If you own a business, it’s likely that you’ve had to deal with generating invoices at some point. When it comes to managing your finances, generating invoices can be time consuming and cumbersome. However, if you choose an invoicing software that fits your needs and budget, the process will be automated so that it becomes a breeze!
In this article, I’ll be showing you the key factors to consider when choosing an invoicing software for your business.
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Factors To Consider When Choosing An Invoicing Software
Generating invoices and general finance recording can be time and energy consuming, but if you choose a good invoicing platform, you are assured of a well automated process and easier record keeping.
Here are eight points to consider when choosing an invoicing platform:
1. Make A List Of Your Needs
Once you’ve figured out what your business needs are, it’s time to make a list of those needs. Do you need invoice for your customers? Do you need to create estimates and quotes? Do you need a project management tool?
Once your list is complete, go through each item on the list one by one and decide which solution best meets each and all or most of those needs.
2. Begin Your Research
After establishing the accounting needs of your business, it’s important to do your homework. There are a lot of options out there and the least you can do to narrow your options is to carry out some research. Some ways you can research are:
- Type “accounting software for businesses” in search engine and see the results that come up. I wrote a comprehensive article about that here.
- Look at reviews and ratings of the applications before making any decisions about which invoicing software is right for you. You may also want to check out each program’s features, including what kind of functionality they offer (e.g., automatic bill generation) or how easy they are for users with different levels of expertise in accounting, finance, etc.
- Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations on which accounting software they use. This will help narrow down your options based on real world experience rather than just theoretical conjecture from someone who isn’t actually using these applications themselves.
3. Check The Price And The Available Packages
There are different types of invoicing software to choose from, and you can find them in a variety of price ranges. You may want to consider cloud-based or premise-based solutions, depending on your needs. For example, if you’re just starting out and don’t have many clients yet (or if you don’t want to pay for extras), then it might be best not to spend too much money on an enterprise level solution. On the other hand, if your business grows quickly and becomes more complex over time—or if your staff has grown significantly—then having an enterprise level solution will make sense for you.
4. Set Your Budget
After beginning your search for invoicing software and getting a fair idea of the cost of using some invoicing software, you should set a budget. This will help narrow your options down further and ensure that you don’t spend more than what is reasonable and necessary for your business.
- Set a budget for the software itself: You’ll need to factor in the cost of licensing, updates and support. Make sure this isn’t too high or else it could put a damper on growth plans in the future.
- Make sure there are no hidden costs: Many companies assume they can just use whatever invoicing program they want without having any idea of where their money goes each month—but there might be some unexpected charges like taxes that aren’t accounted for by calculating taxes based on sales revenue alone (which is how most people think about them). To avoid surprises later down the road when trying to figure out how much money has been spent on maintenance fees over time, save yourself some hassle by setting aside some funds ahead of time so those monthly bills don’t disrupt the flow of business.
5. Decide whether you need a cloud-based or premise-based solution
There are two main types of invoicing software: cloud-based and premise-based.
Cloud-based accounting software
Cloud-based accounting software, also known as SaaS(Software as a service) are more flexible and cheaper, as they don’t require a server to run on. However, you’ll have to pay more for the service if you want to avoid running your own servers or installing software on them. Cloud-based solutions can also be accessed from any device (as long as there’s internet access). The downside? If something goes wrong with your data center or network, it can cause problems for your business because all its data is stored in one place—and that might not be where you need it right now.
Premise-based accounting software
Premise-based accounting software on the other hand, otherwise known as on-premise accounting program is a software that is set up with the company’s financial database on a local server. It accomplishes the goal and is just deployed once. Over time, as the system ages, updates and enhancements are only made when new licenses are bought.
The location of the program is essentially what differentiates cloud-based software from premise-based software. Cloud software is hosted on the vendor’s server and accessed using a web browser, whereas on-premise software is locally installed on the PCs and servers of your company.
Analyzing both cloud and on-premise accounting software carefully is necessary. Before choosing the one to settle for to meet your financial goals, it is important to understand the needs of your company. There are additional factors besides just the cost of the purchase, that you should take into account.
6. Consider The Integration Options
When choosing an invoicing software, you should also consider the integration options of the software. It is important to look at a system that integrates other software or applications that serve other functions like HR and payroll. This will enable you to save time and money by automating tasks such as invoicing employees if they leave or get promoted.
You may want a payment gateway integrated into your invoicing platform so that clients can make payments without leaving the invoice page (and without having to enter their credit card details again). Another benefit is that some gateways offer auto-renewal features which means customers don’t need to always renew their subscription from one company because the process is automated – this is convenient and energy-saving.
7. Evaluate The User-Interface (UI) And User Experience (UX) Of The Software
When you’re evaluating the user-interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of an invoicing software, you’re looking at how easy it is for your employees and customers to use.
You want a program that will make things easier for everyone on your team—especially if you have multiple people working together in one place. If the software proves hard to manouvre, it might pose a problem to the team as time should be spent on important aspects of running the business rather than teaching people how to use an accounting software.
Another reason the software should be easy and friendly to use is that it minimizes the risk of errors that might arise from complications on the user interface.
8. Pay Attention To Customer Support
Customer support is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing an invoicing software. You should look for a company that offers great customer support, because this makes it easier for you to get in touch with them if you have any questions or issues with their product.
There are many ways to find out if a company has good customer support:
- Ask around on social media–Do people who have used the product recommend it? If so, ask why they like it and what their experience was like when using it. This will give you an idea about how well-known the company is among its users and how much value they place on customer satisfaction.
- Research online about past experiences with similar products from other companies–Look up reviews from customers who have purchased similar products from different companies such as Intuit Canada Inc., QuickBooks Canada Limited or Xero Software Inc., which may show some differences between each one’s quality levels based upon reviews written by real people who actually used them.
Final Thoughts on How to Choose an Invoicing Software for your Business
We hope this post has given you some insight into our top picks for invoicing software. We’re big advocates of using these tools to simplify your work, which is why we recommend them to so many business owners. They can help you get things done faster and more efficiently so that you have time to focus on other important parts of running a business.