Billable hours are the amount of time spent working on business projects that can be charged to a client according to an agreed-upon hourly rate. Commonly, any service-based businesses will frequently use billable hours to charge clients for the services they provide. To charge by the billable hour, workers need to track the amount of time they spend on each client’s projects every day. The concept of billable hours is not only used by consulting businesses, a variety of professional services business bill clients by the hour. For example, legal, accountancy, architectural, marketing and more all use this model to generate revenue.
Time tracking and timely billing is the keys to providing optimal cash flow in project-based businesses. It is significant for a business to take proper account of project costs and submit invoices to the clients on time in
order to maintain consistent cash flow in the business. It is vital that billing processes are streamlined in an efficient manner in order to achieve targets. Even in 2019, the reality is many businesses struggle with manual methods for creating submitting and reviewing resources time, expenses and managing project tasks. The manual process is not only slow but also can affect profits due to the chances of human error.
But it’s not all bad! There are time and billing software solutions to help you streamline and digitize the entire process. For example, a good PSA solution will have a billable time tracking feature built-in making time and billing much easier and streamlined so your business can save money and resources can spend their time on meaningful work.
Below we discuss 4 attributes you should look for in a billable time solution…
Customizable invoices – Initially, the ability to customize your invoices may not seem significant, but it can create a large impact on how your clients perceive your business. Customizable invoices give you the ability to fulfill particular requests for a project or client. In a lot of cases, clients will want to see complete details associated with each and every billable hour -understandably!. Some may want to see an invoice for the project as a whole with all phases rolled into one, while others may want invoices for each individual phase. A good PSA solution gives you the flexibility to customize your invoices with comments and more so you can provide a better experience for your clients.
Integrations – In order to fully streamline, you must consider solutions that integrate with other software tools your firm already uses such as Quickbook, Xero, etc. Seamless integrations will reduce the steps it takes to accomplish tasks and eliminate the need for duplicating data entry. This not only increases your team’s productivity, but it also reduces the risk of making errors or losing data between systems.
Reports – A solution that offers detailed reports is the difference between an average or an amazing time and billing solution. Reports may seem to fall more in the category of “business intelligence” software, but if your software tracks where your resources time goes and how you’re billing and getting paid for that time, it makes sense that your software should be able to turn that data into detailed and actionable insights. Reports not only give you insight on what’s happened in the past (if an invoice has been unpaid) but gives you the 20:20 foresight you need to manage the future.
Ease of Use & Support – It is important to choose a billable time solution that is easy to use, and reliable. It should be easy enough to use that anyone in a business can adapt to it pretty fast, and it should have a great level of customer support. Make sure that the vendor you choose offers email and telephone support packages, this makes it a lot easier to solve any issues that arise.
Any kind of services based business benefit from billable time software, no matter how large or small a business is. These solutions are proven to show an ROI well worth the investment, as they can track all team activity, handle expenses, and more. Business owners who use this technology find increased productivity, which ultimately leads to increased profits, which is the bottom line of any business.
The world’s most intuitive PSA solution is here…
CrossConcept Continuum goes beyond traditional PSA solutions available today by incorporating cutting-edge UI technology making the solution more user-friendly, resulting in fewer clicks within the solution and time spent logging data.
CrossConcept Continuum has been built from the ground up to integrate with all major accounting systems to seamlessly synchronize projects and accounting within one unified system. Our innovative PSA solution allows organizations to maximize profitability by integrating connecting projects and financial accounting, enabling you to manage all stages of your project from conception to completion and deliver on your promises.
Our solution is a simple, yet powerful PSA solution built with the end-user in mind – fast, flexible, powerful and user-friendly! We are offering all new clients a free 2-week trial with no contract obligations. This is a great opportunity for any business to try out the solution and decide if PSA software is for you!
To book a free 15-minute consultation, email: marketing@crossconceptinc.com or call: 1-888-528-3898 x110.
