10 Benefits of Automated Invoicing for Trucking Companies

In the trucking and freight industry — like any other industry or business — the more efficient your billing and payment processes are, the faster you can get paid. If you find that bills and invoices for your freight company cause headaches, you may benefit from a Transportation Management System (TMS) with automated invoicing capabilities that have the ability to speed up and make the financial aspects of your freight business faster and more efficient. 

We hope that this list of the 10 Benefits of Automated Invoicing for Trucking Companies created by TenTrucks will help illustrate why automated invoicing is a valuable asset for your and your business.

Why Is Automated Invoicing Important to Freight Operations?

Delays in the billing and invoicing process can lead to a number of negative consequences that can impact your freight company in the long term — which makes it even more important to implement fast and efficient invoicing. The faster and more efficient your billing and invoicing processes are, the more likely you are to avoid these consequences, and automating those processes is a viable solution.

Here is a better look at the negatives of slow or delayed bills and invoices:

• Creates a wider cash flow gap between a trucking company’s expenses and its revenue, which can force trucking companies to rely on credit.
• Can lead to increased factoring fees when trucking companies employ factoring services to get paid quickly, which impacts profits. 
• There is an increased risk of lost revenue and it can be more difficult to resolve billing disputes if invoices are slow to arrive. 
• Delayed invoices and billing can have a negative impact on a company’s customer relationships. 

Armed with a better understanding of how slow billing and invoicing processes have a negative impact on freight companies, you can gain a better understanding of how automated billing and invoicing can be a real asset when integrated with your Transportation Management System.

1. Faster Billing Cycles

When bills and invoices are generated automatically by your TMS platform upon confirmation of delivery, it reduces the time it takes for your company to get paid and allows you to pay drivers and owner-operators faster. 

2. Increases Cash Flow

Trucking is a pay-up-front business where companies pay for equipment, fuel, and labor before they can receive payment for their services. With automated invoicing, companies can reduce the time it takes to be paid for their services, which increases cash flow for the company.

3. Reduces Errors 

Manual data entry is slow, tedious, and can result in errors that have the potential to impact your finances. With automated invoicing, you reduce your reliance on manual data entry and reduce the amount of errors in billing. 

4. Improves Customer Service

Like you in your business, your customers want to resolve their bills quickly, and automated invoicing allows you to speed up the process and provide a more efficient experience for your customers. This also has the potential to reduce the number of billing disputes.

5. Increases Visibility of Finances

Do you want to know if your last month was profitable? Automated invoicing with intuitive analytics dashboards allow you to see your finances in real-time with an in-depth look at paid, overdue, and pending invoices. 

6. Reduces Administrative Costs

When you employ manual invoicing and billing processes, it means more time and money spent on the administrative side of your business. Automated invoicing reduces labor and administrative costs by automating many day-to-day aspects of the business.

7. Easy Financial Audits

Are you trying to keep better track of your finances? Automated invoicing employs innovative solutions that create a digital trail, making it easier to do your taxes, perform financial audits, and remain compliant with industry regulations. 

8. Improves Vendor-Carrier Relationships

Do you want to do business with a company that is always late to send a bill or make a payment? Neither do your customers. With automated invoicing, you can ensure that billing is always on time and accurate, which can help improve vendor-carrier relationships. 

9. Prevents Fraud

Have you been burned by duplicate bills or invoices in the past? With an automated billing system that can detect duplicate bills or inconsistent financial information, you can reduce the risk of encountering fraud for your company.

10. Easy to Scale with Your Company

Is your freight company growing? Are you adding more trucks and customers? With a growing business, it can be difficult to keep up with invoices and bills. Automated invoicing makes it simple to adapt to a growing company without having to add new employees.

READ MORE: When Is It Time to Upgrade Your Transportation Management System? 

Are you looking for ways to streamline the finances of your freight business? Automated invoicing may prove to be a valuable tool that improves the accuracy and efficiency of your finances and this list of the 10 Benefits of Automated Invoicing for Trucking Companies will show you why. 

Contact TenTrucks today for more information about TenTrucks TMS and our 24/7 TenTrucks dispatching services!