How FlexPoint Solves Billing Pain Points by Role (Owner, Operations, Finance)
Billing challenges present themselves differently depending on your role within an MSP.
For MSP owners, the focus is on protecting revenue, stabilizing cash flow, and reducing financial risk. According to MSP Insight, 7 out of 10 MSP owners worry about cash flow.
Operations managers within MSPs are primarily concerned with maintaining clean and efficient billing workflows between service delivery and client invoicing, thereby avoiding bottlenecks/errors and payment delays.
Meanwhile, MSP finance teams are often overwhelmed by managing back-end billing spreadsheets, juggling invoice approvals, and aging or delayed receivables. They’re also deeply involved in generating invoices, collecting payments, and performing numerous reconciliation tasks.
Each MSP team brings its own priorities, pain points, and billing KPIs to the table.
However, all rely on one thing: reliable, accurate, timely, and integrated billing.
Understanding these role-specific challenges is the first step in finding a billing solution that works for the entire business. And that’s precisely what the FlexPoint team embarked on doing. After consulting with numerous MSP teams and identifying their billing pain points, we developed an MSP-specific billing platform to address these challenges.
In this article, we will address how FlexPoint addresses these diverse billing pain points with tailored solutions that cater to each stakeholder without compromising the needs of others.
We’ll also demonstrate how FlexPoint helps MSPs protect revenue, streamline billing operations, and maintain financial accuracy for the entire team, making things more transparent and easier for every team as your MSP business grows.
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Why MSP Billing Pain Points Differ by Role
As an MSP grows, billing involves more than just the finance team; it affects the whole organization.
Each role has different goals and challenges, which can create payment friction if billing systems aren’t built to support everyone. To resolve billing issues at scale, it’s essential to understand the impact on each department.
In this section, we’ll break down the specific billing challenges faced by each department and why addressing them collectively is key to scaling smoothly.
1. MSP Owners:
As an MSP owner or founder, you are usually very concerned about lost revenue from unbilled services, missed contract renewals, or unused prepaid hours.
Additionally, inconsistent cash flow resulting from late payments due to an improper billing process makes it challenging to plan budgets or scale the business.
Without clear, real-time visibility into what has been invoiced versus what has been collected, you are left guessing about your financial health until further problems arise.
2. MSP Operations Managers:
The biggest problem for a manager is that their team has to spend countless hours fixing payment errors.
Your success depends on maintaining clean billing workflows and accurately tracking time from PSA systems, as well as providing clients with the right payment options.
However, when service data is missing or manual handoffs to finance occur, your accounting or bookkeeping teams end up spending hours correcting errors. This delays payment collection and payment reconciliation.
3. MSP Finance Teams:
Billing can be very chaotic if not done correctly. According to Modern Treasury, billing teams waste 9 hours each week reconciling payments across disconnected systems and fixing billing errors.
Finance teams are often stretched thin by the heavy burden of manual reconciliation. This labor-intensive and error-prone process often relies on spreadsheets, leading to inaccuracies in financial statements.
They’re also battling aging receivables, where unpaid invoices accumulate in 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets. This escalates both credit risk and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) while forcing accounting teams to spend excessive time chasing overdue balances.
To compound the issue, invoice inaccuracies such as incorrect amounts or duplicate billing cause disputes, slow down payments, and erode trust with clients.
The cumulative effect of the above is damaged trust, strained relationships, poorer cash flow, and a finance team bogged down in reactive firefighting instead of strategic financial management.
Given everything we’ve discussed above regarding various roles within an MSP team, it is clear that billing software for MSPs can’t be one-size-fits-all.
To be truly effective, the software must serve the needs of owners, operations, and finance simultaneously. This can be achieved by providing role-specific capabilities while keeping all departments aligned and informed.
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How FlexPoint Helps MSP Owners Solve High-Level Billing Challenges
For MSP business leaders (Founders and Owners), priorities like increasing revenue, reducing financial risk, improving forecasting accuracy, and maintaining strategic control are always top of mind.
However, billing is often treated as a routine back-office function, which has a direct impact on each of these goals.
