What Is Billing Management System - Definition & Features

What is Billing Management System?

The billing system is the most crucial part of the sales process in any business. A lot of efforts & thoughts go into setting up a powerful streamlined billing system. In the new modern world, the billing system or commonly referred to as billing software has been prominent in helping businesses to improve their efficiency in business processes.

What is The Definition of Billing Management System?

A billing management system is a combination of software & hardware designed to handle invoicing for services & products as well as time bill tracking. Billing management system includes procedures and processes that help create bills and invoices for customers. Billing systems allow sending bills and invoices to the customers offline and online. It helps the business owner's in a comprehensive manner to keep a track of multiple invoice and accounts just by few clicks. Businesses irrespective of size need to have billing management system software for the following reasons:

• Optimization of business processes
• To keep track of sales and payments
• To generate error-free bills and invoices
• To manage cash effectively

What are The Salient Features of The Billing Management System?

Customizable

Requirement of billing & invoices is different for different businesses. Billing system must have the flexibility to customize invoices so that it could include all the required details & brand identity.

Data Backup

Billing system creates the master data of ledger & amounts. It also creates automatic backup offline or online to keep your data safe & secure. Billing management systems also provide easy data access for tax returns & other usages.

GST Compliance

GST is levied on most of the business category & the businesses have to follow GST filing and compliances regularly. Billing system is overloaded with the feature that actually simplifies the e-invoicing & GST return filing process.

Reporting

Reporting is another crucial task for the business managers. No matter what, generating correct & timely reports is very crucial. Billing systems help generate multiple reports. This helps the business owners to take timely informed decisions. Reporting feature of the billing system can save time & cost of preparing reports & give better analysis.

Payments

Billing systems nowadays also include links & QR codes for facilitating online payments via multiple payment options. Billing system also has the provision of auto-posting & easy reconciliation of transactions. Billing management systems are integrated with online banking that makes it easy to do banking transactions from the software. There is no need to visit the banks for any work.

Why Should Businesses Use Billing Management System?

Quick invoices

Due to ready formats & customer data, bills & invoices are created faster using billing software than manual bills. The user can also customize bills/invoices based on requirements with minimal effort. This helps in saving time & cost of billing. In addition, the billing system also has the provision of billing in multiple languages. Generating bills in local languages give a personalized touch to the customers. 

Security

Once the billing system is deployed, user access & roles can be fixed as per the requirement. This helps prevent misuse or leakage of data. This also ensures transparency in the billing system.

Reduce paperwork

Billing system directly reduces the paperwork. It is good for your business as well as good for the planet. Due to automation, most of the processes are done automatically. Billing system makes it easy to keep records in the system. No more heaps of files. This helps immensely in accounting & reports preparation.

Easy payments

The payment process is made more efficient & transparent with the help of online invoices. Billing system also sends automated notifications, emails & reminders to customers for outstandings. This also helps in getting paid without extra effort. Billing system also maintains records of all payments & transactions.

How to Choose & Maintain a Billing Management System?

Choosing a billing system depends on the requirements of each business. A small business may have different requirement, a large business might have varied needs. Depending on the needs, a billing system must be chosen. It should also be kept in mind that the billing system should be flexible enough to grow with the business.

Business owners must ensure the billing system consists of the following key components:

• Product and service master
• Barcode scanning
• Easy & fast billing
• GST compliance
• Data backup
• Online/ offline
• Security and safety
• Accounts receivable 
• Accounts payable management
• Payment processing
• Stock management

Marg ERP is a billing system that allows business owners to select standard plans or customize based on their requirements. It is integrated with mobile apps & comes with a full-fledged inventory management system. This kind of billing management system is most beneficial for small to mid-sized businesses who want to grow their business with speed. Billing systems can immensely impact all types of businesses by improving productivity & efficiency.  Investing in a billing system can provide profits in the short and long run because billing and invoicing is the most important part of a business.

Read related article - 5 Reason why you need billing software for your business