How to get paid faster with e-invoicing and automation

Want to get paid faster? E-invoicing can help.

Late payments are an issue that most small and medium businesses have to deal with. Our research has shown that more than 30% of United States 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 could be worth considering using an automated invoice payments system or e-invoicing. This can help improve cash flow in your business and limit the obstacles that stop your payments from arriving on time. Invoice payments functionality within accounting software can help to resolve frustrations with payments admin and will make the payments process easier for your customer. Payments processes become much faster within your business – and as a result, you will get paid faster. Here are four ways e-invoicing and automation can help your business.

1. Streamline processes with e-invoicing

Our late payments research highlights that the number one barrier to 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.

1. Limit manual processes and error by automating invoicing

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.

1. Stop the 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.

1. Improve your cash flow visibility with e-invoicing

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 minimized – this makes your cash flow more transparent as you can ensure your numbers are accurate and in updated real 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.

 

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2018 and has be updated for relevance.