Gone are the days where you had to make hundreds of hardcopy invoices, pack them in envelopes and send them out to your customers one at a time. We live in a digital age now so you don’t have to spend precious time doing manual invoicing.
If you have a small business you may want to invest in online invoicing so you can streamline your processes and cut down costs by a whopping 80%. Don’t waste money on paper, ink and expensive printing machines. All you need is digital invoicing solutions. Continue reading to find out why.
7 Reasons for Small Business to Adopt Online Invoicing Solutions
1. Cost Reductions is a Must for Small Companies
It costs a lot of money to print hard copies of invoices. You have to buy paper, ink and expensive printing machines to complete the task. For a small business owner being budget conscious is crucial. So why waste precious dollars when you can reduce costs using an affordable online platform?
Storage costs will also be reduced because you won’t have to keep hard copies of invoices on-site. You can spend your money expanding your business rather than spending it on invoicing consumables and administrative costs.
2. Quick Processes to Optimize Workflow
Small businesses have limited staff so doing manual invoicing can slow down your workflow. Fortunately, with online invoicing, you can make short work of creating invoices because there are ready-made templates that you can fill out.
You can download and edit invoice templates for MS Word, PDF or Excel or go with the online editing and utilize an invoice template for Google Docs. The sample invoice template will help you get inspiration as it has prefilled data. Advanced invoice makers like Billdu will cover the online invoicing automation workflows.
Another advantage of digital invoicing is you can keep track of payments and receipts easily. With these processes, you can ensure your clients are paying their bills on time.
There’s no need to spend hours sifting through draws trying to find invoices. With a click of a button, you can use the online platform to retrieve your online receipts without hassle. What’s more, you can send a single digital invoice to multiple people in a matter of minutes.
3. Month-End Made Easy with Scheduling
It can take hours to manually process and send invoices to all your customers. First, you have to print them, put them in envelopes, stamp them and post them. With digital processes, all you have to do is create a simple receipt and schedule it to be sent at the end of the month to the correct client or customer.
You can do this with multiple invoices so that all your customers receive their invoices on the first of every month. By scheduling your invoices you can optimize the workflow in your accounts department and reduce the workload.
4. Access Invoices on the Go
Online invoicing solutions typically use cloud computing to store all the invoices you’ve created. So if you’re on a business trip or visiting another client you can access invoices through your mobile device. As long as you have an internet connection you’re able to retrieve invoices easily using your SmartPhone or laptop.
Furthermore, if you’re not in the office and you need to create a quick invoice, simply log in to your platform and use a simple receipt template to complete the task. You can do this while riding on a train or waiting for the bus. Online invoicing allows you to create and access documents on the go.
5. Eliminate Errors to Keep Your Clients Happy
When processing invoices manually there is a higher risk of making an error. You can easily type in numbers and pricing incorrectly. But is this the same with digital processes? Well, it depends on what type of platform you’re using.
Some online platforms automatically fill in certain places on your invoice so that you don’t have to. If you load all your client and customer information onto the system it can automatically load personal information onto the document to eliminate the error.
The same can be done with pricing. Every client is different and some are charged at various rates. Therefore, you need a system that will identify the rates of your customers so that the figures are always correct on your invoices.
6. Customize Your Invoices with Templates
Are you strict with branding? Perhaps you want to add your logo to your receipts so that clients know where the invoices are coming from. Invoice templates are customizable so you’re able to change the color of headers or add your branding to the document.
If you prefer a different layout you can easily remove boxes and lines to streamline your document and make it easy to read and understand. You can also create your own template so that it’s easier to work with whenever you want to send a document out.
7. Keep Track of Your Finances Easily
Every company needs financial reports for tax season and to keep track of money coming into the business. This is so you can see where you’re making a profit and where you’re running at a loss so you can make better financial decisions for your business.
Some digital invoicing platforms offer data analytics so you can monitor your account and view which invoices still need to be paid. Ideally, you want a platform that allows you to see the monetary status of all invoices so you can see which clients have outstanding accounts.
Your accounts department can then make better decisions on how to handle a client’s account and it makes debt collection easier.
