List of features of a billing software

The digitisation of various business processes has helped in the smooth flow of operations consistently. Businesses today tend to opt for software that is customised to suit their business needs. Invoicing software, especially, has to have features that are tailored accordingly.

Features

Generally, billing software is a business application that handles time and billing tracking and invoicing of services and products. Billing software is easy to use and comes with a variety of features that contribute to smooth operations. The features vary from vendor to vendor, but here are some common ones-

• Ability to create masters

Maintaining a master list of products, services, buyers or customers’ contact and address details, GSTINs, purchase orders, etc., is an extremely important feature of billing software. Having a master set of inputs facilitates the quicker and error-free generation of invoices promptly and daily.

• Trail of activities or log

Providing the feature of an activity log helps for better tracking and verification of the work carried out in the billing software. The activity log enables the user to follow or track the tasks and activities performed with regard to a specified period.

• Safety and security

Most of the billing software today uses SSL encryption. For instance, ClearOne uses 128 bit SSL encryption on its cloud backend. SSL encryption ensures protection from hackers. It also ensures that no data is shared with any external parties. The information becomes unreadable to everyone outside the server, thus ensuring no breach of sensitive data.

• Data backup and retrieval

Billing software stores their data on cloud-based servers. Through this, the users can access their data from any device. Say, for instance, your mobile phone crashes, you can always log in through a laptop and recover the data instantaneously.

• Cloud-based software

Cloud-based software means that the application software is hosted over the internet (often called “cloud”). This allows the user to access the data with ease anywhere and anytime and also helps perform and process various functions.

• Varied template options

The availability of pre-defined templates is an essential feature of billing software. The format and content of these pre-defined templates ensure savings in time as well as costs. Export invoices, commercial invoices, tax invoices, credit and debit notes are common templates available.

• Accessibility

Software such as ClearOne, which are cloud-based, also has an app for mobile phones. An interesting feature to be noted is since it is cloud-based, the data on the web and the app will be synced as long as the same mobile number is for logging in. This facilitates convenience as the users can track their invoice related and customer-related data and make alterations to it on the go.

• Sharing

Billing software enables sharing of documents with ease. They usually contain an access link that can be shared with the customers to verify the information. Moreover, the invoices and documents so created and shared are in a ready-to-print format.

• Create invoices and estimates of professional standard

One of the strongest selling points of invoicing software is the ability to create invoices and estimates of a professional standard, thus enhancing the company’s brand image. Customers respond to professionalism, and invoices are also a means of communication with the clients.

• Generation of reports

Billing software enables the user to generate various reports and contains a dashboard with regard to accounting or taxes, as the case may be. This allows the user to keep track of the business operations more efficiently.

• Speed and Accuracy

There is a high potential for calculation-based errors when it comes to a manual billing system. On the other hand, invoicing software offers speed and accuracy with regard to the various arithmetical functions performed.