Just more than two months after the release of QuickBooks® 2001, more than 7,000 invoices are being e-mailed by QuickBooks 2001 users to their customers each day, simplifying what was previously a time consuming task and lengthy process. With the ability to accept payments online, small businesses can improve cash flow and pass time savings on to other aspects of their business. QuickBooks® for the Web® users will also be able to take advantage of this service in version 2, which is expected to be released later this month.
According to an Intuit concept study, the average QuickBooks user sends almost 700 invoices to his/her customers each year. If businesses using this service could save even five minutes on each invoice by sending the invoice via email and enabling online payments, the result would be a savings to the business of approximately 58 hours of time each year.
The study also showed that almost 94 percent of QuickBooks users still manage the invoicing process through the mail - which can require printing multiple invoices, typing cover letters, addressing envelopes, affixing postage and bringing them to the post office. Nearly 90 percent of invoices are paid by check according to the same study. By handling this overall process via the Internet, small businesses could save an enormous amount of time and effort.
"The new online billing feature in QuickBooks 2001 has significantly reduced the time I spend on administrative activities each month," said Steve Smith, QuickBooks user and owner of Smitty Lube, a small auto-body shop based in Mountain View, CA. "I sent an e-mail invoice to a customer, and within an hour I received an e-mail confirming the payment. This is the future, and we are living it!"
"Intuit has engineered this process to fit the way a small business works instead of making the customer change to fit the software," said Dan Levin, vice president and general manager, QuickBooks Management Solutions at Intuit. "Most small businesses use e-mail already to communicate with customers. We're always looking at ways to leverage the inherent benefits of technology in our solutions to solve problems for our customers."
QuickBooks Online Billing enables small businesses to e-mail professional looking electronic invoices and estimates directly to customers from within QuickBooks 2001. Through a relationship with PayPal, the largest provider of Web-based payment services, users can payment-enable invoices sent by e-mail, giving customers the option to pay with a credit card or transfer funds directly from their bank account. Once the payment is made, a confirmation is sent via e-mail. An alert also appears in QuickBooks, so the payment record can be automatically downloaded and captured into QuickBooks 2001. The service is designed so small businesses never have to manually enter the data into the accounting system. This service will also become available to QuickBooks for the Web users when version 2 is released later this month.
QuickBooks Online Billing is also integrated with QuickBooks Site Solutions. If the user has a Web site built with QuickBooks Site Solutions, his or her customers can view and pay statements directly from the user's Web site, which shows and promotes the user's business brand. There is no incremental set-up or monthly fee for this service, just the usual QuickBooks Site Solutions subscription fees and PayPal transaction fees when payments are received.
About PayPal
PayPal is the instant and secure online payment transmission service that allows people and businesses to send and receive money by e-mail, funded from bank accounts or credit cards. With nearly 7 million users, PayPal is the world's first and largest Web-based payment network, and the #1 financial site on the Internet since spring of last year according to PC Data Online. Free to consumers, PayPal can be used from PCs or web-enabled mobile phones. The PayPal Website has been cited as among the "Best of the Web" by Forbes, Time, PC Magazine and U.S. News & World Report. For more information, please visit http://www.PayPal.com.