FlexPoint addresses the challenges discussed by automating billing workflows, synchronizing service delivery with finance, and providing owners with real-time visibility and control to drive smarter, more strategic decisions.
In this section, we will explore how FlexPoint helps MSP owners.
1. Protect Revenue
FlexPoint helps MSP owners solve billing challenges by automatically syncing PSA and ticket data to capture every billable activity, preventing missed revenue.
The built-in automated payment reminders and AutoPay features help MSPs to accelerate cash flow by minimizing delays and reducing the need for manual client follow-ups.
Specifically, these automated reminders nudge clients to pay before or after invoices are due based on a preset interval.
As for AutoPay, it ensures recurring payments are collected on time without manual intervention. Clients can sign up for AutoPay specifically for recurring payments, freeing up the MSP’s team from manually following up for invoices.
In short, these tools improve collection rates, lower aging receivables, and free up staff from chasing payments.
This automated process helps MSP owners avoid errors that could have occurred if manual intervention were involved.
Let’s take the example of Fort Point IT, a California-based MSP. As the MSP grew, its existing payment processor became a source of frustration for clients. This made processing accounts receivable a costly and time-consuming challenge, leading to rising outstanding balances.
More so, the bookkeeper on the MSP’s team was spending countless hours manually chasing overdue invoices.
Travis Woods, the Founder and CEO, sought a comprehensive payment solution to eliminate these payment friction points in his billing workflows and ensure a predictable cash flow without eroding profit margins.
Fort Point IT found its ideal partner in FlexPoint after a colleague recommended them to Travis.
FlexPoint introduced automatic payment options, which quickly became a favorite among Fort Point IT’s clients.
Shortly after the partnership began, the majority of clients switched to AutoPay, which drastically reduced the number of overdue invoices.
As a result, using FlexPoint, Fort Point IT achieved
- 65% reduction in overdue payments.
- Less than 5% of receivables are past due today.
2. Win New Clients and Gain New Revenue
According to Clicklease data, offering B2B customer financing can increase average order values by more than 41%.
When scaling, MSPs often encounter clients who want to invest in large capital IT projects, but don’t often have the immediate funds to greenlight the project.
FlexPoint addresses critical high-level billing challenges for MSP owners by providing financing options that directly impact revenue growth and client acquisition.
The flexible financing option allows your clients to pay over time.
This helps provide a Buy Now Pay Later option to your clients who are not willing to commit a significant upfront cost for the project.
With this, your clients can spread their payment over the agreed-upon interval.
This ensures your services are more accessible to an increasing number of clients, helping to accelerate deal closures and reduce objections.
It also unlocks new revenue opportunities from clients who might have otherwise delayed or declined due to budget constraints.
Consider, for example, Pileus Technologies, a Kansas-based MSP, which was growing fast and needed alternative payment options and financing from new prospects.
John Douglass, the President, was eager to expand his customer base by offering flexible financing. Still, his existing payment processing tool lacked this capability, and he wished to avoid overhauling his entire finance stack.
Searching for a new solution that offered flexible payment options without impacting his bandwidth for other growth initiatives became a priority, which is when John discovered FlexPoint at an industry event.
FlexPoint’s flexible financing services proved crucial in enabling Pileus Technologies to deliver enterprise-grade IT solutions to price-sensitive clients.
By offering these alternative pricing paths, FlexPoint transformed financing from a mere 'nice-to-have' into a significant competitive advantage for Pileus Technologies.
With FlexPoint, Pileus Technologies has achieved significant improvements:
- 5% increase in new customers via FlexPoint one-click financing.
- 80% Faster payment processing times.
3. Pileus Technologies Results with FlexPoint
MSPs often report not being paid on time, with some waiting an average of 60 days or more to receive delinquent payments.
FlexPoint's surcharging capabilities enable MSPs to pass processing fees to clients where permitted by law (check if credit card surcharging is legal in your state), thereby protecting profit margins while maintaining transparent pricing.
Meanwhile, real-time dashboards give owners clear visibility into outstanding balances, payment status, and trends. It enables faster decision-making and more reliable forecasting.
