What Is an E-Billing System?

Moving beyond paper bills and check payments is vital for modern businesses. The convenience of electronic billing, or e-billing, ensures that your business gets paid in a quicker, more secure way. But what is an e-billing system? Find out everything you need to know about e-billing software and the benefits of e-billing systems, right here.

Understanding e-billing

E-billing refers to the process of receiving and paying bills online. There are lots of different e-billing software packages available for businesses, although it’s important to remember that for e-billing software to function effectively, several integrations are required, including integrations with your banking system and the customer’s bill paying system. So, if you’re using e-billing to receive payments, what can you expect from the process? Essentially, your e-billing software will generate bills automatically. These bills will be forwarded to the payer (either via an online portal or email). Then, the payer will pay their bill – it’s that simple.

E-bills contain all the same information as physical bills (in many cases, e-bills are simply PDF versions of physical bills), including the date, amount, the due date, payment terms, and so on. It should also include a link or instructions on how to access your business’s payment portal.

What are the benefits of e-billing solutions?

There are a range of benefits associated with e-billing software. Firstly, it’s cheaper than manual invoicing. Because the process is automated, you can eliminate the time- and labour-intensive process of manually inputting data into your computer system. Plus, e-billing systems reduce the margin for error, making your business more efficient and stopping you from losing revenue as a result of misplaced invoices or human accounting errors.

It’s also important to note that e-billing systems are far more environmentally friendly than manual billing processes. Why? It’s pretty simple – since e-billing dramatically reduces your reliance on paper, you’ll be able to cut your business’s overall CO2 emissions. Furthermore, reducing paper use within your company can produce cost savings (i.e., ink, printing, postage, file storage, office space) and increase your efficiency by reducing clutter and boosting digital collaboration within your team.

E-billing solutions are also likely to be appreciated by your client base. Customers are sure to appreciate the convenience of handling billing online, and because e-billing ensures faster payments, it’s likely to improve the client’s overall experience of working with your company. Furthermore, you should be able to combine your e-billing system with your CRM (customer relationship management) software, enabling you to track key data regarding your customers (i.e., buying preferences, lifetime customer value, etc.). Use this to segment your customers and finetune your approach to marketing.

What’s the difference between e-billing and e-invoicing?

E-billing solutions and e-invoicing might seem to cover similar ground, but there’s a pretty clear difference between the two processes. In short, e-invoicing has a much narrower definition. While e-billing software covers the entire process by which bills are generated, submitted, and payment is received, e-invoicing is usually used purely to process invoices and submit them to your company’s system of record. As such, e-invoicing lacks the tracking capability that many e-billing systems offer.  

What type of business uses e-billing?

Although many different types of businesses can take advantage of e-billing solutions, it’s particularly beneficial for businesses that send recurring bills to customers. This is because, as we mentioned above, e-billing software allows you to automate the billing process, helping to streamline invoicing.

We can help

GoCardless helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of admin your team needs to deal with when chasing invoices. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.