Everyone can be a publisher now, or a filmmaker, or a recording company. Thanks to the internet, anyone can also now be very much like a bank or a credit card company, using computer code to create a means of accepting payments online.

Where banks and credit card companies used to be the only ones that could process payments, there are now many other options. 

There are advantages to this. Just as it can be very liberating to let everyone in on the opportunity to create books and films and recordings, it can be liberating for everyone to have the chance to accept payments.

But, let's face it, there's a lot of very poor quality content on the internet. It used to be that a writer, filmmaker, or musician had to be good enough at least to convince a company to make the investment to produce their works. Now, the increasingly level playing field lets amazing independent artists reach their audience easily -- and also lets untalented people send their stuff out into the ether freely. 

Just so, the increasing number of options for electronic payments opens the door for small companies -- and for scammers. People get more accustomed to the convenience of paying their bills online, but also more nervous about who they're dealing with when they make those transactions.

How can your company  get the benefits of the new possibilities in e-invoicing without suffering from the new dangers associated with it?

At SmartPay, we've chosen to stick with credit card and ACH bank transfer payments. You can choose your own merchant account, or go with our partner InterceptEFT, as you prefer. The level of security remains as high as if your customrs dealt directly with the bank or credit card company.

You also have a secure custom portal, so your customers know who they're dealing with and where their money is going. They can check their records easily, and they aren't shunted around from one site to another. They can feel completely confident when they trade with you.

But you also have the degree of control that you want and need. You get the fast turnaround that lets you keep costs down and the high efficiency that keeps your systems lean. That's good for your customers, too. 

We at SmartPay are keeping up with the new advances in EIPP, and we'll make sure that our system remains agile and responsive to these new opportunities -- without sacrificing the security and confidence we're known for. 

Chances are, you're thinking about switching to electronic billing if you haven't already done so -- most companies are.

You may have questions, though. How much will it really save? How difficult is it? When's the best time to make the switch? What are the up-front costs, and how quickly will we recover those costs? How much of a difference will it make for the environment? What about security?

Fargo businesses can get the answers to these questions and all the others we haven't mentioned, directly from the people who know the answers.

SmartPay, in partnership with InterceptEFT, will present a seminar next week. "Save Money, Save Time, Go Green: Learn how paperless billing will benefit your business" is the theme of the presentation, and there is no charge. 

When: Wednesday, February 24^th, 2010, noon to 1:00 p.m. Registration begins at 11:45
Where: Hilton Garden Inn, 4351 17th Ave So, Fargo, ND map

Onsite registration begins at 11:45, but you can register online.

E-billing saves time and money, it's more secure, and it speeds up payments. It's also a greener choice. Paper currently makes up 40% of the waste stream in America, so anything that reduces paper use is going to have benefits for the environment.

 There are other ways to save paper, too, and we'd like to share some with you. If you like the reductions you've made through electronic invoicing, you may be ready for some more ideas. 

• Use both sides of all papers. Use "duplex" mode for making copies. Put paper with only one side printed into the re-use box before passing it along to the recycling box. Cut up papers you've received with one clean side to make scratch paper for the office. Half-used paper can go through your fax machine and your copier safely, as long as you're diligent about removing staples.
• Choose not to print things. Sensitive information is better off in your password-protected files than on paper. Cover sheets of faxes, agendas that can be projected rather than printed and distributed, and confirmation sheets are just a few examples of written materials that really don't need to be printed.
  
• Help people shift from paper to electronic information by making it easy. Simple things like naming files with transparent names and saving them in folders can make it easy enough to access data that people won't feel compelled to print it. Searching for a file named "something like 1136wassu, somewhere on my computer" is the kind of experience that leads people to make and file unnecessary copies.
• Use thinner paper. Paper is sold by weight. A heavy bond may be needed for certain jobs, but lighter weight paper uses less raw material. Consider switching when you can.
• Use smaller images, or a smaller font size. Your document may take up fewer pieces of paper if you simply design it to fit on one sheet.
• Try to make your decisions before you print. Some of us write a document, then print it and proofread it on paper, and then go back to make corrections and changes on the screen. Instead, email it to a colleague for proofreading, and make corrections on the screen before printing it out. If you have trouble imagining how your document will look on paper, save it as a PDF file and check the look before printing.
  
• Certainly, buy recycled paper and recycle the paper you use. But don't focus on recycling to the point where you don't feel a need to be efficient about your paper use.
  

Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering released a report last week explaining how he could save the state $97 million dollars. One of the main changes he recommends is a switch to electronic invoicing. He has done this in his own office, Pickering explained, and so he knows the difference it can make.

Even without his personal experience, Pickering could have predicted that. The U.S. Department of Defense found that paper invoices' costs were triple the costs of electronic invoices. Corporations report 40-75% savings when they make the switch. According to Hackett Group, companies that do even half of their invoicing electronically complete five times as many invoices per worker as those that go entirely with paper.

Pickering makes the point that being conscious of costs should be the norm, not something saved for desperate circumstances. "We should not wait for these times," he said of the current economic downturn, "to determine how to save money or spend more wisely." Pickering went on to say that his plan won't work if many state offices decide not to join in.

This is what we're seeing with small and medium-sized businesses. While larger coprorations have embraced EIPP at significant rates, the movement toward paperless offices is slowed by smaller firms that continue to put bills in the mail.

There is widespread agreement that electronic invoicing improves cash flow, increases security, cuts costs, reduces errors, and increases productivity. It's hard to see why anyone would choose not to participate. 

But there are reasons. 

Compatibility is one. While enterprise-size companies choose from a handful of accounting systems, smaller businesses use a wide array of programs to keep up with their bookkeeping and accounting.  An office that has been creating invoices in Microsoft Word and keeping the books with Excel may see the implementation of e-invoicing as a big project to be put off to another time. Choosing a solution like SmartPay which allows you to import and manage customer data from your in-house system is the answer to this concern.

Another reason for dragging feet is that some people just like paper. A local business owner recently shared the story of a client of his who reads email by having his secretary print out emails and bring them to him. He then dictates responses, which the secretary types in and emails out to the recipients. For people this fond of paper, it's hard to shift to a paper-light office. They have trouble believing that electronic invoices will really work. SmartPay offers a first-tier service that lets companies try e-invoicing with just a few clients to make sure it works well in their particular work environment before rolling it out for the whole company. When you're ready, shiftingto larger numbers of invoices is automatic -- no new set-up fees or upgrades required. You can take it at your own pace. 

Finally, there's a residual nervousness about the security of e-billing. In fact, your information is much safer in a secure internet portal than your check is in the mail. But there continue to be customers who are nervous about e-invoicing. Just one or two vocal members of this group can be enough to make a business hesitate. Fortunately, SmartPay has solutions for that. First and foremost, the system allows you to make phone payments on behalf of those customers who want them. Beyond that, research has shown that having control over the information reassures customers. SmartPay allows customers to visit their accounts, see their payment history, and update their own information.

The point that the Mississippis state auditor made is a strong one. Envornmentally and financially, we'll all see the greatest savings when we all get on board with e-invoicing. At SmartPay, we're doing our part to make electronic invoicing convenient and comfortable for SEMs. Contact us today to see how easy it can be.