Financial mismanagement is the main reason why most companies fail. It’s not having the vision to see past the first few months, or not having a good accounting program in place when the company experiences growth. Unfortunately, hiring a full-time accountant can get costly, and trying to take on the added responsibility of doing the accounting yourself is a recipe for disaster. Your best bet is to invest in a billing software program that can do the work for you and keep your business moving forward.

Why is Billing Software the Answer?

Regardless of what type of product or service your company offers, the bottom line is that unless you get paid, your business is not going to grow. If you don’t have a billing system in place, how are you going to keep track of what’s going out and what’s coming in? Doing billing manually can only take a company so far, and once the company experiences growth, it may be necessary to hire more people to help keep track of the billing. Now you have an added expense,extra salaries, to contend with that are severely cutting into your bottom line; this is not the best management of your funds. Billing software does the work of an employee for much less, and does it in less time and with more accurate results. It also helps your existing employees spend their time on other responsibilities, too.

How Billing Software Helps Big Business

• Keeps Track of Invoices- billing software can keep track of both paid and outstanding invoices, which ensures that monies are collected in a timely fashion. Without this type of software, the chances of lost, misplaced or forgotten invoices increase exponentially. If invoices are left unpaid, the business is losing money.
• Manages Finances in One Place- having billing software in the office means that everything can be done in one place. Reports, invoices and checks and balances are just a few clicks away. It also means less expense on an accountant because the majority of the accounting legwork is already complete.
• Sends Notices to Customers- with bigger businesses, you may not always have time to send out emails to all of your customers with outstanding payments. Billing software can send automated reminders to your customers about their outstanding balance, so you don’t have to take the time to send them yourself.

Using Billing Software to Propel Small Businesses

• More for Less- billing software can allow a small business owner to do more for less. It handles the task of accounting efficiently and with less room for error.
• Produces Financial Snapshots- when utilized at its full potential, billing software can give a small business owner financial snapshots of where it is and where it’s going, in a matter of seconds.
• Automates the Business Process- billing software automates the business by keeping track of invoices and payments, allowing the owner to focus on building the business, not stress on financial details that impede growth.

An investment into billing software can help any business avoid financial disaster. It represents a smart choice that brings value and can increase the company’s profit margin effectively. The key is realizing the importance of this software and utilizing its benefits to carry a business, whether large or small, to the next level with ease and precision. With billing software, where can your business go?

Interested in learning more about billing software? Check out our free infographic.

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By the simple implementation of this software, your business will witness reduced costs and an increased cash flow, increase in document accuracy and improved customer satisfaction allowing the ease of secure online payment and access to payment history.

Management of Electronic Invoices & Payments.

The reduction in costs of sending a batch of monthly invoices and statements will be immediately evident, saving you in paper and postage costs as well as being environmentally friendly adding extra credibility and increasing loyalty from your customers. You have the option of sending individual invoices also.

You also have a feature that allows the customization of your invoice templates to incorporate your company’s logo and brand reinforcing your company’s identity. This can also be followed through within your customer’s portal and login screens. This experience of consistency for your customer adds to their view of the company’s professionalism. Your invoices can be presented as PDF documents, too.

Invoicing software enables you to receive electronic payments faster from credit cards and allow for automated payments ensuring prompt payment. This gives your customers the convenience of being able to pay you from anywhere at any time without the use of paper, allowing them always to be on time with their payments.

It automatically produces customized receipts for your customers.

Management of Customer Data

The use of online invoicing software allows efficient management of customer data. You can safely store customer payments and all records in one secure place. You can set up the system to create and manage customer records, to track their payment history and store their preferred payment options. You also have the benefit of importing and exporting their records in bulk actions.

Enhanced Customer Service

Customers prefer convenience, security and an easy to use web-based portal for their payment options. This is why online invoicing is an added benefit to your customers. It enables credit card payments, an area to view their invoice history and an efficient reminder system so they do not miss an outstanding invoice.

The customer portal is a link between your business and your customers and contains all the information your customer needs on one easily accessible place.

Marketing Management of Your Products and Services

An added bonus of this type of online software is the extra avenue to market your services and products free. It easily reaches your target audience of past and present customers by promotions and offers placed within the customer portal or attached to their invoice delivery. You have the option of tagging specific customers for your specific marketing needs. This is a huge benefit and can actively allow strategic target marketing and enhance your marketing campaign.

Online invoicing software is becoming more prevalent in today’s business age, which is heavily influenced by technology and convenience. It is mutually beneficial to businesses and customers allowing ease of communication, customer satisfaction and increased profits.

Want to learn more about the benefits of online invoicing and billing systems? Check out our “Faster than the Mailman” infographic!

