Bill4Time

Legal Time Billing Software

Software as a Service: The Convenience and Benefits of Cloud Based Applications

Software as a Service: The Convenience and Benefits of Cloud Based Applications

By 1 Comment

This year’s big business question: is switching to cloud-based software right for your firm? Do you have to be on your office computer to work? Do you spend a significant amount on software licenses, support contracts, servers, billing and HR staff?  How often do you have to buy the latest version of the software you use?

As the benefits of cloud based services become more evident, more small businesses are moving to the cloud. Software as a Service (SaaS) can be defined as “software deployed as a hosted service and accessed over the Internet.” SaaS is an attractive model because it is globally accessible, flexible, and affordable. It also removes all the complexities of installation, deployment, maintenance and new version upgrades. By its nature, SaaS resides in the “cloud”. SaaS sales in 2010 reached an estimated $10 billion, and they’re projected to reach $21.3 billion by 2015. Still, as with any technology, you want to do your research first.

SaaS is typically web-based which means that unlike traditional software, you have access to SaaS anywhere you are connected to the internet. If you are currently still using traditional software, you may wonder what the differences are between traditional software and SaaS.  Here is a point-by-point comparison:

There are many fundamental benefits of today’s SaaS solutions including:

  • Low risk factors – Most SaaS solution providers offer a 30 day trial of the software’s full version with no credit card required. Firms then have a month to decide if the software meets the firm’s requirements.
  • Low commitment factors – Most SaaS solution providers allow customers to cancel at any time. Customers are not forced into contracts and only pay for the months that they use the software.
  • Competitive cost – SaaS is typically “pay as you go” and when compared to the cost of software licenses, computer hardware, support contracts and version updates, SaaS is often the more cost effective solution.
  • Rapid deployment and Integration – SaaS vendors can roll out their applications whenever the firm is ready. No need to wait for servers to be deployed or staff to be hired and trained to get a new app up and running.
  • Increased utilization – Because SaaS solutions are designed with the end-user in mind and are continually improving with upgrades, the user learning curve is shorter. They are typically more user-friendly and generate greater utilization rates than traditional software.
  • Heightened security – Despite prevalent concerns about the reliability and security of SaaS solutions, the truth is that there have been far fewer service disruptions and security breaches among SaaS vendors than in traditional, on-premise software environments.
  • SaaS solution providers tend to be more responsive to customer requests for feature enhancements and bug fixes.
  • Increased productivity – SaaS solutions are accessible from anywhere on any device which means firms are able to use them in downtime hours. When you can work from anywhere at anytime productivity tends to increase.
  • Constant access to the latest and greatest software version. – SaaS means no more waiting or upgrading to the latest software version. Customers are always working with the latest version and can expect continual improvements along the way.

Whatever your software needs may be, the cloud’s customizable and flexible solutions are the perfect option for expanding small firms, and even for firms just looking to consolidate and cut costs. Legal and small business industries can certainly take advantage of SaaS to reduce overall cost and enhance services.

Written by Jeremy Diviney – Co-Founder of Bill4Time.

Download the full report here.

 

Why Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow?

By Leave a Comment

This is a philosophy that at some point or another, we’ve all followed. Procrastination, it seems, is part of human nature. But recently, I’ve been trying a different approach. Classic American radio host Bernard Meltzer once said, “Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time.” He’s right. Everything seems infinitely more difficult, not to mention stressful, when the deadline is rapidly approaching. But eventually, you will reach the light at the end of the tunnel. And who doesn’t enjoy that huge wave of relief after finishing a tough project?

When I have a task left to finish – a report, an errand, maybe even a blog post, for example – I can always sense the clock ticking. Every so often, the voice in the back of my head goes “Hey, remember that task you didn’t do?” I used to be motivated by that voice. I wouldn’t get work done until I felt my life depended on it. This habit developed in high school, but it solidified in my undergraduate years. But when you’re a small business owner with clients waiting on you, wasting time is not an option.

But there is hope, fellow procrastinators. The key to beating procrastination is knowing why you do it. Look first for your excuses: Maybe you’re waiting for the right mood, or the right time of day. Sometimes, the task is too vague – if you don’t know what to do, you’ll just stop working. Don’t! Make a decision and stick to it. Lack of confidence in your work can be your biggest enemy. Remember, your clients decided that your skills are worth spending their hard-earned money on, so have faith in your abilities. Once you’ve caught yourself making an excuse, get over it! Often you’ll find that you are the only one stopping you from making progress.

