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Chris Maxcer

Guide to Automating Your Billing System

If you automate, you can focus on your core business


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As your business grows and gains new customers, the relatively simple act of billing and receiving can get out of hand. However, by automating your billing system, you can save time and improve the efficiency of the process.

If you have a business where your customers are billed the same amount at regular intervals, a fully automated recurring bill-pay system is the way to go. For companies offering a wider variety of products or services at different price points, a more hands-on system that helps you track and send bills is the best bet. Popular billing options include:

  1. Email billing
  2. Automatic withdrawal from customer bank accounts
  3. Automatic credit card charges
  4. Bills mailed through a contract with a third-party service.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use Electronic Options for Greatest Efficiency


If you can switch all of your customers to electronic billing, you can eliminate the need for paper invoices and achieve a better return on investment.

I recommend: Check out services like Intuit QuickBooks Billing Solutions, Authorize.net Merchant Solutions, EIPPRO, PaymentOnline, etransactus, 2ndSite.

Choose a Processor That Can Accommodate Multiple Options


If some of your customers prefer print invoices over electronic or vice-versa, look for a single solution provider who can handle both.

I recommend: Check out Billing Pros and Canada-based GoBilling.

Send Professional Invoices Via PayPal


PayPal lets you send electronic invoices but isn't fully automated for recurring billing. You can also integrate QuickBooks invoices to automatically create e-mail invoices with click-to-pay buttons.

I recommend: Use PayPal's Payment Request Wizard for QuickBooks or PayPal.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

  • Sending e-mail bills that offer an option to pay instantly can be efficient and cost-effective, but it also has two problems: Your customers may not be ready to receive and process invoices via e-mail, and your invoices may get filtered by anti-spam solutions and not get properly noticed by your customers. Choose your automatic billing solution based on your customer needs.
  • Some billing services let you use their online billing and e-mail billing services for free but charge a fee for paper bill processing. Since many businesses need a blend of electronic and paper billing, make sure you understand the costs of each fully before you spend too much time learning to use a particular system.
  • If a third-party solution provider has access to your customer accounts, make sure adequate security features are in place to protect your customers before you begin using their automated billing services.
  • While e-mail billing can be the most appealing option on the surface, some customers may have concerns about receiving e-mail bills due to fraudulent phishing scams.

The official source of Automating Your Billing System is
the Billing Software page at Business.com

Featured Vendors

Time & Billing Software
Track billable and non-billable hours. Create invoices and reports efficiently. Manage your customers, projects and tasks easily.
www.BillQuick.com

Web Based Medical Billing Solution
Top-ranked, web-based billing solution. Reduce A/R. Increase collections. Get paid faster. No upfront license fees. Visit now for a free online demo.
www.athenahealth.com

Billing Software for Medical Practices from Sage Software
Sage Software’s solutions streamline billing processes & keep cash flow steady. Quickly & easily know the status of claims and rework rejected claims.
www.sagehealth.com

Billing Software
Offers time billing and invoicing software for service industry professionals such as lawyers, engineers, accountants, programmers, and consultants.
billingtracker.com

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On-demand Web application regulates purchasing, payables, and time & expenses.

Timesheet software manages time and expense billing.

Billing software system for small to medium-sized businesses.

Goldenseal software for small businesses allocates time and materials to different projects.

Service-industry professionals can manage time billing and invoicing.

Readsoft captures and classifies all kinds of invoices on paper or electronic format.

Designed to capture, verify and store invoice information. Taskmaster dynamically locates data on every invoice, extracting and validating all important data fields.

Sage provides a variety and time tracking, billing, and expense applications, including Carpe Diem, Timeslips, Simply Accounting Pro, and Peachtree Complete or Pro versions.

QuickBooks Pro and Premier versions bill time & expenses.

Time and expense solutions integrate with billing and payroll.

BillQuick is flexible time billing and project management software for the service industry.

Both simple timesheet software and time tracking software with invoicing and expense tracking are offered.


 Best Sites to Learn MoreBack to top 

List of white papers covering a variety of billing and invoicing issues.


  Best Blogs and Forums Back to top 

Posts feature general and Timesheets MTS Software-related information.


  CommentsBack to top 

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