Do you ever get sick of those calls that start “Did you get my invoice?” or perhaps you’ve had to make those calls? Either way, chasing up invoices is painful and takes time out of everyone’s day.  The beauty of using an electronic invoice is that the computer can do that work for you.

Today we’re rolling out Invoice Tracking for the billFLO platform.  Invoice Tracking enables customers to give their suppliers a real-time, summary view of where invoices are in the accounts payable process.  Check out the video below to see how it works and see the other goodies invoice tracking provides. Oh, and we’re rolling this new feature out to desktop and online versions of billFLO as of today!

James Dyson, the founder of innovative vacuum maker Dyson like’s to say “We fix the obvious problems others seem to ignore”. Dyson’s quote resonated with me because for the last 18 months we’ve been the only competitor truly trying to fix the obvious problem of e-invoicing for the masses.

So, today I’m extremely happy to welcome a European competitor, Tradeshift,  who is also attempting to fix the problem. From what we’ve read Tradeshift wants to deliver the same value and vision as billFLO, but to the European Market.  This is great news for our market as a whole, and we’re very excited to see the innovation Tradeshift will bring when they launch.

In the meantime, if you’re a small business that wants e-invoicing and AP automation for your accounting system today, get billFLO for free at www.billflo.com. If you’re an Accounting System or Large Enterprise, integrate billFLO invoices into existing workflows today with our free billFLO API.

billFLO Ian

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement, we’ve got more Goodies! This time it’s for billFLO buyer users . Today we’re announcing billFLO buyer supports approval workflow, rule-based importing and email receipt of invoices! Can I get wOOT wOOt!

Email Receipt of Invoices - when your vendors send your billFLO and PDF bills to your new billFLO email address, the bills will show up automatically in billFLO!

Approval Workflow – Is there an invoice a co-worker needs to see before you pay it? No problem, send her an approval request to review the invoice. She can review and approve it in her browser. (Check out the vid below of approvals in action)

Rule-Based Importing – billFLO now analyses invoices as they are received, according to your rules, to pre-assign accounting info (account, project, etc) and require approvals as needed.  Now, when your rules have been satisfied you can import all those invoices with a single click!

And, one more piece of good news. We usually roll out new releases by accounting system, but not this time. Our dev team has been working super hard (thanks guys!) to make these features available for ALL our users as of today.   

You can get this release of billFLO buyer here or just open billFLO buyer and you’ll be prompted to download the new version. Enjoy!

Wouldn’t it be rewarding to be able to make a living helping your local community? There’s a shining example of a business that does just that – your local hardware store. Here’s a place where customers can buy that lamp for the christmas tree lights, get advice on their next DIY project and even get special stuff ordered in for them (try that at Home Depot!).

What’s probably not apparent though, is that in the back office the hardware store owner is struggling under mounds of paper invoices. Every hammer, trash can and piece of timber ordered results in an invoice! In some cases a mom-and-pop store will have a full time bookkeeper just to deal with the invoices.

So, we’re extra happy to announce today that we’ve got something to make hardware store owners life easier. We’re expanding the billFLO invoice network to enable Do it Best store owners receive their invoices electronically with the billFLO buyer service. That’s right, the network of 4,100 independently owned Do it Best stores can now receive all their Do it Best invoices in billFLO format, straight to their PC. Enjoy!

Since our last big launch we’ve been inundated with requests from eager Accounting System Vendors looking to add billFLO functionality to their offerings. So, I’m happy to announce, that today we’re making billFLO machine readable invoices available to every small business with the launch of our billFLO seller API!

Our launch partner for the API, Clarity Accounting, deployed billFLO in just a few hours for their customers. So, start lobbying your accounting system provider to get you billFLO invoices!

Find out more at www.billflo.com/developer.php

billFLO Ian

- Invoice Batching: Instead of a customer receiving one email for each invoice, billFLO seller now batches the invoices in one file and attaches it to a single invoice. This makes it a single- action for the customer to add the invoices to billFLO buyer.

- When customizing emails, added the ability to customize the subject line.

- Fixed bug where PDF Invoices were marked as paid even if they were only partially paid.

- Fixed bug where “Pay Url” value would persist in the billFLO invoice when not selected in preferences

And, billFLO seller continues to be one of the quickest and easiest ways to email invoices from QuickBooks.

To get your free copy, simply click here and select QuickBooks Desktop from the Accounting System drop down menu. To upgrade to this new version, click Check-for-Update under the Help Menu and follow the prompts.

From Day 1 we said the aim of billFLO is to completely eliminate the paper invoice.  However, up until now we havent detailed how we are going to achieve that. Well, seeing as we launched the full version of billFLO recently, I think its time to elaborate on why we think billFLO will be world changing.

Every time two companies complete a commercial transaction, purchasing data needs to be passed from the seller’s accounting system to the buyer’s system, via an invoice. Think about this for a second, every time a company buys or sells something, an invoice is generated. Most of the time this invoice is in paper form (about 100 Billion annually). 

