By Steve Adams, CEO Fusebill

Whether or not you use an accountant for your billing or you do it yourself, you’re probably familiar with all that accounting software programs can do. If you’re not, you should at least know that your system can grow and adapt as your business grows and changes. Steve Adams, CEO of Fusebill, tells us why it’s important to choose a system as flexible as your business is.

Your billing and payments platform manages your billing needs throughout your customer lifecycle—from signup or account creation, through payments and invoices. Make sure it can support your entire organization as it grows—from accounting and billing operations, through sales, marketing and management.

Automate for the future. Your goal is to grow your business. With that comes more invoicing. Whether you bill hourly, by flat-rate or on retainer, streamlining the billing process allows you to “set it, and forget it.’’ By automating recurring billing, your business can speed up the delivery of invoices without having to enter time entries or additional goods and services. A good billing system needs to include the functionality to schedule automatic charges to clients based on the settings you create.

Adapt to Change. If customers want to change their payment methods, this is a good thing. The plan is to stay with you; they just need to change how they continue the ongoing relationship. Don’t compromise with these words: “I’m sorry we can’t do that”. Your subscription billing platform needs to be able to adapt to multiple payment gateways and accept gateways that will satisfy your growing list of customers.

Look into the Future. Billing systems are the core of any business. Not only does all the money flow through it, but for subscription-based businesses, the billing platform offers insights into the customer lifecycle, communications, renewals, upsells and cross-sells. Metrics help you calculate the lifetime value of customers, churn rates and ARPU (average revenue per user). Use this information to increase business, and brainstorm ideas for improving sales. Ensure that subscription metrics are part of your billing system.

Make Sure You’re Not Alone. If there is a problem with billing or you’re trying out a new pricing strategy, you need a live connection to a real expert to help you figure out how to make changes to your system. Finding the answer through FAQs eat up valuable time and may only produce frustration. Articulating what you need can be difficult through email exchanges.  Demand the same level of service from your billing platform that your customers expect from your business.

An automated billing platform should not predetermine your options.  When choosing a billing and payments solution, consider your future so it solves your needs today and as your business grows.

Steve Adams is the CEO of Fusebill, the secure SaaS solution that automates recurring billing and payments and manages the customer lifecycle. For more information about Fusebill, visit www.fusebill.com.