Last editedApr 20222 min read
Outdated billing systems not only use up lots of precious time, but can halt business growth.
Automated billing provides small businesses with a way to maximize revenue and scale up their operations. An automated billing system can handle large volumes of transactions and help companies stay compliant – no matter where they do business in the world.
In this post, we’ll look at the benefits of adopting an automated billing system and discuss some features to look out for when you’re selecting one. Â
Automated billing software vs manual billing
Businesses often have to deal with a mixture of one-off purchases and recurring billing. When growing a business, managing the increasing volume of transactions can become a burden for employees, leaving them with little time left to oversee other crucial business operations.
Automated billing can help to rectify the situation. An automated billing system is not just there to file invoices, it can help to reconcile payments, track revenue, streamline collections and produce useful reports. An automated billing software can also assist you when it comes to tax management and make payment retries should a payment fail.
Benefits of an automated billing system
Automated billing software can help you accelerate your growth in multiple ways:
Streamline pricing: If you offer multiple pricing models, as is the case with many SaaS based companies, automated billing provides you with a scalable billing infrastructure that can support various pricing tiers and reduce the need to spend endless time overseeing them manually. An automated billing software frees companies up to experiment at various pricing levels, with the option to change prices instantaneously.
Increase reach: Growing companies will need to support more and more payment methods and payment gateways. Automated billing software allows businesses to easily process transactions in multiple currencies and calculate taxes based on geographical location. Automated billing helps ensure compliance by reacting in real-time to global taxation updates.
Track finances: It’s crucial to understand how money is flowing in and out of your business. However, recognizing revenue manually can be complex, even for highly qualified finance teams. Accuracy is also important when entering your financial statements and reports. Automated billing can help you recognize and forecast revenue accurately so you can stay compliant with IFRS standards.
Reduce lost revenue: With automated billing software you no longer have to identify and follow up card failures to recover lost revenue. Automated billing software can send out automatic reminders and payment retries to let customers know they need to update their payment methods, so you can get your payments back on track.
What to look for in automated billing software
When you’re on the lookout for an automated billing system make sure it offers the following features:
Invoice customization: This means you can adjust bills when required, or offer discounts, etc., as well as change the look of your bills to reflect your brand.
Report generation: This is an important feature, to help you capture and examine customer behavior, as well as predict cash flow. You can instantly see which customers are frequent late payers, and address the issue head on.
In-built accounting competency: This feature means that you can compile lists of bills paid, see when they were settled, and the amounts paid. If you’re a smaller business, software can replace an accountant, which can cut costs. Your software should also be able to generate emails for tax statements, and ensure your records are accurate.
The benefits of billing automation cannot be overstated. Amongst other things, it can help ensure you receive your billables on time, simplify complex payment processes, and help you to seamlessly scale your business.
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.