Here’s a couple of numbers to give you a sense of the cost of invoicing:
1. Studies show that it costs $14 to get a paper invoice through its lifecylce. At the level of the US economy, that works out as almost 2% of US GDP.
2. 40 billion pieces of paper are wasted every year in the US on paper invoices. That number suggests the world as a whole wastes 120 billion sheets of paper every year on invoices…or 13 Million Trees
3. Imagine the carbon emitted by moving 13 million trees worth of paper invoices around the world, every year.

Up until a couple of weeks back, 99% of business were limited to using a paper invoice and a human to get the data out of one accounting system and into another. Over the years, various different attempts have been made to eliminate the paper invoice from the process, including EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and PDF invoices. All have failed for various reasons; EDI is too complex to implement for most companies and PDF invoices work for the seller but have to be manually entered into the buyer’s system.

So, rewinding to two years ago, Alec and I were looking at this problem thinking we could solve it.  Despite the fact that many had tried before us, none of the products we looked at had the potential to be ubiquitous. We figured, if we could deliver a solution that made it easy for any size of business to quickly send, receive and import electronic invoices, that product could become a de-facto standard.

billFLO achieves this quite simply by allowing users to email machine readable invoices straight to their customers who can import them straight into their accounting system. Any business can install and be using billFLO in minutes. This usability opens up machine readable, electronic invoices to every single email enabled business in the US.

Time will tell whether our vision will become reality, but by launching billFLO we know we’ve taken the first step on the road to eliminating the paper invoice.

We’ve got another new feature for billFLO buyer users! Lets say you have returned some stock to your supplier or been given a credit for faulty goods you purchased. How do you import a billFLO invoice as a credit so that your books correctly reflect the credit?

Easy, use “import as credit” on the invoice detail window.

P.S. To get the latest release of billFLO buyer click here or, if you have billFLO buyer already, click “check for update” under the help menu.

We like to think billFLO invoices are a little addictive, once you’ve received one, you want MORE! So, in today’s new release of billFLO buyer, we’re adding (amongst other things) a cool new feature, “Notify My Vendors”. Its gets you more billFLO invoices, sooner.

“Notify My Vendors” lets your suppliers and vendors know that you are now accepting billFLO invoices and outlines the benefits of sending billFLO invoices.

Watch the video to learn more and let us know what you think!

P.S. Its quick and free for your vendors to send you billFLO invoices!
P.P.S. To get the latest release of billFLO buyer click here or, if you have billFLO buyer already, click “check for update” under the help menu.

Lets get something straight, not having a salary or income sucks. If you’re in your right mind there is no way you would wan’t to be in this position. But, when the dust settles, believe it or not, its not all bad.

Now, lest you think that this is some high-paid startup CEO spewing dribble, let me present my credentials to speak on this topic. All combined, Alec and I have worked for about 24 months without salary. We both have families, mortgages and healthcare costs to cover. And, we both live in the San Francisco Bay Area, not exactly a cheap place to live. So, sadly, mine is the voice of experience. However, through many days and (sleepless) nights I’ve come to the realisation that there are some positives:

5. Focus

Nothing helps you focus more than not having options. Its stands to reason right? You don’t have to worry about which color bmw to buy, because you’re not getting one. Seriously though, we do deal with a lot of decisions that complicate things. Not having the financial resources limits those options. I’ve found less clutter helps me focus on the things that are really important to me, and to forget the non-essentials. In a strange way that de-stresses me!

4. Liberation

Having no salary has an another benefit. When you’re job-hopping your current situation is your reference point. Would you move to another job that pays less? Probably not. The good news is that without a salary the only way is up. That gives you the freedom to make career choices based on what you want to do, not what you think you need, like a certain title or salary. You’ve been liberated! Now’s the time to make that switch. 

3. Environment

Recessions happen when we cut back on our consumption. Like it or not, we need this recession to get our consumption in line with our productivity. Put another way, we need to use only what we can pay for. I liken this to going back to my childhood days. My folks didnt but stuff on the credit card, we got one toy at christmas and my new trousers were the same ones my brother wore, except they now had a fresh patch on the knee! The point is our reduction in consumption is benefitting society, the environment and the economy (in the short term). 

2. Future

You’ve heard it said before. Its in tough times that the foundations are built for great things. Dell recently announced it is eliminating 1,900 jobs in Limerick, Ireland. To give you some context, the population of Limerick is 90,000. Assuming 60,000 are of working age, the dell job losses on their own equate to 3% increase in unemployment. Undeterred, the people of Limerick aren’t giving up, they’re re-grouping and starting again. So, while everyone around you is speaking of doom and gloom, put your head down, get yourself a plan and work your arse off to achieve it! I wish you luck.

1. Top Reason Not Having Income is good

Alright, you got me. I couldnt think of a 5th reason. A crap global economy with lots of folks without an income sucks. It sucks BAD. In the meantime, keep your chin up and when we do get back on our feet, lets appreciate it a little more!

Got other reasons not having a salary is good? Add a comment.