Fed up with losing money on invoicing errors?
Late payments, invoice mistakes and delays are the bane of every business owner’s existence. They wreak havoc with your cashflow and waste your precious time. That’s why savvy businesses are turning to solutions like Prime Software billing and invoicing solution to automate the process and minimize costly errors.
Don’t sweat it though – Advanced invoicing technologies can put a stop to most problems and get you paid in record time.
What you’ll learn:
- Billing errors are secretly eating away at your bottom line
- Traditional invoicing systems leave you vulnerable
- Advanced invoicing technologies offer a powerful solution
- Smart billing features that stop costly mistakes in their tracks
Billing errors are secretly eating away at your bottom line
Billing mistakes are more than just pesky administrative annoyances. They are silent killers chipping away at your profits and undermining your business from the inside. Small to medium-sized businesses are spending 14 hours a week just dealing with late invoices.
Pause for a minute and let that sink in… 14 hours a week! Two entire workdays each and every week are going to waste on activities that simply should not be necessary.
The Hidden Costs Add Up Quickly
Let’s say for the sake of argument that a 5% billing error rate is a good target for your business. What that really means is that:
- Every month one in twenty of your invoices will have mistakes – A missed payment term or rate, a spelling mistake, or a tax error.
- Customers will dispute these invoices – When an invoice has errors, someone is likely to spot it. It could be an internal staff member who catches it before the invoice goes out. More likely, it will be the customer who disputes the error.
- Payments get held up as a result – Invoice disputes drag out your payment cycle. Payments get held up, sometimes for weeks at a time. Every billing mistake costs you money in lost revenue, reduced cashflow and admin time.
The real killer stat is this one… Manual invoicing takes an average of 14.6 days. Manual data entry, printing, approval and invoice processing literally take over two weeks.
So even if you got it right the first time, your billing cycle would be painfully slow.
What’s worse is that it’s business as usual out there. 55% of invoices are being paid late.
Your bloated, sluggish, error-prone billing process is costing you money day in, day out.
Traditional invoicing systems leave you vulnerable
Most businesses still use some form of “legacy” invoicing systems. Legacy systems guarantee invoicing problems because they were never designed with advanced billing technologies in mind.
Legacy invoicing system problems:
- Manual data entry invites human error. One simple typo and your customer could be waiting for a corrected invoice for weeks.
- Systems don’t talk to each other – Customer information in the sales department never updates in billing. You sell a new price to a customer, but billing keeps charging them the old rate.
- Paper-based processes create waste and slow everything down. Physical invoices sit on people’s desks, get lost, and create bottlenecks in your billing cycle.
The problem with traditional invoicing systems
The underlying problem with traditional invoicing systems is that they treat billing as an afterthought. Legacy processes were built around dated accounting practices that made sense in the world of 1990 but don’t stack up today.
Successful companies have embraced advanced invoicing technologies to automate the billing process.
Advanced invoicing technologies offer a powerful solution
Advanced billing and invoicing technologies solve the problems with traditional systems by completely reimagining how business handle billing.
Instead of slow, manual and error-prone processes, intelligent systems can work day and night to ensure accuracy and speed up the whole payment process.
Advanced invoicing system benefits:
- Automated data extraction eliminates manual data entry errors. The system pulls information from existing business systems rather than you typing it in by hand.
- Smart validation checks errors before invoices go out. Automated amounts, tax calculations and customer information is checked against your database. The system flags up unusual patterns that could indicate an error or fraud.
- Integrated workflows connect the whole process. From quote to final payment everything is connected and information flows smoothly.
Businesses using advanced billing and invoicing technologies are already seeing real results.
Advanced invoicing technologies can slash human error rates in accounts payable processes by as much as 40%. That’s fewer errors, faster payments and happier customers.
That’s not even the half of it. Advanced invoicing solutions speed up the whole billing cycle, improve cashflow, and free your team up to focus on business growth rather than chasing paperwork around.
Smart billing features that prevent costly mistakes
Modern billing and invoicing solutions include features that target common invoicing and payment problems head on.
Automated Error Detection
Advanced systems automatically detect mistakes that would otherwise get missed by manual reviews. Customer information is automatically verified, prices checked against rate cards, and tax calculations confirmed.
Smart Integration
The best invoicing solutions integrate with existing business systems. Customer information comes automatically from your CRM. Product information syncs with inventory management software. Financial data directly connects to your accounting software. That way there are no data silos that lead to billing errors.
Intelligent Workflow Automation
Smart workflows automatically move the process along so nothing falls through the cracks. Invoices get automatically created based on work done or products delivered. Payment reminders go out on schedule. Late payment notifications trigger next steps in the workflow.
Customer Communication Tools
Build-in communication features in invoicing systems keep customers in the loop throughout the billing process. Automatic notifications tell customers invoices are available. Self-service portals give them access to download copies, track status and answer their own questions rather than waiting for your team to pick up the phone.
Making the switch to advanced billing and invoicing technologies
Modernizing your invoicing system may seem daunting, but there’s never been a better time to make the move.
Start by taking stock of your current invoicing process. How many man hours are spent on manual billing tasks? How many billing errors and payment disputes do you have to handle each month? How many days does it take to issue an invoice?
Once you get a handle on the hidden costs of your current system, the ROI is clear.
Implementation best practices
Find a solution that plays nice with your existing systems. You don’t want to build new data silos or force your team to learn new ways of working.
Start small. Pilot the solution for a small subset of customers. You can work through initial kinks and issues before going live across the whole company.
Invest in training for your team. The best software won’t help you if your team doesn’t understand how to use it properly.
Transform your business with smart invoicing
Advanced invoicing technologies are not just about eliminating errors. It’s about turning your whole billing process into a competitive advantage.
When you remove the problems of manual errors, speed up your payment cycle and improve communication with customers, you create a better experience for everyone. Your team gets to spend less time on admin tasks and more time on activities that contribute to growth. Customers receive accurate, professional invoices that they can easily understand and pay quickly. And you get paid faster with fewer headaches.
Wrapping It All Together
Invoice errors and late payments need not be facts of business life. With the right invoicing technology in place you can eliminate most of the common problems and speed up your billing cycle.
The statistics speak for themselves. Businesses that have moved to advanced invoicing technologies see far fewer errors, get paid faster, and have dramatically improved cashflow. Don’t let old invoicing processes continue to cost you money. Upgrade to an advanced solution and start getting paid like a professional business. Your bottom line will thank you.