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Customize Your Invoices and Statements

When it comes to presenting invoices and statements you want to convey and reinforce your company’s brand identity. Most invoicing software is highly customizable to you can take advantage of all the flexibility that it can offer you when creating not only your invoices but also your customer portal and login screens. It is important to make sure that everything your customers see is branded accordingly to your business’s standards. Every time your customers log in, they will have a consistent experience, and it will display the look and feel of your company and brand. This will add a level of professionalism to your electronic bill presentment and payment system.

Create Customer Portals

With invoice software, customers have access to their invoices and history via a customer portal. This portal is easily customized with your business brand standards as well as for what your customer’s needs/wants are. This portal is the link from your business to the customer so it is important that it is very intuitive so your customer knows how to use it. This portal is full of all the information your customer could want so it is a great customer service tool. The convenience of being able to access their information in one place at any time I really going to please your customers as they have not only the convenience factor but also it is easy to use.

Access to Electronic and Automatic Payments

One of the best things that invoice software provides is the ability for you to receive payments faster. Instead of waiting for snail mail to deliver your payments, they can be paid online. Invoice software allows customers to pay anywhere, anytime, and without paper.

•  Pay Anywhere: Even if your customers are out of town, they can easily make payments using their mobile devices. You’ll get your payments more quickly and your customers will appreciate the convenience of being able to pay you on time no matter where they are in the world.
• Pay Anytime: Many people don’t even have time to sit down and have dinner with their families, let alone take time out of their day to run to the bank and then the post office to pay their bills. Your customers will appreciate the ability to eliminate time-wasting steps from their busy schedules by paying your invoices online.
• Pay without Paper: People are becoming increasingly eco-conscious. By offering green, paper-free invoicing and payment processes, you’ll gain credibility and increase loyalty amongst your customer

 Ability to Promote and Advertise Your Business to Target Market

Another great thing that invoice software can do for you is to provide you with a great way to market to your target audience. With invoices you send to your current customers you are able to include offers and promotions that you are having. Within the customer portal you are also able to do advertise as you can have links to your services and products. The ability to have your customers in a portal allows for you to do some very strategic target marketing.

Invoice software can do a lot for a business. It provides convenience, customer service, ease of use, and marketing strategies that can really help improve your business. If this sounds like something you could be interested in contact SmartPay for a consultation.

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• Allowing Customers to Make Automatic Payments: The Automatic Payment feature that billing systems offer not only benefits you but also benefits the customers. With automatic bill payment you can help ensue on-time payments, which puts money in your pocket as well as preventing you from having to send out expensive late notices. On the customer end, they get the convenience of not having to worry if their bills have been paid on time. All they have to do is set up a payment plan and the bank or credit card will take care of the rest. This helps them avoid late payments and can help their credit score as well. All in all the automatic payment feature is a win-win for everyone involved.
• Allowing Customers to View Invoice and Payment History Online: Having your customers’ invoice and payment history online is equally beneficial for both you and them. On the business side, you will see dramatically improved customer service due to 24/7 customer self service for invoice and payment histories. Customers want to have everything at their finger tips and their ability to access their past invoices will help them track purchases, billing, etc. By offering this feature to your customers, they will be able to access their information easily without having to call your office and talk to an employee to get their simple questions answered. They will be able to access this information anytime, virtually anywhere. Talk about convenient for both the customer and your business!
• Ability to Create Targeted Marketing Campaigns: Another great feature that billing systems offer is that you are able to promote and advertise your products and services via targeted marketing campaigns. With an EBPP system you are able to send promotions and communications within your invoices. On the invoice you send out electronically you are able to present promotions that your customers may want to take advantage of. Another great way to promote your services to your customers is within the customer portal itself. In the customer portal you can advertise offers and promotions that you are currently running so that your customers are easily able to see and access them. Having the ability to market your products and services in a portal your customers already use is huge as you are able to actively target your marketing campaigns.

An EBPP system can revolutionize the way you do business with both consumers and other businesses. It has simple features that can add convenience, customer service, and easy marketing strategies to your business. If you think that an EBPP system is something that you would like to implement contact us for a consultation.

Invoicing Software benefits and features don’t end there though; check out these invoicing software features that will have a definite positive effect on your business:

Manage Customer Data

With invoicing software you are able to manage your customer data all in one place. It allows you to safely store customer records and payments in one location so you don’t have to search all over the office to find the paper invoices you are looking for. Managing customer data becomes very simple with invoicing software as your able to do all of the following things:

• Create and manage customer records.
• Import and export customer records in bulk.
• Track customer payment history.
• Store customer payment preferences.