Together, these insights and features help MSPs understand where the funds are coming from, ultimately strengthening financial control across the business.
Let’s take the example of Compunet Technologies, a California-based MSP. The MSP’s previous payment provider was acquired and began modifying its services, making the partnership increasingly challenging to manage.
President Michael Leonard knew it was time to look for a new solution. However, most options required a complete overhaul of their existing systems and workflows, something they wanted to avoid.
Instead, they needed a platform that could enhance their current setup without disrupting their existing operations.
He discovered FlexPoint, which required only minor adjustments to its workflow and offered additional features beyond those of its predecessor.
Using FlexPoint, Compunet sends invoices to clients on the first of the month and reliably receives payments within a couple of days, thereby simplifying their entire billing cycle.
This streamlined process meant the team no longer spent time tracking down payments, as several clients even switched to FlexPoint’s AutoPay option.
With this, Compunet now knows exactly when deposits will arrive. This improves cash flow predictability, allowing them to schedule their own vendor payments.
Moreover, they now understand when payment is coming in, as nearly all monthly client payments are now made within 72 hours.
Clients can also easily view past-due balances and other key areas of concern.
This improved cash flow predictability, as Compunet now knows precisely when it’ll receive deposits, enabling it to schedule its own vendor payments more effectively.
As a result, with FlexPoint, Compunet Technologies achieved:
- A reduced time spent on monthly billing from more than half a day to about 15 minutes.
- They reduce the monthly payment window by 12 days.
4. Deliver Financial Visibility
Accurate and up-to-date financial information is crucial for making sound business decisions.
FlexPoint helps MSP owners centralize billing, collections, and cash flow metrics in one unified dashboard.
This ensures that owners can quickly identify issues such as delayed payments or rising DSO without having to dig through reports or chase updates.
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This proactive insight enables better decisions regarding pricing, client management, and resource allocation, ultimately protecting revenue and enhancing profitability.
FlexPoint provides comprehensive financial visibility through various features and resources.
5. Reduce the Risk of Client Disputes
According to a study by the Institute of Finance & Management, manual invoice processing has an error rate of up to 12.5%.
FlexPoint helps MSP owners solve high-level billing challenges by providing a centralized platform that ensures billing accuracy, transparency, and professionalism.
With branded client portals, clients can easily view and verify their billing history, reducing confusion and disputes.
Automated data syncing from PSA tools eliminates manual entry errors, while real-time visibility into services delivered helps owners ensure that every billable hour is captured.
This level of clarity not only protects revenue but also strengthens client trust, minimizing friction and preserving long-term relationships.
Bobby Lind, founder at Limetree Labs, an Idaho-based MSP, aimed to restructure his organization and bring on a Revenue Manager, but he encountered the hurdle of invoicing complexity.
Each of Limetree Labs' diverse clients, from veterinary clinics to law firms, required distinctly structured invoices, making processing incredibly difficult and time-consuming.
However, existing revenue management solutions proved inadequate, as they were limited in their ability to handle complex invoices and relied on email-based payments.
After being referred to FlexPoint by a trusted contact, a brief 15-minute demonstration convinced Bobby that he had found the right solution.
FlexPoint addressed Limetree Labs' needs by introducing a secure payments portal that revolutionised the client billing experience.
This portal empowered clients to view, manage, and pay invoices autonomously.
Crucially, all payment history is saved directly in the portal, reducing clients' dependence on Bobby’s team for administrative tasks, such as viewing past invoices.
This functionality was a major driver in keeping Limetree Labs’ clients happy and loyal to the provider, directly protecting and strengthening client relationships.
As a result, Limetree Labs was able to,
- Increase invoice processing time by 50%.
- Save millions of dollars in client retention.
How FlexPoint Simplifies Workflows for Operations Managers in MSPs
In this section, we’ll examine how FlexPoint streamlines billing for operations leaders by automating time capture, eliminating the need for spreadsheets, and keeping service teams aligned.
1. Automates Billable Time Capture
Without integration between PSA tools (such as ConnectWise, Autotask, HaloPSA, SuperOps) and the billing system FlexPoint, operations managers spend a significant amount of time reviewing service logs and manually creating or verifying invoices.
