WHY E-INVOICING? 12 BENEFITS OF E-INVOICING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
e-Invoicing is now replacing the conventional paper-based invoices. Although it is not perfect, its advantages far outweigh its disadvantages. In this article, we give twelve reasons why you should change from paper invoices to e-invoices. But before then you should know what an invoice is:
An electronic invoice is a type of digital invoice which is created in the vendor’s invoicing system, bank or otherwise in a web-based format. This invoice can then be downloaded or sent directly to the client’s software. The popular formats in which invoice come include XML and EDI. It is a structured document and excludes data formats such as PDF, Excel or Word. It also excludes OCR-processed documents and scanned paper-based invoices.
Now to the cogent reasons why you should start using e-invoice.
- Save Time
Several procedures are skipped with the use of e-invoicing therefore you can save a lot of your time, as well as that of your client, by using e-invoicing.
- Reduce costs
e-invoicing means that you do not have to spend on paper or postal charges because you can send the document directly to your client without printing it.
- Minimize Errors
When you use the e-invoicing option, you eliminate the errors associated with human input. Typographical errors and other mistakes will be reduced and you do not need to fear that the invoice might get lost in the mail.
- Provide Better Customer Service
An
e-invoice is flexible and can be made in formats which are applicable to the
client’s preferred platform. It saves time, which affords the customer to have
more chances of utilizing the incentives on offer for settling their accounts
early.
- Get Paid Faster
When you process and send the invoice to your customer in no time, it will encourage the customer topay faster because it would be easier to do so.
- Reduce Paper Usage
Of course you would not want to waste paper resources when the option of processing and sending invoices electronically is available.
- Easier to Monitor Invoices
You can easily keep track of your invoices when you use an e-invoicing software. You get to know the status of the invoice, i.e. whether it has been sent, delivered, viewed and paid for. Hence you can know whether the invoice has been received and checked at the other end.
- A Higher Degree of Control and Insight into the
Invoicing Process
An online invoicing platform enables you to save all documents in a single place, which you can access and retrieve at any time or place using any device.
- It is Endorsed by Several countries
A lot of countries in the world are now enacting laws which require business deals to be recorded in an electronic invoice format. Such countries include Brazil and Mexico. All public agencies of countries in the EU will start receiving e-invoice from their suppliers starting from April 2019 while the US Department of treasury has mandated its agencies to use e-invoicing.
- Easy to Customize
e-invoicing makes it possible for you to produce very good invoices without having to waste time editing spreadsheets
- More Secure Data
When
you use e-invoicing you are increasing your client’s confidence that they are
dealing with you and not another person. This is because your signature
authenticated in the e-invoice automatically.
- Other People Are Also using It
The use of e-invoicing is now becoming popular all over the world. You should therefore start using it immediately because it is just a matter of time before your clients start to demand for it, if they have not started doing that already.