Manage and Send Electronic Invoices

The biggest feature of invoicing software is the electronic invoice. Rather than spending all the money on paper and postage to send out paper invoices, you simply send them electronically for a much reduced rate. The cost savings will be very evident once you start using electronic invoicing. Other benefits to these electronic invoices are that you can:

• Send invoices one at a time or all at once.
• Easily present all invoices as PDF documents.
• Customize invoice templates to match your company’s brand identity.

Receive Electronic Payments

With invoicing software you no longer have to worry about making sure your payments make it to the bank on time. Invoicing software allows for you to:

• Receive electronic payments via credit cards.
• Have customers make automatic payments.
• Provide customized receipts to confirm customer’s payments.

Provide Customer Self-Service

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of your business and with invoicing software you are able to provide great customer service as well as excellent customer self-service. Customers want convenience and ease of use when it comes to handling billing payments so invoicing software is perfect as it:

• Provides a secure, web-based portal for your customers to access.
• Enables credit card payments for customers.
• Allows customers to view invoice and payment history.
• Enables invoice payment reminders so customers know when they have an outstanding bill.

Promote and Advertise Your Products and Services

Another added benefit of invoicing software is that it allows you to market your products and services to your target market. With this software you are able to:

• Send promotions and other communications to your customers with their invoices.
• Present relevant offers and promotions within the customer portal
• Tag customers with specific characteristics for marketing purposes.

It is easy to see that invoicing software is great for your business. Do you want to see exactly how it would work for your business? Request a custom demo today!

Switching over to billing software can sometimes cause a panic among your customers. They are used to the way things have been done and are hesitant to accept changes. No matter what industry you are in, every business wants to have high customer adoption to an electronic billing system. To avoid a panic from your customers make sure that you give them advance warning to the switch so that they aren’t thrown under the bus with the change.

Giving customers time to adjust to the changes that are happening will help them out, but to really get them psyched for electronic billing software make sure you point out the benefits they will have with the new system:

Ability to View Invoice and Payment History Online: Your customers will love being able to view their invoice and payment history online. By offering electronic billing to your customers, they will be able to access this information easily without having to call your office and talk to an employee to get their simple questions answered. They will be able to access this information anytime, virtually anywhere. As long as they have access to a computer, they will be able to have access to their invoices. Talk about convenient!

Autopay Functions: Customers will also love the fact that there is an autopay option that they can use if they choose. This means that instead of the customer worrying if they have paid their bill each month, it will be taken directly out of their bank account. Many customers like to have this function as it saves them time and is more convenient. This is an optional feature as many customers want to be able to see their bill and review it before they pay. However for the ones that are comfortable with payments being taken out of their bank account each month, this is a great option as it guarantees that they will not receive a late fee, as their bills will always be paid on time.

Email Reminders: Another awesome feature of billing software is that you are able to generate email reminders that will let customers know about recent invoices, upcoming payments, late payments, and more. Automated email reminders allow for customers to know exactly what their bill statuses are which again adds to the convenience factor of online billing.

Helping the Environment: Customers love feeling like something they’re doing is environmentally friendly, especially when it doesn’t cost them anything. In your promotional materials, emphasize how good it is for the environment that you’re not wasting paper, glue, plastic, etc. This gets you quick and easy feel-good points that will make your customers see how beneficial billing software can be.

Switching to billing software is great not only on the business side but also on the consumer side. Consumers gain access to some great benefits, however they may need some time to adjust to online billing so be sure that you are there to help walk them through the process. If you are thinking about switching to an online billing software, now is the time to start approaching your customers with the possibility of a switch. Gauge their reactions and be there to answer their questions. The more you can help them prepare for the change the higher your adoption rates will be when you do switch to an online billing platform.

Check out SmartPay’s new whitepaper about customer adoption of electronic billing and payment systems or request a custom demo to learn more!


                            

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The comparison of Business A to Business B begins by describing their current approaches, the expenses related to the approach, overall costs of traditional versus electronic billing and payment, and the time and money savings experienced by both. The results of the two businesses, who are the same type of business, vary drastically because of their choice in how to approach implementation.

The research specifically focuses on the different approaches to migrating a business’s customers to electronic billing and invoicing. With technological advances, there are many different levels of adoption of these new technologies. The businesses in the study chose two different approaches to encourage their customers to utilize a new business technology, EBPP. SmartPay hopes that after reading this whitepaper, businesses can choose the option that works best for their company and customers.

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What is Electronic Billing?

