Invoice Software Blog from Paper Free Billing

Invoices are a widely used document, in all kinds of sectors, and are a simple way for freelance staff to bill for work they have done or for limited companies to keep track of their finances.

If you need to invoice for work then there are a number of boxes which your invoice must tick to be legally binding. Many of these requirements may seem obvious but a failure to adhere to them could make a document worthless.

First and foremost, an invoice should clearly state that it is an invoice. This is as easy as titling it with the word invoice, so make sure this is done first.

Other invoice essentials include your company name, contact information and address, as well as the same information for the customer you are invoicing. As well as this, you must include a clear and accurate rundown of the services or goods you are charging for, and over what time period you provided them.

For instance, if you are a painter and decorator charging by the day then your invoice might state that you provided painting services for two days and wallpapering services for a further day, between the dates June 3rd and June 6th, and that your daily rate is £100.

Include your chargeable rate and clearly state the amount you are charging, as well as any VAT if it is applicable.

In simple terms, an invoice must show what work you carried out, who for, when you did the work and how much you are owed for it. In addition, you may also want to include payment terms, for instance that you expect to be paid no more than seven days after the invoice is sent.

The most important aspect of any invoice is accuracy, as filing an incorrect invoice might not be flagged up immediately and could see you in financial hot water while errors are being put right.

So what should you do if the payment date passes and you have not received the money you are owed?

Firstly, get in touch with your client by phone or email to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong. The issue might be an easily fixed oversight on their part, or the problem might lie with your bank. Sending a reminder can keep things on an even keel but still make it clear that you expect to be paid as soon as possible.

If problems persist and you are left in financial difficulty following a lack of payment, you might be entitled to take legal action, as long as your submitted invoice was totally accurate and is not the reason for any delay.

This post was provided by Hattons Solicitors in St Helens, Widnes and Leeds, England. Hattons’ specialist department of commercial solicitors work with a number of businesses, from private companies and partnerships to sole traders, providing them with commercial law advice to fit with the needs of their business. 

Sort, Organise, and Toss

The first step to going paperless is to sort out and organise the paper you do have. Separate them into piles according to what they are--receipts, bills, bank statements, email communications, court documents, and tax returns, for some examples. Once you have everything sorted and organised, toss out the papers you no longer need. Papers containing sensitive data such as account numbers, national insurance numbers, or other private information should be fed through a shredder before going to the recycling bin. Original documents and other papers that you must keep should be placed neatly into separate folders, labeled, and stored in a safe place within your office.

Scan Important Papers

Papers that contain information you need but aren't original documents that you need to save can be scanned onto your computer and then disposed of properly. You'll free up a lot of space in your home office and reduce the amount of clutter by scanning in the current papers you need to keep for your records.

Create a Digital Filing System

Replace your old filing cabinet with a digital one right on your home office computer. Create individual files for your different types of papers, dragging and dropping your scanned files into their appropriate folders. Label the folders and organize them so that the information stored in them is easy to find.

Back It Up

It's not enough to merely scan in your important papers and store them on your computer. Computer files can be lost due to computer malfunction, fire, burglary, or any number of unexpected disasters, so it's critical that you back them up. Back-up storage options include internet storage sites, external hard drives, flash drives, CD's, and DVD's. The amount of information you need to store will help you determine which back-up storage type will best suit your needs.

Utilize Paperless Programs and Apps

There are an endless number of programs and apps for all of your digital devices that can help you reduce the amount of paper you use in your home office. You can use digital programs and apps to create to-do lists, take notes, share and send files, organize files, communicate with clients or customers, bookmark and store information, and so much more. What's even better? Many of these helpful programs and apps can be downloaded for free.

Request Paperless Billing

Cut down on the amount of paper you receive in the mail by requesting paperless billing. That way bills will be sent to you via email, reducing the amount of paper coming through your office. If you run a business that requires you to bill customers for products and services, you, too, should consider offering paperless billing. You will find that there are some businesses that don't offer it, and not all billed customers will want to take advantage of that option. Still, all efforts to reduce paper bills will free up space and cut down on unnecessary waste.

Even though going paperless in your home office takes some time and getting used to, you'll notice the positive differences it will make right away - no matter how small they might be at first. By creating a paperless home office you'll have more space, less mess, and you'll preserve some of our planet's most precious resources

This guest post is from Casey Lynch. Casey writes about home insurance for HomeInsurance.org.

