Billing Automation Myths Debunked - Start Small, Expand Later

As the Chief Finance or Operating Officer of a managed service provider (MSP), you're likely always looking for ways to improve efficiency, cut costs, and increase quality. One area you may be targeting for improvement is your billing process.

After all, billing can be time-consuming and cumbersome, often requiring manual data entry. As a result, you should consider streamlining billing and improving accuracy via automation. However, before you automate your billing process, it's important to understand the common misconceptions about billing automation. 

There are a few common misconceptions about MSP billing automation, including:

1. Billing data is difficult to track. 

Billing data is typically available in real-time, making it easy to track and manage. Additionally, billing automation software can often provide valuable insights into spending patterns and help identify billing errors.

2. Billing automation is expensive.  

While there may be some upfront costs associated with implementing a billing automation solution, the long-term savings can be significant. In addition, many billing automation solutions offer free trials or monthly subscription plans, making them affordable for even small businesses. 

3. Billing automation is too complex for my needs. 

There are many simple and user-friendly solutions on the market that can be easily tailored to fit the specific needs of any organization. By understanding the common misconceptions about billing automation, you can make an informed decision about whether it's right for your business. 

MSP Billing Automation Can be Simple 

The key to planning billing automation starts with identifying the challenges that need solving. Here's a list from one of our early customers laid out, when we began working with them:

1. Duplicate and Missing Data: When device and usage information is collected from multiple data sources each containing parts of required information, this easily leads to duplicate or redundant data. Data is also missing due to gaps in manual data processing. Inaccurate records take vast manual efforts and checking is highly error prone.
2. Vast Manual Efforts: Vast manual effort is needed in consolidating device and usage data from various sources. After consolidation, a huge effort is still needed to validate the authenticity of the data. This is not only a resource cost but it also impacts the billing lead time and slows down the cash flow.
3. Growing Sources of Information: When having to consolidate data from multiple data sources every month with high manual efforts it becomes impossible to manage and consolidate data accurately – especially so when data sources keep growing in size and number. This causes customer reclamations and leads to more manual efforts in investigating corrections. - And creates distrust and dissatisfaction among the customers.

When it comes to service billing, many businesses make the mistake of complicating things. They think that automating their billing process must be some grand, convoluted undertaking. But that's simply not the case. In reality, service billing automation can be quite straightforward – and it can save your business a lot of time and money in the long run. Through automation, you can modernize your invoicing process and free up your staff to focus on more important tasks. Not to mention, you can also avoid the hassle and expense of mistakes. So if you're looking for a way to simplify your service billing, consider automation. It might just be the solution you've been searching for. 

If you can define it, Good Sign can automate it using existing billing data 

Good Sign is a service billing automation solution for recurring revenue business models. Good Sign enables businesses to quickly and easily create, send, and track invoices. The solution offers a wide range of features, including the ability to automatically generate invoices based on existing data, set up recurring payments, and track payments. Good Sign also allows businesses to customize their invoicing process, ensuring that they can always meet their customer's needs. In addition, the service offers a variety of integrations, making it easy to connect to other business solutions. As a result, Good Sign provides a complete solution for businesses looking to streamline their service billing process. 

Start quick, expand later when needed 

Good Sign offers both support for the future with a wide set of capabilities and a quick way forward: there is also an out-of-the-box model suitable to solve most challenges in service billing. And, additionally, not forgetting the easy steps in the path to automation: a workshop to align customer needs with Good Sign capabilities, and perhaps a proof of concept. 

Watch Janne Kivilaakso share his insights about launching new service business models:

“If you can define it, Good Sign can automate it.” - Janne Kivilaakso, Chief Product Officer at Good Sign

Don’t let misinformation prevent you from automating 

As the Chief Finance or Operating Officer, it’s your job to make sure that all revenue streams are being effectively managed so you can maximize profits. When it comes to service billing, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about how hard it is to automate the process.

The truth is, with the right tools in place, automating the invoicing process doesn’t have to be complicated. Good Sign specializes in taking care of the technical details – if you can define it, we can automate it using existing billing data. Ready to see how much time and money our service billing automation solution can save your business?

Download our quick guide on How to get started with billing automation: