Plug Revenue Leaks and Turn Time into Money
You might have a hole in your time and billing bucket and not know it. When a service is delivered but not billed, that’s revenue leakage. Luckily, desktop and online software applications designed for companies that bill clients for services can plug that leaky money bucket.
Small to medium-sized professional service organizations — architectural, engineering and law firms and others — face a big challenge in accurately tracking billable time spent on customers. It’s important to find a centralized, easy-to-use time and billing solution to capture all time information and create invoices based on work you’ve provided.
Applications range from simple, economical accounting solutions to robust packages with workflow management, document management, customer relationship management and other elements. Many applications integrate with QuickBooks or other published accounting software products that accommodate different bill formats, fee adjustments, reporting requirements and firm-specific personal preferences.
Good time-tracking and billing software pays for itself. The size of your firm and type of work you perform will determine which system best meets your needs. Viewing online tutorials and sample data sets can help you evaluate each vendor’s product. Key features to look for include:
- Common database to reduce the number of data-entry errors and speed up information retrieval
- Ability to present time and expenses in a professional format clients can easily understand
- Remote recording of billable hours, regardless of where these activities physically occur, via the Internet, PDA or desktop synchronization
- Integration of customer information for marketing and sales purposes
- Managing long-term jobs with project management tools
- Utilizing financial management accounting modules to more accurately and efficiently identify your financial position
Stop revenue leakage from draining your profits and productivity. Download this helpful software research checklist — then talk to us. We can help.
