Microsoft Adds PayPal-Friendly eInvoicing Tool For SMEs

Microsoft is positioning itself further within small businesses, announcing new features for SME users of Office 365 on Monday (July 10).

In a blog post announcing the news, Microsoft said it added Microsoft Connections, Listings and Invoicing apps to its Office 365 Business Premium service, as well as the launch of the Office 365 Business center and several other new features.

The new apps will be available to SMEs across the U.S., U.K. and Canada and will roll out over the course of several weeks, the company said. Connections provides email marketing solutions, Listings provides a way to list business information on websites and Invoicing allows companies to create electronic invoicing that can be processed through online payments via PayPal and allows suppliers to accept card payments from customers. Microsoft Invoicing also integrates with QuickBooks for data sharing and reconciliation, it noted.

The Office 365 Business center links all of these new apps into a single interface for businesses to access their financial and performance data. Companies can see outstanding invoices, track appointments as they’re scheduled, manage social media impressions and promote email campaigns.

“The Business center includes an activity feed, so you can see the details of what’s happening within each of the apps – making it easy to keep up to date on new customer appointments, invoices and payments being created or updated by the employees in your business,” Microsoft said in its announcement.

In addition to the new apps and the Business center, Microsoft also introduced the addition of MileIQ into Office 365 Business Premium for businesses with fleets and company vehicles to track mileage.

The technology conglomerate has introduced other SME-facing services in recent years. Last year the company unveiled its small business ERP tool Madeira, separate from its Dynamics NAV tool, to help smaller businesses with simpler financial and accounting needs. That solution supports financial management, procurement, CRM and other business processes accessible from within Microsoft Outlook.