(BI Intelligence)

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Microsoft is adding several new features that help make the company's workplace software-and-service subscription offering, Office 365, more appealing to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the US, UK, and Canada, according to a company blog post.

One of its new tools, Microsoft Invoicing, makes it easier to create estimates and invoices in a timely manner while also tracking pending payments and processing payments quickly. The service will also integrate with PayPal, so users can accept credit and debit cards online, and will connect with QuickBooks to let firms sync customer and catalog data, and transfer invoicing information to accounts.

Digital invoicing features help resolve major pain points for SMEs, reducing both time and costs.

• Business-to-business (B2B) payments can be time-consuming. For context, it takes an average of 30 days to complete a payment, according to Deloitte. For larger firms, that may be acceptable because they have a tremendous amount of working capital, however, for SMEs, which likely don't have access to this working capital, waiting on payments like these could be catastrophic. Thus, the ability to receive and send these payments digitally could drastically cut down on time.

• The costs associated with invoice processing can be extremely detrimental to smaller businesses. Processing an invoice comes with costs — according to Kofax, the median cost to process an invoice is $5.00, which can increase when a company is smaller and likely can't save from bulk processing or other efficiencies. These companies must also add the cost of processing checks, which AFP estimates can hit $360,000 per year for the average firm, as well as other associated payment fees.

Jaime Toplin, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on B2B payments that:

• Sizes the B2B payments market relative to other major US payment segments

• Explains how the B2B payments process works, and what makes it so complicated relative to consumer payments

• Discusses the pain points associated with analog B2B payments

• Analyzes the factors behind eroding barriers to industry digitization

• Evaluates what it will take to eventually build up an industry-wise digital payments standard

To get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Learn More Now