31 May The Promise of Promis

Every business transaction is a set of promises. The supplier promises to deliver a great service or product. And you as the client promise to pay by the due date. You both trust each other.

Let’s take an example:

Bookkeepers are amazing people.

Imagine the care they take with everything they touch. When an invoice comes in, they check the GST is correct on it and the sums are true. They check that the supplier is registered for GST and has all the 7 required details on the invoice that the ATO demands.

Then they enter the supplier’s contact details, ABN and bank details into the accounting system. Next they enter the invoice, line by line, taking care to get every Cent correct. They also remember what the correct expense account is to book the expense into. And if tracking categories are needed, they enter those with care as well.

After double-checking, they might even scan the invoice and upload the scan to the transaction. And then they wait for the due date to come around. They find the online portal that allows for payment of this invoice, enter the reference number and credit card details and; after making the payment, enter it in the accounting system to mark the invoice as paid.

When the bank feed comes through, they reconcile the payment and can finally prepare the report for management.

Bookkeepers are amazing people.

They have the patience and attention to detail to get this right.

Day after day.

Except sometimes when a finger slips and a wrong amount or wrong bank account number or wrong credit card number is entered. That is only human. And of course, they find the error and fix it and rightly feel a sense of satisfaction for having balanced the books again.

Now imagine how this same care is taken by Promis.

Just like the trusted bookkeeper, the software checks out that the invoice includes all relevant details (by making sure the supplier has confirmed their details), that the supplier is registered for GST (by automatically looking up the ABR register), what the correct GST treatment for the client is. Then it creates every line with the relevant expense account (for your specific setup). It shows your previous invoices from this supplier so you easily see whether this one is correct. It warns you when specific line items seem really out of the norm.

After you authorise the invoice with a single click, the invoice with all details is written into your accounting system with the pdf attached.

And all of that takes a few seconds only.

And when the payment is due, Promis takes care of the money transfer, so you can focus on what is really important: creating value for your clients.

Where does that leave the bookkeepers?

Well, they are really amazing people and they care about generating value for you, their clients. They are also very smart and have seen that automation is taking over a large part of their work. So now they are focusing on creating much higher value for their clients by finding efficiencies and helping you systemise to achieve them.

They still manage payroll and BAS. But they also finally have the time to help you interpret the figures so that you can make the right decisions. And most importantly, they assist in bringing more automation into your business, so that you and your team can focus on what it really is all about: creating value for your clients.

How can Promis deliver all this?

We live in a connected world. And today it is secure, fast and cheap to connect the needs of different people. Banks and accounting systems connect to deliver loans more quickly. Peer to peer lending platforms do it to connect people who have money with others who need money. Uber connects people with cars to others who need to get to places. Airbnb connects people with room to others who want to sleep.

And in the same way, Promis connects the digital data that suppliers have created with the digital data that clients need to process the transactions.

How does it work in detail?

During signup, you authorise Promis to watch for new sales invoices that you create in your accounting system. When a new invoice is sent out, Promis automatically makes it available to your client in their Promis App. And as it is really easy for them to pay you, chances are that you will be paid more quickly than before.

Promis also automatically reminds them that a due date is coming up or when an invoice is in fact overdue. How do we identify a client? Every user verifies one or multiple email addresses. Once verified, any invoice that reaches the Promis Network addressed to that email address is automatically delivered to them.

So apart from the initial setup, no changes are necessary in your system. Promis actively works with your suppliers to get them onboarded (we are already talking to a range of government departments and large corporates to let their invoices flow into the Promis network). The more businesses request for a specific supplier to come on board, the quicker they will make a move.

Leave a comment about who your most important suppliers are where paying their invoices is a nuisance. We’ll get onto them and will let you know as soon as they have connected to Promis.