Advantages & Disadvantages of Billing System [Importance & Features]

Earlier most businesses used to have longer queues where customers had to keep waiting for an hour just to get the bill. New billing software has however changed the game entirely. Those traditional methods of curating bills from scratch have gone out the window with even the smallest of stores adapting to new software.

What is a Billing Software?

Billing software can be any type of calculation or tracking-based software designed for-

1. Reducing long queues
2. Saving time
3. Track billing
4. Customer Invoices
5. Employee work hours
6. Expenses related to Clients
7. Immediate updates
8. Swift notifications plus reminders
9. Affordable and cost-effective
10. Manages expenses record
11. Depreciates Conflicts and Manual Errors
12. Creates Brand Identification
13. Simplifies statements
14. Enables 24*7 service
15. Builds brand professionalism
16. Reduces Manual labor

• Billing Softwares are an important part of accounting and finance software aggregates that will offer numerous services under your budget or even free of cost.

Which businesses can use Billing Software?

Some of the businesses and corporations that need billing software are-

• Grocery or Kirana stores
• Pharmacies
• Medical stores
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• Corporate companies
• Seasonal businesses
• Pet shops
• Hospitals
• Banks
• Gyms & fitness centres
• Salons or parlours
• Spas and massage centres
• Supermarkets
• Electronics store
• Furniture shops
• Shoe showrooms

Features of a Billing Software

Every business uses different billing software for refining their accounting solutions. Your software should manage and contain the following features:

1. Instant New Invoices- A good software automatically analysis your credit/debit tables in a professional manner. It should easily cite and combine various schemes, timesheets, and consumer reports.

2. Individual Customer Tracking- Creates a single database that will easily segregate a clients purchases, relevant files along with a clean filter search option for effortless accessibility.

3. Quick Receiving & Information Transferring- A central server facility that will help you send all the latest updates and information to customers. All previous records shall be readily made available inside its database.

4. Colour-Coded Templates- A readily defined colour-coded templates help in quickly identifying the type of invoice or circular it is. It will help in personalising accounts along with the benefit of saving time.

5. Credit Card Assessment- A modern billing sequence should produce easy invoices via quickly processing credit cards. It makes the billing process recurring and amplifies consumer supervision. Newer software enables auto-billing for credit cards, so the patron doesn't miss their older debts.

6. Generate Tax Reports- A smart software solution should eliminate the needs for any manual or different apps. It should easily summarise and present you with an accurate tax report depending on years of business.

Why do businesses need Billing Software?

• It eliminates the manual data entry and calculation process.
• Helps in devising the accuracy of all accounting records.
• Diminishes human errors and keeps transactions explicit.
• Helps in creating monetary calendars and reminders.
• Manages staff hours, attendance, and salary records.
• Also available free of cost for smaller businesses.
• Helps to segregate different invoices.
• Will enhance your business with sophisticated and effortless features.
• Avoids minimal issues like hidden prices and cover every element.
• Helps in future business analysis and decision making.
• Saves a lot of time and money.
• It also encourages faster payments.

Advantages of Billing Software

• You can curate accurate and professional looking invoices with multiple templates.
• Reduces material costing that comes with manual billing and filing.
• Automatic update features keep business deals, changes, and offers in the loop within customers.
• Retail billing software helps small businesses to penetrate offline and online much conveniently.
• Effective communication is established without constant personal calls for a reminder of payments.
• The instant invoice helps the customers understand a clear breakup of charges and deductions involved in that particular transaction.
• Within the touch of your fingers, your software and records can be checked and maintained via mobile devices; even while you are away.
• Combined with external software that will help in smoother tracking of the business.
• Quicker scanning via barcodes or offer codes helps in avoiding the use of calculators, hence, increasing unnecessary queues in the shop.
• Helps in GST Tax calculation.

Disadvantages of Billing Software

• It is not cost-effective for small scale business owners.
• Invoices can go into spam folders due to flagging by email servers; that leads to delay of payments.
• Reaching offline customers who do not access the internet makes the process difficult.
• Automatic invoices and management system reduces human mediation, which reduces personal touch for the business.
• Irregularity of updates can lead to hardships and hassles between purchases and credits.

Billing Softwares in India

Some of the best billing software in our country is as follows-

1. Quickbooks- Easy to use for daily transactions. It is easily congenial via any 3rd party applications or software. It also helps is saving data automatically on the cloud.
2. HyperDrive HDPOS Smart- It is an automatic billing system that also helps in managing inventories. Provides a picture-based interface and works offline as well.
3. Marg ERP 9+- It is one of the best billing software in India and helps in managing sales, purchases, inventories, procurement, and accounts. It also supports barcode scanning and provisions GST solutions.
4. Tally ERP 9- Most preferred, reputed, trusted, and affordable accounting plus billing software solution in India. Used by over a million businesses, it has multi functional features for all businesses including GST.
5. Invoicely- It is a free billing Indian software service with a user-friendly interface. Available only on windows, it provides statistical analysis to understand your business's market status.
6. Vyapar- A GST equipped billing & invoicing software that can be customised as per business. It provides reminders for specific things but is only available for mobile devices.
7. OkStaff- OkStaff is a free of charge staff management app that lets you manage your employees’ payments, attendance & more! You can download all your salary slips, attendance records, and other reports generated in the app via PDF format.
8. Zoho Invoice- Best suited for small to medium businesses. Manage, monitor, or share with this all in one software. It is a prominent invoicing and billing software and has a user-friendly interface.
9. Billbooks- Packed with efficient methods for speed, modern features, and time-saving solutions. It promises to generate invoices within 60 seconds, provides multiple currency options, and provisions 24x7 support.
10. Just Billing- It is amongst the best free GST billing software in India. Curated specially for SMEs, it can smoothly be customised as per business type or needs. The best part is it's free of cost.
11. Freshbooks- Best cloud solution for small business owners across cities and towns. Packed with features, filters, multi-currency options, and affordable pricing.
12. HiTech BillSoft- It is India's fastest GST authorised offline billing and invoicing software. The app offers two modes of use- Free and Business Edition and can store an unlimited customer database.
13. ProfitBooks- Perfect for the service industry along with tools for future business making decisions. It is effortless to use and provides full-proof accounting services.
14. ZipBooks- It provides additional feedback on the tracking and monitoring of accounts. You can customize everything as per the needs of your business.
15. Invoicera- Curated specially for small businesses, freelancers, corporations, startups, and more. It takes care of all your invoicing needs and provides customised solutions.
16. Reach Accountant- Includes sections for Accounting, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Point of Sale (PoS). It is also compatible via 3rd party payment applications.
17. Medicin ERP- Curated especially for medical professionals. Takes care of sales, purchases, customer records, and is good for remote management.
18. Giddh- A simple and accurate accounting solution for small scale businesses. It is GST compliant and requires limited human intervention.

Let us know in the comments below, your preferred software for billing and accounting solutions.

Also read:
Impact of GST on different sectors
The USA vs India: Taxation System
Inventory Management: How to effectively manage inventory in any business?