Jobs through the CPOL Employment provide every day civilians with solid career opportunities working, as a civilian, with the military. There are good benefits and good pay and there is something available for every job skill set and experience level. The economic downturn shows no sign of bouncing, and with unemployment rates rising every month job prospects look bleak, until that is, you consider employment with the military as a civilian. You'll be surprised at the amount of different jobs available, from lifeguards to chemists and most in-between, some requiring a Degree level of education others only needing GED. Several branches of the military will have open vacancies, so it's wise to check out each individual branch to see what they are currently looking for. If you want to find a job in a particular State, or if you want to be more flexible and consider opportunities abroad - there is a good chance you will find something appropriate.

CPOL - CPOL Employment a Smarter Choice

You can stop searching the classifieds and examining through endless job websites when there are much better opportunities with CPOL employment options. There are many options to search through including by state where you can see what jobs are available and their particular city location as well as particular jobs available and their specific requirements. Whether you are looking for Army civilian jobs, Air Force civilian jobs, or Navy civilian jobs there is a little something for everyone and plenty of opportunities for employment options regardless of your experience. Depending on the role you apply for, there may be a requirement for some particular experience, or if you don't have any experience then many positions boast on the job training. Even if you have a lot of experience in a particular field, you can use that for your benefit when applying for similar roles within military civilian employment, it's a great opportunity to further your career and push yourself.

CPOL Employment – Options for Everyone

Whether you are looking for a role with a very specific requirement, or a vacancy that has a lot of on the job training, or whether you are looking to completely change career, then you will be able to find something to tempt you with a CPOL employment opportunity. There are some excellent benefits involved including healthcare and insurance as well as retirement options and many more. Each job will have great pay, even for those roles where a degree, or previous experience isn't necessary. These aren't just jobs, they are careers and as such you will have the opportunity to move up the ladder increasing your pay and your responsibility. There are jobs from foresters to groundsmen and research analysts to designers and historians and even musicians. There really is every job imaginable, and you will almost definitely be able to find something perfect for you with CPOL employment opportunities.

Unfortunately, without daily or weekly updating and monitoring, your small business Facebook page could be doing more harm than good. A recent CMO Council study found the average customer, when posting a complaint or inquiry to a Facebook page, expects a response from the company within just 24 hours. Chances are, if you're running a small business, maintaining this turnaround time on customer response is nearly impossible.

Flub #1: Administrative rights in the wrong hands
In March 2012, a local restaurant in Watkinsville, Georgia announced their Caribbean Black and Bleu burger special via Facebook, writing that “Chris Brown won’t beat you up for eating this unless your name starts with a R and ends with A.”

It didn't take long for Facebook fans to call out the offensive post, clearly written in poor taste.  “What’s so funny about domestic violence?” wrote Cecilia Herles. “My family goes here, but I’m not going anymore.”

Even worse, the restaurant did not issue a public apology within that critical 24-hour response period that customers have come to expect.

Within days, the Facebook flub was a national news story- and the restaurant found itself donating six times the proceeds from their original burger special to a local anti-violence organization.

Lesson learned: Create a clear company policy on who can post content on behalf of your organization and when an owner's approval is needed. Be extremely cautious of who gains access to your Facebook admin page login information. In this case, a chef had logged in to the company's social media sites to post a burger special, unfortunately adding his own, humorous twist. Only staff qualified in the areas of marketing/PR and communications should be posting for your company and responding to customer issues that arise. Furthermore, make sure your Facebook admins are well-established employees and know your small business and industry well. Your social media sites must be consistent in using appropriate language for your target demographic.  

Flub #2: A disgruntled employee targets your page
A satisfied customer of Reser's Fine Foods, a billion-dollar industry leader in refrigerated foods, visited their Facebook page back in November 2011 to comment on how much she enjoyed their frozen dinners and asked the company where she could obtain coupons for their products.

Just minutes later, a man who identified himself as "J Fame Tha Pacman" posted that he was a current employee at Reser's and publicly commented on the frozen food giant's behind-the-scenes dish preparation, writing, "I work at Reser's… and I haven't washed my gloves in over a month- Why don't anybody tell me to wash my gloves?" Using explicit language, this employee went on to paint a grotesque picture of his unsanitary personal hygiene at the end of his 12-hour shift. By the next day, a Reser's representative had removed the employee's comments… but unfortunately, not before the once-satisfied customer took down a detailed account of the worker's claims to present to company officials.