Don’t blow the task out of proportion. If you don’t see the end in the near future, then at least start! Once you get some momentum, you’ll realize that it’s not as hard as you built it up to be. Sometimes the plan has to fall into place; it isn’t always obvious right away. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Besides, with technology as it is today, the excuse of “being busy” is obsolete. The modern business person has a smartphone loaded with all of the necessary applications to get work done. You can check your email, reply to a client, and even send invoices from anywhere – the courtroom, the restaurant, or even the bus/train. Increasing your efficiency can be done with the swipe of a finger.

Lastly, treat yourself! You deserve to be rewarded for your hard work. Setting goals and schedules is the key to time management. When I reach a goal I’ve been working at for a long time, I celebrate. Go out to dinner, grab a drink, or enjoy some relaxation.

By now, you’re hopefully excited – you can’t wait to get that project out of the way and be free to relax in the sunshine. The next time you have a task to accomplish, do it right away. You’ll notice that feeling of achievement, and be inspired to do more. All of a sudden, the project is done, the client is happy, and your invoices are paid. It is then that you can give yourself a pat on the back.

Until then, this article is over. Don’t you have work you should get back to?

If you have any tips or success stories about overcoming procrastination, we would love to hear from you. Feel free to share with our readers in the comments section below.

How Law Firms Save Thousands of Dollars on Bookkeeping

By Leave a Comment

Customer story from Keisha S. Gatison, from the Gatison Law Firm, North Haven, CT:

I am a solo-practitioner with a small practice in Connecticut. This state has enacted very specific rules with regard to trust accounting for attorneys. Prior to using Bill4Time, I hired a bookkeeper to maintain my accounting records and what is called a “Three-Point Reconciliation,” required by all attorneys in the state of Connecticut.

As a solo-practitioner, it is imperative that I monitor and mitigate the amount of costs spent on services. After careful contemplation, I signed up for a subscription with Bill4Time. It is, by far the best decision that I have ever made for my business. I have been enrolled for approximately one year and have saved thousands of dollars on book keeping. As well, I now have access to my files, notes and other pertinent information from any location. I was able to verify information, for example, while on vacation out of the country.

Bill4Time is reliable, efficient and essential for solo practitioners like me.

Join Keisha and Try Bill4Time…

The need for cloud based time billing is becoming more and more a necessity for small to medium sized firms. Bill4Time improves the way lawyers manage their firms by enabling them to enter time and expenses on the go using their mobile devises. Bill4Time clients earn more money because they track more time with accurate detail, and look professional and modern by sending invoices and getting paid electronically.

Bill4Time has all the basic features a general law practice requires, plus more sophisticated features for specialized firms including ABA Task Codes, LEDES invoice exports, conflict checker, Trust accounting, Trust reports and summaries on invoices.

Sign up for your free 30-day trial today!

Want more information? Watch our recorded webinar, How to Bill More Efficiently.

Tip of the Week: Streamline your Internet Searches

By 1 Comment

Since the Internet is a collection of all known data, researching online can be very time consuming. Somewhere among the billions of webpages lies the answer to your search request. But how can you find what you want faster? Search engines aren’t artificial intelligence, and until they are, here are some tips for finding what you need online quicker!

Search for your answer, not your question
While websites like Yahoo! Answers are a great source of searchable questions, they can’t provide everything. If you think your question is one that many people have had, search for it. But remember, search engines return words on web pages, so unless you expect your exact question to show up, search for your answer. Here’s an example:

I am trying to contact a consultant named Mary Jones that I read about in an article. In this case, searching a question would turn up nothing because it is unlikely that anyone has asked “How can I contact Mary Jones?” I know from the article that Mary works for Jones & Jones Consulting. My search looks like this:

“Mary Jones” site:www.jjconsulting.com contact OR staff

My search results show Jones & Jones Consulting’s “Contact Us” page. Mary’s name is highlighted, and her email address is shown right there in the search engine. I didn’t even have to go to click the link to get what I needed. Below I’ll explain what I used in this search query example.

