Time - view incomes by any desired timeframe
By Sales - see quantity and value of each product/service sold

Unpaid Invoices - you can list all unpaid invoices
Overdue Invoice - lists all overdue invoices

Advance reporting - Some systems provide advanced reporting in order to dive deep into company's big data and see the bigger picture ever more. This kind of reports often needs additional setup and customization for each company.

Knowing how your business is performing and where it is going is maybe the most important aspect if you want to grow further and stay competitive. Composity helps you manage your business effectively by providing you with real-time data about payments and cash flow. You always have a full insight into how your business is doing, as well as what is still unpaid or due paid.