If you haven't yet switched to paperless billing, you probably are just waiting for the right time. If you do invoices at particular times of the month, you probably think about it every time you do your invoices -- and then forget about it till the next time comes around. If you are like a lot of small businesses, you may not get around to the invoices every month, so your need to fix your billing system is like a nagging pain that you carry around with you, waiting till you have time to do something about it.

So what's the right time?

There are two times when you really should consider switching to electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP, also known as EIPP, e-billing, and electronic invoicing).

First, you should do it when everyone else in your industry is using e-billing. Your customers come to expect it and to value the convenience, and having the only company that still uses paper can make you look less up-to-date, less environmentally responsible, and less responsive to customers.

Second, you should make the switch when no one else in your industry is doing it. Being the first to offer electronic billing makes you look more up-to-date,  more environmentally responsible, and more concerned with customer convenience than your competitors.

That's a good thing.

I think we all know by now that paper billing is on its way out. Now that plenty of people use electronic invoicing, consumers are accustomed to the idea, and the bugs are out of the system, there's no reason not to take the plunge.