Accurate invoicing for professional services organisations can be a challenge. Rocketlane has launched a new invoicing solution that aims to improve invoicing accuracy and automate the whole process with seamless integration into accounting platforms such as NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage.
Many professional services organisations combine data from disconnected silos of data such as timesheet information, spreadsheets, CRM and expenses to build invoices. The problem is that inaccuracies creep into invoices. When inaccurate, customers challenge the validity, leading to delayed payment and inevitable cash flow problems. Organisations should be using a complete PSA solution. Which is where all the information is held for those invoices. With an invoicing solution that can draw upon that data.
The new Rocketlane Invoices solution draws upon the data held within the PSA solution, leverages the workflow processes for approval and then passes the data automatically without any rekeying to the accounting solution.
Srikrishnan Ganesan, CEO of Rocketlane, commented, “Too many teams spend time dealing with exports from their financial systems, verifying data and invoices outside their systems. With this new feature, teams on Rocketlane can effortlessly review effort and time logs, manage approvals, creating error-free invoices, and automating reconciliation, staying aligned with their accounting systems.”
Efficiency and accuracy for the invoice process
The new Rocketlane invoice solution is able to leverage all of the information held about a client’s project to generate a new invoice. When organisations have a T&M project, they can leverage the Rocketlane timesheet solution. Any approved hours can be added to the invoice. Materials can be recharged. For fixed fee or budgeted projects, the invoices can be created following milestones achievements, ensuring that the right amount is invoiced at the right moment in the project lifecycle.
Rocketlane Invoicing also handles subscription-based engagements, and where clients have all three within an engagement, the new solution supports the creation of a single invoice. Rocketlane also supports multicurrency invoicing for global organisations. Clients can also be billed for multiple projects in a single invoice, cutting down administration for invoicing and accounts receivable.
Once an invoice is created, a customisable approval workflow can ensure that the right people check the invoice. That could be an account exec, project manager, an executive or a combination. The approval process is quick, needing a simple click to approve where required or if a more detailed look is required, the approver can check in detail.
Rocketlane users also have complete visibility of outstanding invoices. A unified dashboard displays information about what’s billed, paid, or pending. It can even forecast cash flow with detailed insights.
Benefits of Rocketlane Invoicing
It means that those who have a closer working relationship with clients, project managers, project leads and account executives, can see immediately whether an invoice is overdue. They can raise the issue with customers rather than having the finance teams upset the relationship.
The result of using such a complete end to end Invoice system is that:
- Relationships with clients are improved
- Better cash flow from accurate invoicing
- An increase in operational efficiency for project managers and the finance function
Ganesan added, “With accurate timesheets, streamlined approvals, and seamless integrations like Salesforce and NetSuite, we’ve made invoicing effortless for professional services teams. Everything—from projects to timesheets—aligns perfectly to deliver precise, on-time invoices without delays or constant follow-ups.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Rocketlane has created what appears to be a comprehensive Invoicing solution. While the full technical details of what the solution includes were not available, it appears impressive. Certainly, for organisations struggling to create accurate and timely invoices for their businesses, it is worth a look.
Rocketlane has not clarified what data is passed between its PSA solution and the accounting solutions for these invoices. For instance, do the notes about an overdue payment appear in the finance system? Doing so might stop the accounts receivable team from chasing an overdue invoice? It is also unclear from the collateral available how the materials element on invoices works. Does the invoice amount depend on the purchase price, or what was agreed in the the statement of work?
