Published November 1, 2019
The Real Costs of Paper Invoices
Electronic invoices obviously save time, but they help businesses save money as well.
With minimum median fulfillment costs at $3.00 per paper invoice, sending thousands of invoices manually results in a significant expense. Back office and third-party fulfillment, postage, labor, processing expense – and even interest accumulated on borrowed funds due to delayed payments – all contribute to the median cost for paper billing and payments.
Because e-Invoices are delivered digitally, directly to your AP contact’s email inbox, fulfillment and its associated costs are all but eliminated.
By all accounts, e-Invoices cost a fraction of the expense associated with paper invoices, but only solve half the inefficiency and expense if wholesaler-distributors rely on paper check payments from customers. Manually processing and reconciling a high volume of paper checks carries significant costs. The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) estimates that paper checks cost an average of $22 to process.
Available dynamic, or interactive, e-Invoices include embedded, “click-to-pay” links. The link opens a secure payment page on which your customers can easily pay the invoice with an EFT/ACH transaction simply by entering their bank account and routing number or pay with their credit card. This feature can single-handedly eliminate your customers’ manual paper check payments and the associated time-consuming processing by your AR department, allowing your back-office teams to reallocate their time and expertise to other business needs. The enhanced workflow can also improve communication channels between you and your customers while making it easier for them to conduct business with your teams.
Unified Commerce, NAW’s Trusted Partner for cloud-based AR Technology and Payment Acceptance Solutions in the wholesale distribution industry, was recently recognized as a “TOP 10 AR Solutions Provider.” Unified simplifies AR to help Enterprise and Mid-Market businesses accelerate cash flow, reduce costs and improve efficiency with digital solutions which can be incorporated easily into your existing workflows and processes with minimal disruption.
Ready to find out what a Smart e-Invoicing solution can do for your business? Click the “Contact Us” button at the top of the page or give us a call at (888) 440-0117 to speak with a Subject Matter Expert for a free AR consultation and savings analysis. For more information on electronic invoices, digital payments, and surcharging solutions check out our News & Resources page and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook for updates.