When it comes to billing and invoicing solutions for small businesses, the list of accounting automation platforms is broad. Narrowing down the right solution for your business can be quite time-consuming if you don’t have vetting factors in mind already. To help you find the best solution for your business, you might want to consider the following:
B2B Specific
Which market do you serve? With quite literally hundreds of options, consider filtering your options by the market you serve. Whether that’s B2B, B2C, or something more specific such as gov/ed, financial institutions, or real estate, choose a solution that focuses on serving your niche.
Embedded Payment Processing
Payment processing is complicated by the fact that most online payment solutions defer to a third-party for payment processing. Choosing a secure, PCI-DSS compliant solution with integrated payments saves time by centralizing all activity within one platform.
Accounting Package Integration
Billing, invoicing, and payment processing are great, but automated reconciliation with your accounting package is even better. Whether you’re using QuickBooks or Xero, Bill360 provides integration support, thereby offering the ability to quickly reconcile payments. Bill360's provides that QuickBooks and Xero can’t - automated smart invoicing, valuable business insights, robust collaboration, and more.
In-Platform Messaging
Answering customer questions quickly is important when it comes to getting invoices paid in a timely manner. Consider choosing a solution with a ‘live chat’ or similar feature. The ability to have a dialog in real time during regular business hours can significantly reduce your company’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).
Centralization of Communication by Account
Better still, choose a solution that centralizes all communication in one place. Whether email or chat, choose something that centralizes information. This makes it much easier for anyone on your team to see what’s happening with the customer and respond in kind.
Simple UI/UX
Having a rich feature set is nice, but is it easy to use? Evaluate solutions based on how clean and easy-to-navigate the platform is. A clean interface goes a long way in improving the customer experience and reducing the number of clicks needed to accomplish tasks.
Customer & Peer Feedback
What are other people in your space saying about the billing and invoicing software you’re considering? Think about the tone and specificity used. Look for phrases such as:
- Reduced DSO by a certain amount
- Customer support was responsive and helpful
- Clean integration with accounting software
- Easy to use
- The right features for my market
- Improved team efficiency that freed them up to focus on other tasks
Choose the Right Payment-Processing Solution
Along with innovative AR (accounts receivable) automation that gets you paid faster and bolsters cash flow, Bill360's secure, embedded platform also processes payments for ACH and credit cards, resulting in a seamless process that saves your business up to $2,500 in transaction fees.