This process is both time-consuming and prone to costly mistakes.
FlexPoint automates billable time capturing and ensures that no revenue-generating activity is missed. By integrating with PSA systems to automatically track service hours, project time, and support activities as they occur. This prevents technicians from forgetting to log billable time or missing revenue opportunities due to manual tracking errors.
The bi-directional sync between the PSA and FlexPoint enables MSP operation managers to automatically create invoices in the PSA and collect payments via FlexPoint. Alternatively, if the MSP chooses to send invoices via FlexPoint, they can do so; in this case, all billing and payment data are automatically synced across all systems.
More so, automation enables operations managers to maintain accurate billing records and expedite invoice processing.
It also reduces the back-and-forth between technicians and accounting, freeing your team to focus on improving workflow efficiency and overall service quality.
2. Eliminates Manual Spreadsheets
The manual process is time-consuming, diverting resources away from more valuable operational tasks.
FlexPoint simplifies billing workflows for operations managers by eliminating the need for manual spreadsheets and tedious reconciliation tasks.
This ensures accurate billing without the usual back-and-forth between service teams and the finance department.
Moreover, this automation ensures reduced human error and expedited invoice delivery, freeing managers to focus on optimizing service delivery and improving overall workflow efficiency.
Consider, for instance, tekRESCUE, a Texas-based MSP, found that managing accounts payable, daily payment recovery, and payment collections was overwhelming for a single person.
They were using QuickBooks for billing, but it became costly because of its limited functionality.
They relied heavily on manually updated spreadsheets to manage recurring monthly and annual payments, track paused client automatic payments, and handle various payment methods.
tekRESCUE urgently needed a solution that was both fast and cost-effective. They found the solution they needed in FlexPoint. FlexPoint seamlessly integrated with the MSP’s billing operations. The platform automates the invoicing process, ensuring that invoices are sent out on time and providing status updates.
This automation has been crucial in eliminating the need for manual data entry and the cumbersome spreadsheets previously used to track recurring payments and client statuses.
As a result, the tekRESCUE team:
- They achieved a 75% improvement in accounting efficiency.
- They also save 20 hours per month on administrative tasks.
3. Customizes Billing Workflows
MSPs offer a wide array of services, each with its own specific billing rules and cycles.
You can simplify workflows for your MSPs by customizing billing rules that align with your team's work processes.
Whether it's one-off projects, recurring service agreements, or hardware sales, FlexPoint ensures each billing type follows a consistent and predefined set of rules.
Hence, with multiple projects to manage and ensure a precise flow of data from ticket to invoice, operational managers can focus on optimizing technician utilization and accelerating cash flow.
4. Simplifies Coordination with Finance
A significant operational challenge is the disconnect between service delivery platforms and financial systems.
The lack of seamless integration often necessitates manual data transfer.
FlexPoint simplifies workflows for operations managers in MSPs by creating a seamless bridge between service delivery and finance.
If an MSP is invoicing out of their PSA, FlexPoint automatically syncs relevant data into its centralized billing platform, ensuring both technical teams and finance are working with accurate, real-time information.
This eliminates the back-and-forth over missing hours or unclear charges.
The result is faster, more accurate invoicing and less friction between departments.
How FlexPoint Empowers Finance and Bookkeeping Teams with Automation and Accuracy
In this section, we’ll examine how FlexPoint simplifies and automates core finance functions, enabling finance teams to work more efficiently, reduce errors, and gain complete control over the billing cycle.
1. Automated Invoicing & Reminders
For finance and bookkeeping teams, the challenge lies in accurately and consistently generating invoices for diverse client contracts on schedule.
FlexPoint addresses this by automating routine billing tasks, such as invoice generation and timely payment reminders. This reduces the need for manual invoice data entry and payment follow-ups. Alternatively, suppose the MSP’s bookkeeping team decides to use the accounting software (such as QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero) for invoicing. In that case, FlexPoint can aid in payment collection and automated reconciliation.
With automated invoicing schedules, recurring charges are sent out on time and with precision, minimizing billing errors that can lead to payment disputes or delays.
