I am always surprised when I get a paper invoice – whether it is a personal or business-related bill. Why would a business or organization send a paper invoice?
- they take time to produce (someone has to print them, stuff the envelopes, stamp them and take them to be mailed)
- they take money to produce (ink, paper, envelopes, stamps, staff time)
- they take time to deliver (days not minutes)
- and they are, in these times, MORE likely to get lost than an electronic invoice.
Ok, the last point is an opinion, but look at it this way – how many people handle a piece of mail? How many people handle an email? See what I mean?
There are lots of fancy electronic bill presentment and payment applications but honestly, you don’t need it. Most business owners use
Quickbooks, which has perfectly acceptable email invoice functionality. If you have a specialized invoice there are low-cost tools like
Freshbooks you can use. Heck, if you have a really fancy invoice (and you know who you are) you can at least create it in Word, save as a PDF and email it. You may not save staff time but you certainly will save on hard costs.
So who sends paper invoices? My son’s school, my Rotary club, the lawn service, the pool repair guy, the country club…why do you think that is? What is keeping them from moving to electronic invoices?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Patti Bunker is the president and founder of Clearly Simple Solutions, a technology advisory firm located in Atlanta, GA. She is an executive with over 25 years of technology experience in corporate America, as a consultant and in commercial software development.
She understands both business and technology. Her broad background and varied experience enables her to see easily see the big picture and apply technology creatively to support business goals. Because it is about the business, not the technology.
Now she applies that experience to help smaller businesses to benefit from technology. The result is Clearly Simple Solutions.
About Patti Bunker
Patti Bunker is the president and founder of Clearly Simple Solutions, a technology advisory firm located in Atlanta, GA. She is an executive with over 25 years of technology experience in corporate America, as a consultant and in commercial software development.
She understands both business and technology. Her broad background and varied experience enables her to see easily see the big picture and apply technology creatively to support business goals. Because it is about the business, not the technology.
Now she applies that experience to help smaller businesses to benefit from technology. The result is Clearly Simple Solutions.
I know who I am (pretty invoice girl), but I do email them! Great article, Patti!
I have one client who requests snail mailed invoices. They also sometimes ask me to fax things… Craziness!