Every business owner knows that an enterprise isn’t one-dimensional. It consists of numerous facets, each contributing to the entirety of the company. These may include financing, marketing, administration, and human resources. Financing, in particular, is incredibly important for small businesses since funding and capital are practically the lifelines of a company in its early stages.
For that reason, you’ll find that most business owners pay particularly close attention to their invoices—a type of document created and sent to buyers by sellers to collect payment.
Due to the complexity of invoices, experts advise owners to double-check or even triple-check invoices to avoid errors since a seemingly small mistake can be pretty catastrophic to the finances of a small business. Unfortunately, mistakes will always be a variable in these kinds of things, which is why invoicing software exists—to make the process a lot easier and more accurate.
A Brief Overview of Invoicing Software
Invoicing software is a tool that automates the invoicing process by generating a list of products and services along with their costs. It then calculates these figures to end up with the final cost for the transaction, which the tool then sends to the customers or clients.
It’s the most basic functionality of invoicing software, but there may also be other features. For starters, some may come with pre-made templates or an analytics chart.
Regardless, the automation brought by invoicing software is what makes the tool valuable to small businesses, as it allows you to streamline your billing process and minimize errors. While some invoicing software comes free of charge, it’s advisable to buy the premium ones.
These tools tend to offer more features and are generally more advanced than their unpaid counterparts. But of course, before doing that, you need to know what you can get from these tools.
Benefits of Getting Invoicing Software
Apart from the basic functionality of invoicing software, which is to streamline invoicing, you can also enjoy several other benefits. For example, with invoicing software, small businesses can:
- Establish a Professional Image
Most invoicing software allows the user to customize invoices by adding designs, banners, and logos. Hence, it’s an excellent tool for establishing a professional image for clients.
- Prevent Delayed or Missed Payments
Since invoicing software automates the process, it becomes easier to monitor billing commitments, allowing you to prevent missed or delayed payments.
- Cut Down on Staffing Costs
Normally, you’d hire several people to handle invoicing and billing. However, one person should be enough to take control of the entire process with the help of invoicing software.
- Avoid Frauds
When starting a business, you’re bound to encounter all sorts of fraudulence. Invoicing software should be able to encrypt your transactions to keep them safe from cybercriminals.
- Create Invoices Anywhere
If you’ve tried handling your company’s invoices at some point, you should be aware that the need for an invoice can come at any time. Unfortunately, you need to get to your office in order to create an invoice. But with invoicing software, it should be possible to create bills and invoices anywhere, as long as you have a stable internet connection.
While not all invoicing software can provide these benefits, you should strive to find one that fulfills as many of these as possible, especially since you need to make full use of the software if you’re going to pay a good amount of money for it.
Things To Consider When Choosing Invoicing Software
With the previous explanation, you might think that invoicing is a simple concept. Hence, when looking for a tool or software, you’d assume that as long as the app can create invoices, it’s as good as it can be, but that’s not true.
When looking for invoicing software, there are several things you must consider, other than its basic functionality. These may include:
- Price
Prices are usually not that big of a deal when choosing invoicing software. However, since you’re operating a small business, it’s one of the essential factors to consider.
Prices may vary according to the complexity of the app. As stated earlier, some are entirely free, while others can be pretty costly. You can get invoicing software by either paying a one-time fee or getting a monthly or yearly subscription. Most invoicing software comes at a price of around USD$5 to USD$20 per month.
- Personalization
Make sure the software allows you to include all kinds of information since you’ll need to do so if you want to look professional. These may consist of the client’s contact information, the data of the transaction, a description of the goods and services, and more.
- Security
Since you’ll be including various types of data, the software must also have solid security. Otherwise, your customers’ data will be in jeopardy with just a tiny mistake.
- Notifications/Reminders System
It’d also help if the software could send you notifications or reminders when the bill is past due or if it’s already been paid for. This enables you to follow up with customers.
- Accessibility
Accessibility is also an essential aspect since you’ll need access to the invoicing software anywhere you go. It can be via a browser or even from your mobile device.
- Customer Support
Since you’re most likely going to encounter several issues when using the software, 24/7 customer support accessible through chat, email, and the phone would be most appreciated.
- Integration Capabilities
Invoicing software that can seamlessly integrate with your company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system is always welcome.
- Additional Features
Be on the lookout for software that offers additional features that make invoicing more convenient. Examples of these features include tax reports and predefines templates.
It’s advisable to consider these factors when selecting an invoicing software, but it’s also equally important to think about the features that your company needs. Regardless, considering the ubiquity of these applications on the internet, finding invoicing software should be a breeze, especially if you already have a ready-made checklist.
Closing Thoughts
All small business owners strive to grow. It’s the main reason why the business was created in the first place. While there are several things you need to worry about when developing a company, financing should always be one of your priorities. Alas, it can be difficult during the early stages of the business, but invoicing software can undoubtedly go a long way in boosting the process and making it a lot easier and manageable.