Lesson learned: Disgruntled employees are much easier to identify in a small business setting. If someone on your staff is unhappy working for you or they have recently parted ways with your business, sign up to receive real-time text message alerts on their Facebook activity. While you can't control their personal page, you can at least immediately delete any negative content they post to your business's page before many of your fans have a chance to see it. To be safe, you should also change out your passwords on all social media logins.

Paul Prudente is the vice president and COO of Moco, Inc., which provides tenant and employment screening services under the MyScreeningReport.com and Moco Inc, The Information Source brands. They have provided property owners and employers with high quality residential and pre-employment screening services since 1989.

Even though Google Apps comes with these collaboration tools in place and ready for use, many businesses don’t know how to use them effectively. In order to remedy this problem, Google partners have started to provide businesses with collaborative solutions. Businesses that are serious about increasing their collaborative activities can enlist the help of a Google partner to examine their work environment and determine solutions to improve collaboration. Specifically, a business that seeks collaborative solutions will learn how Google Apps can be implemented specifically into its workplace to receive the best possible results.

A collaboration solution for businesses that are already operating on Google Apps is to have a partner examine your current practices and work with you to develop a plan for improvement.  This solution would require a group of experts to go over your business’ collaboration goals and possible areas for improvement.  Based on this information, the group would then devise a specific plan for your business and instruct employees on how to implement the plan. Deploying this plan should ensure that all of your employees are using Google Apps to their advantage, which will enhance the value of the platform and its collaboration tools for your business.  Specifically, this type of solution is geared toward preparing your business for a collaborative project, such as a company intranet.

Businesses that are still contemplating the move to the cloud can also use a collaborative solution to pilot Google Apps.  A Google partner can help your business test Google Apps and its collaboration tools, focusing on Google Docs, Google Sites, and Google Cloud Connect.  The goal of this program is for you to determine how your business can most effectively use Google Apps, the most convenient way to configure the platform for your business, what Google Apps training your employees may need, and how the switch to the Google cloud will go over.  The idea behind this test-run is to help your business understand the value that Google Apps for Business can add to your company and to help you feel more comfortable using the cloud applications.

Because collaboration can be essential to a business’ success, promoting a collaborative environment in the workplace will improve the day-to-day functions of your business. With the right communication and collaboration tools, your business can truly enhance its results. Operating on Google Apps for Business is certainly going to help improve the collaboration within your business, but if you’re hoping to take your collaboration capabilities to an entirely new level, the best thing you can do is work with a Google partner to develop a collaborative solution for specifically for your business.

Cloud Sherpas is a leading cloud service provider and was named the “Google Enterprise 2011 Partner of the Year.” As one of the first Google Enterprise partners, Cloud Sherpas has migrated over one million users across a variety of industries from legacy, on-premise messaging systems to Google Apps, helping organizations adopt cloud computing to innovate and dramatically reduce their IT expenses. A Google Apps Reseller in Atlanta, GA, Cloud Sherpas has regional offices in locations including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Austin and Sydney, and has more Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialists than any other partner in the world.

Smartphones are everywhere. In the short time they've been out, there are now 1.2 billion active mobile-broadband subscriptions worldwide, a 45% increase annually over the last four years. For most of the world, mobile-broadband is the only option available and outnumbers fixed-broadband connections 2:1. With this huge explosion of growth, it makes sense that app developers would lean upon this network to provide easier ways for customers to buy products through their smartphones. With six billion cellular subscriptions in the world, it's very likely that this growth trend will continue as aging phones are replaced with smartphones.

For merchants, mobile-invoicing apps provide a secure way to handle their records. There are other advantages as well. These apps reduce paper usage dramatically and automatically save customer histories and payment statuses for later analysis. They also allow a merchant to bill a customer anytime and for the customer to respond very quickly with a payment just by tapping a few buttons. As these applications get integrated into sales sites it'll be just like Internet shopping is today: quick and convenient for both parties.

