Bill payment software for businesses comes in many forms, and evaluating them all can be exhausting. Their functions ought to fit your operations, so asking the right questions is important. Here’s how to choose cost-effective bill pay solutions that integrate with other small business financial tools.
What you need to know
- Automating your business payments is the most useful way to manage accounts payable, because it’ll cut down on mistakes and ensure bills get paid when they’re due.
- When choosing a third-party bill pay service, compare transaction limits, payment options, and what sort of transaction details you’ll have access to.
- Take advantage of trial periods and test the features, security, accounting software integration, and customer support before deciding.
Understanding bill pay services
Paying bills on time is an easy way to consistently improve cash flow and increase your business credit score. Doing it manually requires significant work, but many business payment systems will automatically organize, execute, and reconcile payments to vendors and suppliers. They also ensure you won’t miss due dates or time-sensitive payments like tax deposits.
The electronic payment solutions offered by your business checking account are the most seamless, because payments will be sent directly from your account without needing an additional connection. However, third-party bill pay platforms mostly offer integration with your bank account, and may offer more customization options for scheduling payments and categorizing expenses.
How to choose the bill pay service that’s best for your business
1. Assess your business payment needs
The volume and size of your business transactions will determine which bill pay service is best for you, although if your business is smaller, you should consider how well your platform will scale. Focus your search on platforms with strong security and customization. Start your search by creating a “wishlist” of your most-desired features.
2. Compare features and costs
The goal of adopting a new bill pay system is to make you and your accountant’s job easier. When choosing a bill pay service, compare:
- Automated accounts payable
- Data analytics and insights
- Transaction limits (number and amount)
- Which types of payments are offered
- What transaction details you’ll get to see
- Multi-user access, plus different levels of access for different employees
The last thing to consider is pricing. Some platforms charge setup costs and transaction fees. Look for:
- Setup costs
- Transaction fees
- Monthly fees/maintenance fees
Security and compliance
Your bill pay service connects to your business bank account, so security should be a top priority. Using your banking provider’s platform is an easy choice because your data won’t travel through a third-party, but third-party apps generally offer encryption, multi-factor authentication, automated risk analysis, and other security measures to compensate. These services also must abide by financial laws and compliance standards concerning how they store your financial data. Research your platforms’ reputation for security before choosing.
Accounting software integration
Your bill pay platform manages business transactions made through your business bank, while accounting software registers the amounts and payees and categorizes those transactions for financial reporting and tax filings. Look for platforms that sync your data across the two platforms to avoid pointless manual reconciliation.
Customer support and platform reliability
Good customer service is essential for a new bill payment solution, particularly if your company is a startup. Assess any bill pay service’s reliability based on peer recommendations, user reviews, and—if possible—try to find the company’s mean time to resolution, a KPI measuring how fast customer problems get solved.
3. Select the best bill payment platform
Take advantage of free trial periods to test which software is best in practice, and engage with their customer service while testing. When assessing, make sure to balance the cost of the platform with the quality of experience and customer service, as a more expensive platform may help you save more time and money (though these things don’t always correlate, either).
Integrated bill payments and business checking, all in one powerful platform.