In case you own or manage a tiny business enterprise, you know just how much time is usually spent chasing down paper invoices, obtain orders and sales reports. It might be a actual nightmare! That’s where billing software program comes in. It allows you to record all of your consumers, sales, invoices, inventory, suppliers (and additional) in a PC-based method that is simple to utilize.

Deciding that you need to have to invest in superior top quality billing software just isn’t hard. The tricky part could be picking out the best software program package for your specifications. You can find dozens of systems on the market claiming to be the holy grail of all of your small business difficulties, but deciding on the wrong one can expense you useful time and funds.

Here’s a simple checklist of 11 items to look for when purchasing billing software program for your modest company:

1) Consumer records This really is the core element of any billing system. What sort of information and facts do you have to record about your prospects? There is the obvious things like address, telephone, fax, mobile, e-mail and internet address. But what about marketing-related details like “how did the consumer obtain out about your enterprise?”, and “standard discounts” for key customers.

2) Many contacts & Communication history If many of your customers are businesses with many contacts, can you record individual contact details for each person? Word of mouth may be the most powerful form of advertising, and statistics show that 1 of the most important factors in consumer satisfaction is excellent customer service. Have you thought about keeping a log of all communication with your buyers? It can be extremely helpful for improving internal communication within your business, and results in a extra personalised service for your clients.

3) Many shipments Obviously your billing software will require to create sales orders – that’s a gimme. But do you must record employee-related facts, like who the “salesperson” was? What about flexible dispatch options, like various shipments per sales order?

4) Search facility There’s no point recording all this really useful info if there’s no straightforward way to get to it. Check that the search facility is flexible and simple to make use of. What criteria can you search by? Here are a couple useful fields you may want to make use of: customer phone number, consumer address, order date, dispatch date and dispatch consignment number.

5) Tax & regional support Are you able to change the tax rates on an order line basis? What about currency formatting? If you and your customers are in Europe, then there is no point using billing software that can only handle US dollars.

6) Reporting Producing accurate reports in seconds is something you no longer have to dream about. In fact it is a necessity in today’s competitive marketplace. Ensure your billing software can calculate info on sales based on date, salesperson and customer type. If you operate a B2B company, another crucial performance indicator may be dispatch totals, based on date, and employee. But one important thing to remember about software program… you can only get out what you put in. So if you are looking for a specific report, make sure that info is being recorded by your billing software program package.

7) Backup I’ve seen first-hand how devastating a hardware failure can be. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of data is often destroyed in seconds… for those who do not have a backup procedure in place. Ensure you select a billing software package that has a built-in backup utility or works with your current backup program.

8) Online help & support If you’re a new computer user, then you’ll definitely require a software program package that has a comprehensive online and easy-to-use help program. Also check out what direct technical support is available through the vendor. Some software program companies charge very high fees for personal support, so ensure you include this in your budget.

9) Budget How much are you going to spend? That really depends on the complexity of the software program package you are looking for. Smaller software program packages could be found under US$100, and larger more complex packages can cost well over US$3000. Take a look at the number of customers you have, the number of sales orders you process, and choose a solution that fits your organization.

10) Customisations Should you purchase an off-the-shelf billing software package, you may require minor customisations to suit your unique small business processes and industry. Some software program vendors offer customisations at quite reasonable prices. But ensure you include this price in your budget.

11) Other features What else do you want from you billing software program? If you deal with fixed price products, you may need to have a comprehensive inventory management program allowing you to acquire stock, manage inventory levels and supplier relations. Some excellent software program packages also include a useful follow-up diary, allowing you to keep track of tasks and assign them to other staff members.

When picking out a billing software package for your company, make sure you check that it offers everything your organization needs. And then the only thing you’ll have to worry about is what to do with all of your newly found spare time!