Moreover, payment reminders are sent automatically, based on your pre-defined schedule, thereby improving cash flow without requiring constant oversight.
Let’s take the example of TAZ Networks, a Detroit-based MSP, which faced significant challenges with its previous payment processing methods, resulting in inefficiencies and a substantial backlog of past-due statements.
Gaby Patterson, the Accountant at TAZ Networks, was spending considerable time manually chasing past-due payments and re-sending invoices to clients.
The issue was compounding, as they had accumulated a sizable past-due statement, and clients had no centralized place to view their own invoices, leading to almost nonstop emails.
They found their ideal solution in FlexPoint, with its reasonable pricing and easy-to-navigate interface.
FlexPoint transformed TAZ Networks’ invoicing and payment processes, making them seamless and automatic.
FlexPoint standardizes the invoicing and payment processes, meaning Gaby no longer has to send individual invoices from QuickBooks or manage each client’s preferred payment method.
Since FlexPoint automatically sends emails for past-due invoices, human error is greatly reduced.
As a result, TAZ Networks achieved:
- 4x reduction in AR aging, with past-due invoices decreasing from an average of six to eight months overdue to just one to two months.
- 30% reduction in invoicing time.
2. Real-Time Payment Visibility
FlexPoint gives instant access to payment status across all invoices (both current and past-due).
This enables finance professionals to immediately identify which payments are overdue, pending, or successfully processed without manually cross-referencing multiple systems.
This level of automation and visibility empowers finance teams to maintain accurate books, improve collection rates, and provide real-time financial insights.
3. Reconciliation & Accounting Sync
According to Modern Treasury, there is a 36% chance that your finance team spends 9 hours monthly on manual reconciliation.
With FlexPoint, reconciliation becomes effortless as it automatically aligns payments with invoices and bank records, flagging discrepancies for review and correction.
This ensures accuracy in financial reporting and reduces the risk of mismatched transactions. The platform prevents duplicates, giving bookkeepers confidence in their records.
Moreover, by automating payments and reconciliation, finance teams can close their books faster, minimize errors, and maintain a clear audit trail.
This level of accuracy and automation not only speeds up the month-end close process but also gives finance teams confidence in their numbers, freeing them to focus on higher-value work.
Let’s consider how IT Vortex, a New Jersey-based MSP, faced significant challenges with its previous payment processing methods, which led to inefficiencies and client dissatisfaction.
Ericka Montano, the Bookkeeper and Office Manager, spent at least five hours per month manually attaching invoices, sending out links, and chasing down payments when using PayPal.
IT Vortex sought a solution that would eliminate these manual tasks and provide a seamless, integrated experience. They found its ideal solution in FlexPoint, which offered a practically zero-lift onboarding process.
FlexPoint transformed IT Vortex’s invoicing and payment processes, making them seamless and automatic.
Crucially, FlexPoint addressed the reconciliation challenges IT Vortex faced. Once IT Vortex receives deposits, transactions are automatically reconciled and entered directly into QuickBooks.
As a result, IT Vortex achieved:
- Increment in payment speed from 2x to 30x.
- They also save $15,000 monthly on invoicing.
Cross-Department Alignment: How FlexPoint Unites Owners, Operations, and Finance
In this section, we’ll explore how FlexPoint promotes cross-department alignment, improves collaboration, and helps MSPs scale efficiently without internal friction.
1. Unified Source of Truth
Manual invoice processing can take up to 80% longer than automated invoicing.
Teams spend excessive time manually entering and cross-referencing data across platforms due to a lack of a unified data source.
This could lead to inconsistent data, resulting in errors that cause over 60% of payment delays.
FlexPoint is designed as MSP-specific payment automation software that directly addresses this challenge by establishing a unified source of truth for all billing and payment data.
Owners and Management gain access to accurate, real-time financial reports and dashboards.
They can monitor critical metrics, such as cash flow, track outstanding receivables, and analyze payment trends based on consolidated, accurate data. This empowers them to make timely, data-driven decisions.