It's a win for both sides. Merchants gain the power of selling directly to the mobile-broadband network and having it handle all the paperwork of invoicing. Consumers are able to quickly pay for purchases without fumbling for a debit card.  Mobile invoicing will replace traditional invoicing methods within the next five years.  However, before you prepare for this newly potential invoicing trend, it may behoove you to still keep your normally invoicing means until the more concrete methods are introduced.  When our society has finally gone completely mobile, the need will arise for invoicing on the go since many transactions will occur face-to-face as opposed to over phone lines or the internet.

One can only predict what the future of paperless invoicing will offer for businesses now, and in the future. The current infrastructure that paperless invoicing gives to businesses seamlessly integrates into software packages like Quicken and even Microsoft Excel; it would take these two companies developing the same package on the Cloud system for easy storage of pending invoicing while offering easy to fill in templates that are understood across the board.  Until such a time persists, we must dream of what paper free invoicing will be like in the future and enjoy the software solutions we have now.

Greg H., passionate about online marketing, promoting the search of lost loved ones and knowing about people’s past, shows his affinity for the internet through his writings.  Currently, a major portion of time is spent helping people perform a free email search to find individuals as well as helping people to locate numbers through a cell phone numbers search process that utilizes Free Phone Tracer to hunt for numbers.

As a business owner, you know that it’s important to try and save money wherever possible. Lowering your insurance premiums is one way to do that. There are a number of proven methods of saving money on insurance, but reducing coverage simply to lower your costs isn’t the best way to go about it. Instead, you may want to consider these tips on how to lower your business insurance premiums.

Shop Around

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you no doubt have an insurance carrier that you trust. Business people who are just starting out need to find an insurance provider who will give them the service they need at reasonable rates. In either case, it wouldn’t hurt to be on the lookout for an insurance company that can increase your bottom line by providing adequate insurance at a price that can’t be beat. Because the insurance industry is competitive, carriers are continually tweaking their insurance packages. Keeping abreast of the latest discounts and bundling offers that become available may significantly reduce your premiums. Take some time and search the Internet for insurance companies that offer their services online. Get quotes from a few different companies and take them to your present agent, if you have one, or compare them with quotes from the more traditional brick and mortar insurance companies. Your insurance agent may be able to offer comparable service at the same price, or for even less.

Raise Your Deductibles

A practice that is standard within the insurance industry is to lower your premiums if you raise your deductibles. Although it isn’t smart to carry a deductible that isn’t within your reach, the savings on insurance payments can be significant. Keep in mind that you will need to have cash on hand to pay the deductibles. Another thing you can do to save a little money on insurance premiums is to pay for small problems yourself instead of filing a claim, because most insurance companies will raise your rates for repeated claims. The best way to alleviate the cash flow problems associated with high deductibles or minor claims you pay yourself is to open a savings account designated for that purpose--keep in mind that any deductible must be paid before the insurance company will write you a check--so having ready access to cash is imperative. If you deposit money into the savings account on a regular basis, you’ll know you’re protected if a situation arises and you need cash fast. An added bonus is that if nothing comes up, the money will continue to accrue interest.

Increase Safety in the Workplace

One of the best methods of reducing insurance costs is to institute a higher standard of safety features in the workplace. Increasing the safety of your workers, or the people who visit your property, will allow you to reduce your liability coverage and save a little money on insurance payments. If you take this route, you should make sure your workers observe the new safety procedures you’ve installed, and that they’re properly trained to do so.

Review Your Current Coverage

Every once in awhile it’s a good idea to review your current coverage and make sure you aren’t over or under insured. Carrying just the right amount of insurance to protect you in the event of a financial disaster is what you’re looking for. If you’re paying for coverage you no longer need, that part of the policy should be rewritten. For instance, if the machinery used in the production of your merchandise became outdated and you replaced it with more efficient equipment that costs less, then you’re paying too much for insurance and need to review your policy.

Find Out About Discounts

When you’re reviewing your policy, it may also be a good idea to talk to your insurance agent about the possibility of discounts, especially ask if there are any new price reductions available since you talked to them last--the qualifications could have changed, or you may now be eligible due to the length of time you’ve been doing business with the company. Most insurance carriers will reward longtime customers with price reductions. Ask if you’re eligible for group rate discounts, and if not, what it would take to qualify. It may be worth your while to consider joining a group or organization that qualifies for group rates.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes about insurance quotes and related topics for InsuranceQuotes.org.

