Designers at Timebox were charged with creating a system that was easy to use, scalable for any size of firm and did not require huge investment in IT systems or services before it could be utilised. The brand new system – available on-line now to any practice – is scalable and offers real benefits to any practice, whether it has two fee earners or 2,000.
Early pilot schemes suggest the system is easily adopted by staff and consequently adds significantly to fee income.
Most practices will be aware of potential lost revenue through poor recording of chargeable time, and in a small practice with just two or three partners and hourly rates of just 100, the loss of just 5% of chargeable time through poor recording will cost the business upwards of 10,000 in revenue.
Timebox can also be accessed by any modern device, such as a desktop, a lap top, a PDA or even a web enabled mobile telephone ensuring that work on the move or at home can still be logged and charged accordingly. It offers speedy analysis of work in progress and allows practices to see at a glance which clients or projects are the most or least profitable.
It will also integrate with any proprietary systems or IT platforms, as long as the user has access to the Internet and a browser facility. Timebox removes the need for a specific requirement to input data from hard copy time sheets. The time taken to create invoices is thus dramatically reduced.
A powerful analysis engine adds even more value to the product, for as well as recording chargeable time, the system also allows users to ‘drill down’ into data and examine areas such as profitability of departments or individuals and time off sick. In addition, it provides the necessary records required for Continuous Professional Development processes.
Free technical support and upgrades, again vastly different from the type of service offered by other software vendors, means zero on-going financial investment. Security completes the picture with the developers – the team behind the migration of data from NatWest to Royal Bank of Scotland following its acquisition have used the same security infrastructure as the most secure on-line banking sites.
“The benefits of logging time to help provide accurate billing information are well documented,” explained Timebox Chief Operations Officer Grant Browning.
“A practice with any number of partners relies on accurate billing and even tiny mistakes add up and mean firms miss out on billing for tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds of work. The implications are huge for any sized firm.
“What we have tried to do with Timebox is make a modern, scalable system available for anyone with a browser and an Internet connection. More importantly, we’ve tried to make it easy to use. It’s simply a matter of logging time on the system as you go along.
“It’s ‘switch on/switch off’ system that requires no contract or up-front investment and we firmly believe it’s the most simple to use in the industry. In fact, the only charge is for an individual or group license to use the system, which can cost as little as 20 per user per month, a figure that is simply incomparable to systems which require massive up front investment then costly upgrades, fixes and training.
“It is already being piloted by a number of practices and they are reporting very positive feedback with gains in excess of that predicted.”
