Choosing the right automated billing software in Canada can be a difficult task. It should have features like automated billing, progressive billing, custom invoicing templates, analysis, estimates tool, real-time alerts, mobile invoicing, managing accounting standards, creating digital invoices, and user-friendly interfaces.
Automated billing software helps you issue invoices, calculate payments, send reminders, and forecast cash flow more easily. It also helps you make better decisions about buying products.
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Traditional billing software is slow, inefficient, and riddled with human errors such as incorrect pricing, invoice duplication, billing cycle errors, and so on. This is not the case with modern software, which is jam-packed with cutting-edge features and is ideal for automating your billing tasks.
On the surface, billing appears to be a very simple and straightforward concept. When you make a sale, you issue an invoice to the customer, who instantly pays. In reality, it involves extremely complex structures such as pricing variables, a wide range of products, blended business models, currency exchange, and so on. Modern software should be able to manage all of these structures from a single dashboard.
Billing is an essential part of your business; in fact, it is the heart of it. Billing is the process of selling something and receiving payment for it. If you do not properly bill, you may not be paid on time or at all.
Modern software provides a plethora of features in billing software and clearly speaking, people get confused about which features to choose; this blog will guide you through the process of selecting the best-automated billing software in Canada. Here is the list of the top 10 features to look for in billing software.
10 features to look for in billing software:
- Automated billing
The most important feature of billing software is automated billing. This feature can make invoicing easy and error-free. Schedule invoices by entering the necessary information such as name, purchasing quantity, billing amount, billing time and date, and other details. Billing automation also calculates and matches payments with bills, ensuring that everything is up-to-date and easily accessible.
Because of advanced technologies such as AI and ML, the software is capable of automatically sending invoices to clients, categorizing them, entering them into accounts, and filing them for harmonized sales tax. The software examines the biller's choices, learns from them, and then sends the invoice automatically. AI and machine learning are extremely helpful in the billing system.
- Progressive billing
In large projects, multiple invoices and client deposits are required. Construction projects, for example, can take months to complete. This can result in multiple invoices, disorganization, and clients who are unwilling to pay the full amount up front. With the progressive billing feature, you can begin working and the invoice will be generated automatically when the project reaches a milestone.
This leads to consistent cash flow, job motivation, and long-term client engagement. It also offers low-risk options to customers. Using progressive billing, customers are invoiced incrementally throughout the project's life cycle. Customers benefit from pay-as-you-go, and it saves money in the long run. It also improves cash flow throughout the project.
- Custom invoicing templates
Your invoicing software should be able to make you good. Check whether there is a selection of a variety of invoicing templates available or not. In the ideal software, you just need to add a logo and the terms of the payment and you are ready to go.
This feature adds a personal touch to your invoices. Choose an invoice from a collection that has already been uploaded, then alter the colours, fonts, and graphics. To give your personalized template a professional touch, upload your logo! You can also choose your customers' preferred languages and even send invoices in different currencies by allocating different currencies to different accounts.
- Analysis
Modern billing software includes an analysis feature. This feature analyzes the pricing of various products and generates price reports. This feature also forecasts the product's future prices. The software thoroughly analyzes the prices before forecasting them. This feature also helps in forecasting the cash flow. This software helps store owners make purchasing decisions at the right time. Let's look at an example to better understand this feature:
The store owner enters all of the product prices into the software. As the prices of many products rise in the summer, store owners adjust the prices of several items. The software thoroughly analyzes the various price variations and notifies the store owner that the pricing of this product will rise at this time. As a result, the store owner can buy those products ahead of time and generate more revenue.
- Estimates tool
This feature is advantageous to both you and your client. With this feature, you can directly share the project's estimates and quotes. By simply clicking the convert button, the software converts the estimates into invoices. You can also include discounts and payment terms in the invoice. Many software includes pre-made estimate templates from which you can choose and easily send estimates.
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Real-time alerts
This built-in feature assures that you will be paid on time. When a payment is due, this feature sends a real-time notification. The software alerts you when the client opens the receipts. This feature can also be used to send reminders to your clients and remind them when their payments are due. The software also sends real-time stock management alerts.
Collection of payment is a tedious and time-consuming task. Despite this, more than a third of invoices are unpaid, and sending a considerate reminder is the first step in getting your money back. You can lessen your load by using smart billing software. Because it manages your invoice reconciliation, it is aware of which invoices are unpaid. The system may send you an email reminder when an unpaid invoice is about to expire or has already reached its expiration date.
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Mobile invoicing
In the present day, mobile phones are widely used. Mobile phones are frequently used by people. The ideal software should be capable of creating invoices directly from a mobile device. The ability to issue bills immediately makes this feature useful for tradespeople.
Many software also includes cloud integration capabilities. This means that the software automatically backs up all data to the cloud, freeing up internal storage space. Accessibility is another advantage of cloud integration. If you have permission to access the data, you can access it from anywhere at any time. Your work becomes more flexible and accessible with this feature.
- Managing various accounting standards
Accounting software should be capable of managing all accounting structures. Regardless of your client's needs or the different types of billing accounts, it is critical that you maintain some level of control. Always choose an automated billing system that allows you to create custom account types and manage complex account structures, such as parent-child account structures, for your company. Accounting standards are subject to change, so the software should be kept up to date with the most recent accounting standards. The software should also be capable of automatically filing accounts for audit trails.
- Create digital invoices
Instead of emailing invoices, the software should be able to send them as a link that directs your clients to a web page. There are numerous benefits to creating digital invoices, which are as follows:
- You can make as many changes to the invoices as you want; there's no need to send a bunch of emails for each modification.
- You can incorporate online payments into the payment link, allowing the client to send money directly from the link without having to deposit it in a bank.
- Every time the client clicks on the link, you receive a notification, indicating that the client is concerned about the due date.
- Customers can pay you instantly without visiting their bank's website or calling you because a payment link is integrated into the invoices, resulting in faster payments and direct accounting.
- User friendly
The software's interface should be simple, quick, and easy to use. Using fast-load software has many advantages because if the software is slow, all of your activities may be slowed down, which is not ideal for a fast-paced organization. The software interface should be simple to use so that all levels of employees can use it.
The software company should provide 24/7 support services. There are chances that a software has bugs or errors. There's a chance that the software has bugs or errors. The ideal billing software company should provide customers with 24-hour support. Nobody can ever predict when a flaw or glitch will arise, after all.
