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A Buyer's Guide to Billing & Invoicing Solutions
Billing and Invoicing Software Buyer’s Guide
It’s a normal situation in any business’ accounting department to see lots of bills and invoices coming in and out of their office everyday. If you’re an accountant reading this buyer’s guide right now, you may probably choose to skip reading the rest of the content just go over with your billing and invoicing job routines. Kidding aside, many companies today could still be printing copies of invoices or they’re software could have been automatically generating and sending those invoices direct to the clients. Either ways, bottom line is you always need a dependable Billing and Invoicing system that will cater you and your client’s requirements for those important documents.
In a simple sense, Billing and Invoicing software organizes and manages the billing and invoicing process. But beyond that, we know that it can also be used to track payments, send out statements, accept payments, and track the time of a contractor for billing purposes. Businesses require billing and invoicing software and so are the freelancers, contract workers, and millions of professionals.
Whatever industry or size of business you are into, if you’re looking for the right billing and invoicing solution, we at ITQlick.com can be your dependable partner on that. Through this comprehensive Buyer’s Guide, we will give you more insights on how to choose the right billing and invoicing solution for your business.
Types
Don’t be surprised if we are going to present these various types of billing and invoicing solutions. The intention is for you to categorically know which solution is best and which solution is right. Note that there is a big difference between the two and you should go for the right solution. Let us enumerate these types.
By Deployment Model
Web-based
Open-source
On-premise
By Operating System
Windows
Mac
iPhone
iPad
Android
Linux
Windows Phone
RIM-BlackBerry
Mobile Web App
By Application
Stand-alone
Integrated
Industry-specific
By Customer Types
Small Business
Freelancers
Mid-Size Business
Large Enterprises
Non-profit Organization
Public Administration
By Pricing Model
Free trial
Subscription-based
Premium
One-time License
Again, the intention is for you to be able to determine which billing and invoicing solution is just right for your business. You can use the above lists as entries into your billing and invoicing solution procurement checklist. Discuss it with your accounting and management team and come up with the right solution.
Features
A billing statement has all the information of a sales invoice but includes last payment, balance forward, and total due information. Billing statement is from the buyer’s perspective. Sales Invoice is from the vendor’s perspective. The reason for bringing this up is for the main reason of identifying which foot you are in, what your basic needs are, and what solution is really for you. It could be a billing and invoicing software with full-pack features or it could be software with fewer billing or invoicing features. To better understand this, here are the features to look for in a billing and invoicing software solution.
Invoicing Features
These features are the ability to create customized and branded invoices, automatic invoice creation and delivery to client, and get one time or batch invoice generation.
Billing and Payment Features
These features are the ability to track billable work hours and expenses, manage delayed payment, bill according to industry and pricing model, and support one time bills, recurrent billing and/or payment schedules.
Additional Features
These features are the ability to integrate the solution with your existing system (ex. CRM), generate electronic version (ex. PDF and HTML), convert into other financial-related documents (ex. Letter of Credit, purchase order, bill of materials, etc.), store and record customer details, see reports and access accounts remotely, provide security for mobile, networked and cloud applications, and get help and support from the solution provider whenever needed.
Solutions per Business Size, per Vendor
From the various types of billing and invoicing software solutions we presented earlier, roughly, you could have already narrowed down your search for the right solution. Assuming that that’s the case, let us give you some more tips, this time, on the right vendors/solutions to consider.
BillQuick, Zoho Invoice, Invoice2go, and Express Invoice are cloud-based solutions. For small to mid-size businesses, Wave, Freshbooks, and Harvest can be the options. Billing Platform, ATG, LogiSense, Accenture, and TransNexus are great to explore and consider enterprise solution providers. Other solutions that offer excellent platforms are Quickbooks Intuit, Google Apps, Open API, Salesforce, and Citrix.
If you are looking for better and smarter solutions, visit us at ITQlick.com. When it comes to choosing the right tools for your business, we are the right partner to consult. We have the right software solution to recommend.
Pricing Considerations
There are different pricing models available for billing and solution software. They vary depending on business size, features, and even the reputation of that brand in the market. In fact, there are free software solutions available. Cloud-based solutions offered base on monthly subscription start from $20 up to around a $100. There are many important factors that affect the pricing model of a business solution. When it comes to billing and invoicing solution, these factors are:
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Number of Invoices you can send to client
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Number of clients you can manage into your account
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Number of automatically generated invoices that are used to send identical invoices to clients as per the occurrence and frequency set by you
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Auto-billing or getting paid automatically once an invoice is sent out
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Number of additional staff who can access your account and can perform the tasks as per permission set by you
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Size of document you will upload into your account
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Adding of Project/Time sheets feature
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Incorporating other API to access our account
As enumerated earlier, you always have the option to choose between subscription-based or one-time payment for licensing. Assess your requirements and go for the solution that is just right for your budget.
Market Trends
The truth is that the billing and invoicing solution industry has been showing a small decline in the past few years. However, the sectors of SaaS and mobile-based solutions are both showing positive signs of growth. We can see more good news from these sectors.
About two years ago, the e-Invoicing trend was reported to increase by 14%. Today, e-Billing and e-Invoicing, which both promotes a paperless society, still continues to evolve.
Expect some changes in the billing and invoicing methods in the next couple of years. At present, billing and invoicing solutions providers are being challenged by the trends in the industry and this situation calls for more improvement actions on their part. We are about to witness these improvements in the next couple of years.
ITQlick chart - 2024 best Billing & Invoicing Software
Finding the right Billing & Invoicing software for your business
Proper Billing & Invoicing software selections are the precursor to successful deployment and business growth. Finding the right Billing & Invoicing solutions doesnít have to be complicated, and it doesnít have to take days or weeks of your time.
After researching over 5,000 systems, we can identify the best solution for companies of all shapes and sizes. ITQlick.com is 100% free for software buyers.