Electronic billing goes by many names, online billing, EBPP, and e-billing, just to name a few. No matter what you call it, it simply means the electronic delivery of invoices (bills) and related information from a business/organization to its customer. If it sounds complicated, it’s not. In fact electronic billing is very simple. Instead of receiving bills and invoices in the mail, you will receive them online. You can then pay them online and store them electronically so that they are easy to access.

Benefits of Electronic Billing

If you aren’t convinced that electronic billing is for you, just look at all the benefits that are associated with electronic invoicing:

• Convenience: Think about it, with electronic billing you are able to pay your bills WHEN you want and WHERE you want. You can access your electronic bills from any computer, meaning you can bills when you are on the road or away from home.
• Ease of Use: Electronic billing is easy to use and there isn’t a big learning curve associated with it. Technology has made it possible to receive interactive bills from many organizations such as electric companies, banks, distributors, and more. All you need to do is set up an account with your institution and they will send you links to your bills via e-mail. Simply click on the link and you will be able to view your billing information and can schedule a payment to be made with a few simple clicks of the mouse.
• Filing Made Easy: When you receive actual physical bills you have to go through the trouble of physically filing them. With electronic billing, all your bills are stored securely online. You will be able to quickly and easily access your billing history online, so there will be no more pouring through your paper files trying to find exactly what you are looking for.
• Environment Savings: Paper bills have a big impact on our environment. In fact statistics from PayitGreen, say that if only 20% of American households switched from paper to electronic bills, statements and payments each year, the collective impact would save 150,939,615 pounds of paper and 1,811,275 trees. So do your environmental part and switch to electronic billing to help save the trees.

Electronic billing is such an easy and simple concept and it is one that you should be using. With all the benefits of electronic billing, why wouldn’t you want to switch from paper billing to electronic? Not sure where to start? Talk to your business providers and banks to see if they offer electronic billing options. If they do then sign up for electronic billing with them, if they don’t offer it perhaps you should show them this article so they can see the benefits of electronic billing too!

Check out our free infographic for more additional benefits of electronic billing.




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Here are some of SmartPay's Recycling Receptacles. Do you recycle at work?

During the week of April 16-20, SmartPay employees participated in a Go Green Challenge to celebrate. SmartPay is an electronic billing solution and offers businesses and customers a green alternative to traditional billing.

SmartPay encourages businesses to make environmentally conscious choices through multiple avenues including blog articles and social media updates. Some of the green practices SmartPay participates in year round include recycling paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and ink cartridges. Additionally, employees conserve energy by powering down computers and electronics at the end of the night at the office.

During Earth Week, SmartPay also hosted a company-wide volunteer opportunity to clean up litter in a local park. “Participating in an earth friendly activity in the community shows others, like the children in the park on Friday, that everyone can do something that’s good for the earth,” said Tami Dowers, SmartPay’s Marketing Director. Likewise, employees were encouraged to calculate their carbon footprint and set a personal goal to lessen their impact on the environment. Online Marketing intern, Aja Odegaard set a goal to set up recycling bins in her apartment building to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum.

SmartPay would like to encourage other businesses and individuals to take action and set goals to help the environment. “It is easy to get involved, and if we all make small changes, it can make a big difference,” said Dowers.

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• Get Support from Management – The most important step in getting a recycling program implemented is gaining support from management. Get them excited and show them the benefits. If you can do this, you can put together a recycling program that can be used throughout the company.
• Determine What to Recycle – Look at the waste that your company throws out. How much of your garbage is recyclable? Start with the easy products – office paper, cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles. However, look at other products that your office uses that may be able to be recycled. Ink cartridges for your printer are an example of a product that you may overlook.
• Figure out How to Collect Materials – Once you decide to recycle, you will need to find a company that will collect the recyclables. Visit Earth 911. Their website will generate a list of recycling centers. From that point, you can choose which one will work best for your business. Usually, you can call the center to schedule a pick-up, or you may have to drop the items off at the center.
• Distribute Collection Bins – Then you will need to place clearly labeled collection bins throughout the building. Make sure that they are easily accessible to your employees, and that they know where they are located.
• Desktop/Desk side Containers – Give your employees a desktop or desk side recycling container for office paper and other paper products. This way, they can recycle conveniently the recyclables they use most often.
• Central Collection Containers – Place central containers for less frequently used products such as corrugated cardboard, ink cartridges, and aluminum cans. A great location for these can be in your office lunch or break room. Often employees will use their plastic or aluminum drink containers there.
• Educate Your Employees – You will need to educate your employees about the recycling program in order for it to be successful. Highlight the importance of recycling, and make sure that you focus on how easy it can be.

Recycling in the workplace can be easy. Get management and your employees involved, and begin lessening your business’s carbon footprint.

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