Electronic Invoicing: In-House or Hosted?

Sorana Gligor -

It is nowadays a generally accepted fact that a digital solution for invoice management is a necessary tool for a smooth and speedy invoicing process. Creating, sending and storing invoices online is faster, more secure and more convenient than the traditional method and it also keeps your office uncluttered.

There are more ways in which you can implement an electronic invoicing solution, depending on what better suits your company’s needs. You can choose from a variety of e-invoicing tools hosted by an external provider or you can create your own electronic invoicing system. Both alternatives come with their benefits and drawbacks that need to be closely considered before making a decision.

Let’s take a look at both options:

In-house e-invoicing solution

  • It gives you more control
  • You will need line-of-business, accounting and taxation experts from the early stages to the release and also for future revisions
  • Your IT team will require a broad range of technical skills
  • You will be responsible for supporting and maintaining the solution throughout its lifecycle.
  • You may have to provide support and maintenance to your business partners
  • Partner onboarding will be a challenge, because only bigger companies are in a position to impose their own e-invoicing solution to their trading partners
  • parts of your system might become outdated quickly or will no longer be compliant, due to rapidly changing tax regulations and technological developments

The time, money and knowledge demands of an in-house e-invoicing solution mean that it's not feasible for all companies. In this case, an alternative would be to choose an online invoicing provider who already has the knowledge and capacity to meet these demands.

Outsourced e-invoicing solution

  • Stays up-to-date with the technical standards
  • Gives access to the latest cloud infrastructure
  • Ensures compliance with current regulations
  • Offers support for a broad range of integration mechanisms like web forms, integration with accounting packages, integration to ERP systems
  • Offers scalable pay-as-you-go services on-demand
  • Makes partner onboarding easier

Each company has different invoicing requirements, so it's best to choose an electronic invoicing solution which offers the possibility to test its features before committing to it, and which has a scalable plan that can grow together with your business.

Invoicely offers a free basic e-invoicing plan, that gives you access to many of its features, as well as three more advanced plans, to cater for companies of different sizes and business volumes. Is it very easy to use, so you can create an account and send the first invoice in a matter of minutes.