How to get paid faster with automation and e-invoicing

Want to get paid faster? Late payments is an issue that most small and medium businesses have to deal with. Our recent research into late payments has shown that more than 50% of UK SMEs experience or expect to experience a negative impact on company investment, their ability to pay their suppliers and their ability to pay staff an annual bonus as a result of being paid late.

If your business is experiencing the negative effects of being paid late, it might be worth considering using an automated invoice payments system or e-invoicing within your accounting software. This will help to improve cash flow in your business and tackle the obstacles that stop your payments from arriving on time.

Having an invoice payments functionality within the accounting software you use will help to resolve frustrations with payments admin and will make the payments process easier for your customer, meaning payments processes become much faster within your business – as a result, you will get paid faster. Here are four ways it can help your business.

No more chasing late payments

Our late payments research highlights that the number one barrier for getting customers to pay late invoices is the fear of ruining customer relationships. Invoice payments can streamline this process by creating an invoice with a “Pay Now” button, which can be paid immediately wherever your customers are.

For example, Sage Business Cloud Accounting with new integrated invoice payment functionality, powered by Stripe, allows your business to create invoices with the Pay Now feature – making it easier for your customers to pay on time. It also ensures you can take payments directly from your invoices.

No more manual processes

Is your business frustrated by the amount of time it takes to manually enter transactions, while having to question the accuracy of the output? Using innovative fintech with invoicing functionality can get rid of this burden.

Invoice payments can be automatically updated within the accounting software system, which eliminates admin and the chance of human error and means you don’t have to keep track of who has paid and who hasn’t as your accounting software will do it for you.

No more guesswork

Processing payments with systems such as Stripe or PayPal only take minutes to set up and are simple and easy to use, which can be great for your business, freeing you from the need to deal with a complicated payment process. By integrating these systems into your accounting software, it’s easy to start taking payments on your invoices straight away.

Get paid faster and improve the visibility of your cash flow

Using automated payments and e-invoicing, payment is quick and easy. Payments can be as simple as one click, which eliminates some of the obstacles to getting paid on time. This means no more awkward conversations with your customers and no strained client relationships.

Due to the automated process of e-invoicing, human error and customer disputes are minimised – this makes your cash flow more transparent as you can ensure your numbers are accurate and in updated real time.

More tips to help you get paid on time

If you want to know more about tackling the issue of late payments within your business, take a look at our late payments report, which highlights why customers pay late, the impact on businesses and what you can do to tackle the problem.

Check out our guide for managing your cash flow for advice on creating transparency within your finances and making sure you stay on top of them.

If you’re still chasing payments for your business, which can mean you lose time needed to grow your firm, don’t despair – follow these useful tips on recovering an unpaid invoice.

And for help on creating an invoice in the first place, this invoice cheat sheet will put your business in good stead.

What are your personal experiences with dealing with late payments? Are you able to tackle them effectively and get paid faster? Let us know in the comments section below.