Billing software is computer application that allows user to generate invoices for their sales or services.
Who does need this software?
In India, most of the shop owners use manual bills which is not only time consuming but comes with a lot of struggles. You will not only have to do the calculation all by yourself, but it also becomes harder to keep track of all the expenses.
After all these things, the biggest struggles come when you are filing your taxes. Manual bills will take a lot of time to process. Instead, if you have software that generates the bills for you, you will not have to worry about filing the taxes. The taxes will be done in no time as the software will automatically calculate the taxes.
Some of the advantages of billing software will also provide you with direct reports for taxes. In this way, with just a few clicks, you can easily generate the reports.
The type of software you should get will depend on the number of customers you have and the amount of turnover you have. If you are having a lot of turnovers, you should go with the software that has all the modules including taxes and financing modules.
For others, you can go with the normal ones.
If you are still wondering what exactly comes in the invoicing software, we will now discuss the features that you will get. Please note that these features will depend on the software you get. You can go with the one that suits your requirements, and which is perfect for you.
(a) Generate Bill/Invoice
The first and the obvious feature you will get is to generate the bills. You can easily enter the product’s name and it will automatically generate the bills.
First, you will have to add the products and their prices to the software. You can also add respective barcodes for it about which we will talk later.
For starters, you can add all your products. Some software also allows you to import directly through an Excel sheet. Once the products are added, you can just write the first few letters of the product name or enter the ID to get the product. Enter the quantity and it will automatically calculate the bills.
(b) Inventory Management
The next feature you will get is the inventory management. The best way to keep track of all the products that are going out of your store is by keeping an eye on the bills.
It will show the left-out stocks for each product. Some of the advanced billing software will also notify you when the product is out of stock or is almost about to go out of stock. So, these will help you keep track of all the products and none of your customers will ever say “We don’t have those”. Additionally, it removes the need to have multiple books for tracking inventory.
(c) Accounting Modules
As we have already mentioned above, the accounting modules allow you to record all transaction. However, it is not just limited to taxes. You can also get the complete revenue reports with the profits and losses that your company or organisation is making. With the right KPIs and reports, you can make the accounts stronger.
(d) POS, Print, and Online Billing
Further, the billing software will automatically send invoice via WhatsApp and print the bill as per your need.
The bill printing can be done in the labels or it can be done in a long bill. You can get the printer accordingly.
Today, most of the software comes with the POS modules. So, if you have a Point-of-Sale system, the software will also be useful there. In this way, you can get the bill in any form you want. With this module, you can add the barcode scanner. When you scan the barcode, the invoicing system will detect the item and display the price. So, it will make the software faster.
(e) Cloud and Backups
Lastly, billing software is usually cloud-based. So, the data is stored in the cloud. Different branches can use the software. If they are not based in the cloud, you can surely upload the data in the cloud. So, you don’t need to worry about keeping the old files. All your data will be stored in the software.
Difference Between Billing Software and Business Software
People even wonder if business software is the same as billing software. However, they are both different from each other and good in their way. In this section, we will see the major differences between these two.
A billing management system is used to generate bills, record transaction, and manage the inventory. However, all these are connected to the bills you generate. So, the primary aim of billing management system is to manage the bills.
On the other hand, business management software’s main aim is to manage the major business operations that you are doing daily. It’s a complete all-in-one software where you can manage your clients, expenses, accounts, salaries of your employees, products, etc. The data is stored in the cloud.
In simple words, we can say that invoicing software is the front side of the business which is used for the customers whereas management software is the back side of the business which is used to manage the core operations of the business.
Both of them are necessary. However, most of the business doesn’t have any billing management software. On the positive side, you can easily integrate the business billing application with the business. When you do the same, the data will be in sync with each other.
So, The business should hire the accounting software as per their business operation. If you are a growing business and you are wondering which one you should get then here is the comparison.
You should get the billing software if you have a lot of customers and a lot more turnover. On the other hand, you should get the accounting software if there are a lot of backend things you are managing. For instance, a supermarket will mostly need invoicing system.
However, a more complex business model such as logistics will need supply chain management software. Therefore, it’s highly recommended to get both of these software that works along with each other. In this way, you can get maximum benefits from the software, and it will save you time and money.
Summary
To conclude, this was all about the billing software and how it’s useful for invoicing. It helps you generate the invoice and keep track of all the expenses that you have made keeping the main bills in mind. There are different types of invoice software such as POS, cloud, etc.
So, if you are a big business, you should get billing management software that can integrate with the accounting operation. It’s always recommended to get the business software along with the billing features if you are a medium to large enterprise.
Rishit Bhatt is a content strategist and a professional writer with a keen interest in technology and tech-enabled businesses. He aims to help businesses integrate tech into their on-premises infrastructure with technical documentation and helpful articles.