FreshBooks, an online billing and tracking service, aims to provide its users with valuable metrics as a way of benchmarking against businesses in over eighty different industries. Statistics will include average time for payment, average invoice size by industry, monthly revenue, in addition to trends about online payments, payment methods and lots of other useful information.
So [he] did what a growing number of other business owners are doing — he hired a software service provider to do the work for him. Now, FreshBooks, a Web-based invoicing service that takes care of generating and sending invoices, issuing reminders, and even processing online payments, manages his billings.
“I just set up the client account, enter the numbers and [FreshBooks] takes care of the rest.” [he] says. “Collection time is way shorter.”
Project Manager
“I am much more on top of my time tracking and invoicing.”
Dominic Bortolussi
The Working Group
Toronto, Canada
Consultant
“Great to see a product that does what it promises and then some.”
Kalena Jordan
Jordan Consulting
Bellingen, Australia
Editor
“I can’t believe that I didn’t know this existed.”
Jennifer Laycock
Search Engine Guide
Columbus, U.S.A.
Web Designer
“It’s worth every penny I pay. I love it.”
Jason Hunter
JasonHunter Designs
Perth Amboy, U.S.A.
Virtual Assistant
“The greatest advantage I have is saving time, its simplicity and it’s very easy to use.”
Loraine Carol
Simply Virtual Works
Vancouver, Canada
Freshbooks received an Honorable Mention at the 2006 Web 2.0 Awards in the “Business, Money, & eCommerce” category as a service to “make easier the lives of businesspeople everywhere”.
SEOmoz reviewed, categorized, rated and ranked over 300 Web 2.0 sites in 38 categories. The awards include interviews with the founders of 22 companies/sites and an overview article of the Web 2.0 phenomenon with contributions from many important folks in the field.
Setting up an accounts receivable system for any business that needs to automate the collection of recurring fees, whether a Web hosting provider, fitness club or courier delivery service, can be an overwhelming task. This is when a recurring billing system can be an effective solution, enabling businesses to automate the collection of monthly and annual fees on a subscription basis.[Freshbooks] is a recurring billing application service provider that enables Web hosts to process transactions through a variety of e-commerce outlets, including VeriSign, Electracash and PayPal. The software includes the ability to perform invoices and collections, timesheets, file sharing and support ticketing, as well as integrations with accounting software packages such as QuickBooks, Simply Accounting and MYOB.
Compared to the other invoicing services that I’ve covered — which I like quite a lot — FreshBooks strikes me as a bit more intelligent and more mature. Its user interface is not quite as bubbly as many other Web 2.0 services. It is, though, extremely clear and fast, despite offering users a lot of control and options. [Rafe Needleman, News.com]
