An invoice is an important communication moment with your customer and must meet two preconditions: the invoice must be clear, and it must be error-free.
An incorrect or unclear invoice leads to dissatisfaction, extra work and increased costs, even if the service provided was good. This means that the invoice is also an important part of the ‘customer journey’.
Experience
We have created hundreds of millions of invoices for a variety of customers, countries and propositions, and we are happy to share our expertise.
Flexible
On paper or digitally, with or without a payment link, with or without specification and in the right language: Abillity® can do it all.
Convergent
All products and services that a customer purchases are clearly included on a single invoice.
Simpel
Simpel offers budget-friendly SIM-only subscriptions, serving nearly a million customers on the modern T-Mobile network. FIQAS manages the execution and monitoring of billing and collection processes for Simpel within a Managed Billing Service.
Arriva
With the free travel app ‘glimble,’ Arriva aims to make the use of alternative modes of transportation more appealing. FIQAS ensures that applicable rates, possible discounts, and subscriptions are processed into clear and accurate invoices for business users.
Port of Rotterdam
FIQAS provides the software that translates ship visits to the Rotterdam port area fully automatically and in real-time into a report of port dues. Upon entering the cargo volume by the user, the report is immediately converted into an invoice.
The Abillity® billing module can use data that is also rated by Abillity®, with guaranteed high data quality via the Abillity® datapipe. But all or some of the data may also be rated in another system. In the event of a combination, there can still be a single invoice (convergence).
With a larger customer base, customers are often divided into various billing cycles, with customers always receiving an invoice on the day they became a customer, for example. This can result in a healthy spread for all kinds of adjacent processes (such as customer service or finance) instead of a high peak at the beginning or end of the month.
FIQAS can also arrange the billing or even the entire order-to-cash process for you. Through our managed service, a specialised Billing Manager works to turn your data into revenues. That may be temporarily, perhaps sharpening a new process, but many customers choose to structurally outsource their billing processes to us. This allows them to focus on their core activity, often resulting in significant (FTE) savings.
In addition to the recipient of the invoice, there are other stakeholders who set different requirements depending on their role. For example, your financial department will want invoices to be sent out on time, with an eye to cash flow and reports. The customer service manager (especially if there are many customers) would like to see invoices spread out, in order to spread any questions to the call centre.
The government and auditors want – or rather, require – that the invoice (and the underlying process) demonstrably meets and continues to meet the applicable laws and regulations..
With Abillity® , you can check all these boxes and satisfy all these stakeholders. In addition to comprehensive and flexible billing functionality, you are also assured with us of many years of experience and proactive thinking, where we share ‘best practices’ to organise your invoicing process as optimally as possible..
Of course, billing also has specific challenges and exceptions.
A challenge with which we are familiar is applying the right VAT scheme. For example, the VAT rate may depend on what has been delivered, to whom and where. At FIQAS, we have international experience with many (also exotic) VAT regulations.
At the start and end of an ‘invoice relationship’, different peculiarities may arise. Examples include invoicing a deposit or other one-off fees to new customers or ‘final invoicing‘ for customers who have terminated the cooperation but still have to pay for the remaining contract period, for example.
All such matters are familiar territory within Abillity®, so you can optimally comply with all invoicing agreements made from start to finish.
Of course, the order-to-cash process does not stop once the invoice has been created. After this, the invoice must be delivered to the customer (debtor), and the way in which that is done may differ per customer or customer group. For example, by regular mail or by email, with an attachment or a link to a customer portal.
The invoice data also contain information relevant to the financial records. Within Abillity®, products to be invoiced such as subscriptions or types of use can be provided with general ledger codes. This allows you to use invoice details to create aggregated ledger entries to send to your accounting system. In practice, we have already linked with many different accounting systems, so there is a good chance that we already know your financial system, and otherwise we look forward to learning something new.
In addition, the invoice data (with the amount to be received) can serve as input for the next step in the order-to-cash process: collection.
Keen to find out if our platform is right for your organisation? Contact us or schedule a free online demo. We look forward to talking with you!
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