The Operations team benefits by linking service data captured in their PSA directly to invoicing and payment statuses. With a unified source of truth, they can quickly confirm that delivered services are accurately billed and that the payment status is readily available.
For the Finance team, FlexPoint provides a reliable source for accurate, real-time accounts receivable data. Automated payment matching and reconciliation significantly reduce the time spent on manual tasks.
2. Built-In Role Permissions
In traditional billing systems, MSPs often encounter either siloed data, which leads to inconsistencies, or centralized data that lacks proper access controls.
Without strong role-based permissions, employees may edit sensitive or irrelevant information, leading to security risks from unnecessary data exposure.
Broad data access without proper controls poses significant security risks, including insider threats.
According to SISA, 34% of companies experience insider threats annually. Restricting access based on the principle of least privilege is crucial.
FlexPoint addresses these challenges by implementing Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) as a core component of its platform.
Building upon its function as a unified source of truth by integrating with various PSA, accounting, and other systems.
With RBAC, FlexPoint ensures that only the users who need to make changes actually have the ability to do so, thereby preventing unnecessary exposure and simplifying the user interface.
This tailored access protects sensitive information and supports compliance requirements, such as PCI DSS and SAQ-A, which mandate robust access controls.
By providing tailored access to the same, accurate, real-time data, FlexPoint eliminates the potential for confusion and strengthens security.
3. Consistent Billing Workflows
In traditional MSP billing workflows that are set up without integration or automation, information flows between departments are often disconnected.
Operations teams log services in a PSA, but passing that data to Finance for billing usually involves manual steps leading to delays, errors, and miscommunication.
FlexPoint addresses these challenges by providing a centralized and intuitive platform that integrates seamlessly with MSPs' existing PSA and accounting systems.
FlexPoint automates the entire billing cycle for MSPs from service delivery to reporting.
It generates automated invoices at predefined schedules, streamlines collections with automated reminders, branded client portals, and flexible payment options. The platform matches payments to invoices through automated reconciliation.
This reduces errors, speeds up cash flow, and provides real-time financial insights.
By establishing a consistent workflow based on accurate, real-time data, FlexPoint breaks down silos and fosters alignment across the organization, providing clear accountability at each stage.
4. Improved Internal Communication
Without integrated payment and billing systems, MSPs often face breakdowns in communication between Operations and Finance.
This results in missed or inaccurate time entries, which are errors, and frequent invoice disputes that cost money.
These issues delay payments, cause friction between teams, and create gaps in real-time visibility, making it hard for owners to track financial performance.
FlexPoint enhances internal communication by automating key billing processes and ensuring that all departments operate from a unified data source.
Accurate, itemized invoices eliminate the need for Finance to chase Operations for missing time entries or project info. It also reduces billing errors, minimizes client disputes, and saves time.
With real-time financial dashboards, all teams have instant access to cash flow, revenue, and payment statuses. This creates a shared source of truth that improves decision-making and reduces unnecessary internal check-ins.
Conclusion: A Billing Platform That Supports Every Role in Your MSP
Effective billing isn't just a task for one department; it's a multifaceted function that impacts Owners, Operations, and Finance.
Solutions that fail to address each role's distinct pain points can inadvertently create silos and add unnecessary complexity to your organization.
FlexPoint is designed to break down these barriers and foster alignment by providing a unified platform that serves the needs of the entire MSP team.
For MSP owners, FlexPoint provides enhanced financial visibility and control, protecting revenue and supporting informed strategic decision-making.
Operations Managers benefit from streamlined workflows and significant time savings through the automation of tasks such as invoicing and payment tracking.
Seamless integration with tools like PSAs ensures accurate data flows without manual intervention.
Finance teams achieve increased invoicing accuracy, reduced manual errors, automated reconciliation, and robust compliance support, including adherence to PCI standards.
FlexPoint significantly reduces the need for time-consuming back-and-forth communication by automating manual tasks and providing a single source of truth accessible across departments.
This shared, real-time data environment helps eliminate silos and empowers your entire team to work more effectively together towards common goals.
Schedule a demo and experience the only billing platform designed to support your whole MSP team.
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Additional FAQs: Role-Based Benefits of FlexPoint
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