Some offices have focused their attention on the tablet computer as a way to eliminate the need for paper. Tablet computers enable office workers to be able to quickly view PDF documents or other office documents from wherever they are at. If an office employee happens to be traveling due to company business, he or she can simply access the documents that are needed to be viewed on a tablet computer. Laptops, of course, work the same basic way, but it is often more convenient to carry a tablet computer around to access company documents rather than to carry a much less compact laptop around.

Faxes can now be sent via email and other electronic formats. There is actually no need to have a fax document appear on an actual sheet of paper anymore. Faxes that are received can even be saved to computers so that the information contained in the faxes is not lost. Employees can construct and send faxes via their own computers, so there is no need to compose a fax on a regular sheet of paper any longer.

Some college offices will probably even resort to a paper-free office setting in the near future. Many colleges have had a tendency to spend a lot of money on paper. There are quite a number of colleges especially in Texas that may be interested in having paper-free office environments due to the increasing cost of buying printer, copier and fax machine paper. One such Texas college, SFASU is said to seriously be considering this. By making the switch to a paperless office, colleges may be able to actually lower tuition costs, thus allowing more people the opportunity to be able to earn college degrees.

Any office can benefit greatly by going paperless. Offices that decide to eliminate paper will save a lot of money, now and in the future.

What is a paperless filing system?

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

How to implement your own paperless system?

In the competitive environment any company tries to optimize its working process, reduce to the maximum the expenses in the process of task performance, employ effectively all human resources, and exclude the loss and distortion of important information which is essential for excellent performance and good final results. We would like to pay your attention to task management software which can be your assistant in managing business processes.

At present, you can’t do without such software since task management software allows making the execution of the assigned tasks more efficient, irrespective of the number and physical location of your employees. Every participant of the project can see the list of tasks assigned to them, as well as the level of compliance and the task importance in real time relative to other tasks.  

Task management is a convenient solution on organizing mutual work on tasks and project management. All the tasks and undertaken steps for solving the task are situated in one place. The project manager, or other interested person, can see the actual state of the project at any time and, if necessary, he can set or change priorities and appoint a person in charge. 

Task Management Software Working Principles

The project manager sets a task, delegate duties; appoints people in charge, distributes priorities, states the beginning and the deadline of the project. All the participants of the working process interact in one information field: tasks, assignments, documents, and steps. The database is located in one place, convenient for searching.

• The software lets add necessary files, notes, instructions, remarks, and comments to the task.
• The software gives a possibility to set priorities and track the execution of tasks. The project manage will have an access to real time reports and establish dependencies between tasks.
• The software can be customized so that the reminder about the deadline or completion of some stage of the project is sent automatically and personally to the interested parts.
• Every participant of the project can introduce comments and changes in the course of performing the project and can track who and when made the changes.   
• The software allows following the labor costs on each employee and track the efficiency of their work.
• The participants of the working process can send instant messages to each other while working on the project.
• The software allows sending the information on completing the next stage of the project by e-mail.  

Task Management Software Options

Task management software lets storing the information and history on all projects: participants involved, time needed for the project realization, the number of projects in process at present, the level of readiness, overdue tasks, complexities and difficulties emerged during the project performance, undertaken measures to overcome such problems, reports on the projects performed, history of interactions with clients, labour costs on projects and employees, etc.

Task Management Software Advantages

The company which has introduced task management software acquires considerable saving of time and can expect the best possible result due to the optimization of the employees’ interaction.  The project manager gets a great tool that allows managing business processes, tracking the execution of each task at any stages including every employee involved in the working process, and reacting immediately and correctly to the execution of the work.

Everything can be done irrespective of the employees’ location. The system allows working on the project even if the employees work in different branches, are on a business trip or work remotely. That creates an additional convenience since not always there is a possibility to gather all the participants of the project in one place.

Task Management Software Application

Task management software can be used in design companies, architectural and advertizing workshops, publishing houses, software development companies and other spheres of our life where mutual work of different specialists on one project is assumed to take place.

If you still don’t have it, think about employing some task management and task tracking software solutions for your company. 

This blog post was written by Steward Copper who is the owner of Project Management Insights. While working as a project coordinator and BA, I have tried almost all possible PM tools, BA instruments, collaboration programs, including tracker and task management software solutions. I also write for different blogs sharing my knowledge and observations.