Advanced Search Features 101
There are tons of tricks to let the search engine know exactly what you want. You can go into Advanced Search, but if you’re looking to save time, which I always am, then these commands will make your life easier:

  • “Quotation Marks” are used to search for an exact phrase. In my example, I didn’t want other people named Mary, so I made sure to search for her first and last name in quotation marks.
  • OR lets the search engine know that you only need at least one of the words mentioned. You can chain an OR query together to have more than two words as well: contact OR staff OR bios. You must type OR in all capital letters for this to work.
  • Site: means that you only want to look at pages within a certain website. I knew that the website for Jones & Jones consulting was jjconsulting.com, so I was able to narrow down my search with this feature. Make sure not to put a space between the colon and the website.
  • – (Minus) is used to exclude words from your results. Again, make sure not to put a space between the minus and the word.
  • Filetype: is used the same way “site:” is, except that it narrows your results down to web pages of specific file extensions. If you’re looking for a report or excerpt of a text, you’ll probably want to find a .pdf file, in which case you would add filetype:pdf to the end of your search.

We hope these tips help save you time during your searching!

If you have a time management tip, we would love to hear it. Share with our readers in the comments section below. Happy (speedy) surfing!

6 Tips for Successfully Starting a Business

By Leave a Comment

Thinking of starting a business? You’re a smart person and have ideas that others don’t. If you had your own company, people would line up just to give you their money in exchange for your great service or product, right?

As exciting as that sounds, starting your own business is no simple feat. You’ve got to be the head of every department simultaneously, and all the while you’ve got a family to feed. So how do you turn an idea into profit?

Nobody has yet determined a foolproof formula to easily starting a successful business.  After all, no pain, no gain, right? But expert advice always helps things operate more smoothly. Instead of learning from your own mistakes, why not learn from the mistakes of others who successfully run businesses today?

Here are a few tips that may alleviate some of the stress:

  • Be patient. While you may be anxious to leave your current job and never look back, remember: you must learn to crawl before you can walk. Start your business as a side project during your free time, and don’t try to jump into everything at once. Create a list of goals and tackle one at a time. Doing fewer tasks can allow you to concentrate your efforts. This way, you can focus better and maintain your sanity as you begin to work two jobs.
  • Know the industry. We all have to start at the bottom. Maybe promoting yourself to Commander-in-Chief right off the bat isn’t the best idea. Have you worked in this or a similar field before? If not, it may be worth your time to get a position that can show you the ropes first.
  • Save up plenty of start-up capital. You can’t predict what you’re going to have to spend your money on, but I can guarantee that you will spend a lot of it. If you’ve got a rough idea of how much you’re going to need, double it. Or maybe triple it. There will be unforeseen costs that you must be prepared for.
  • Use the available resources. Read a book. Take a class. Browse the internet. Get help from a friend. The Small Business Administration offers classes and seminars for people starting businesses just like you. So does your local community college. Also, blow the dust off of that Rolodex. Maybe you have a contact that could be your mentor (or at least give you some advice). Just because it’s your business, it doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone.
  • Get creative with your marketing. Traditional methods of advertising are expensive and don’t always work. After all, we have trained ourselves to tune out mass-media advertising. So try to think outside the box. How can you reach your target market? Is there an event nearby that you could set up a stand at? Can you get yourself mentioned somewhere that your target audience looks? Do you have free samples or trials that you can give out? And always remember that word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising.
  • Relax! Just because you are going to be your own boss, it doesn’t mean you won’t be working late hours. If you find yourself brewing coffee after midnight, then maybe it’s time to go to bed. Establish boundaries for yourself to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Are you a successful business owner? Our readers would love to learn from you. Please include your “running a successful business” tips in the comments below.

Reference:

http://www.bubhub.com.au/info/articles/jobs-careers/top_tips_for_running_a_successful_business.shtml

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/07/27/5-tips-for-starting-a-small-business/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/06/13/ask-the-readers-advice-for-starting-a-new-business/

 

Tip of the Week: How to Achieve Your Maximum Per Day

By Leave a Comment

Bill4Time’s Time Management Tip for Business – The Critical 6-A-Day

As a side business owner and mom to a busy family, I use and have come to rely upon this incredible time management tool to get the most out of each day. We introduced this tool to the Bill4Time team and immediately saw an increase in productivity.

The Critical 6-A-Day, also known as Ivey Lee’s Critical 6 A Day – is said to be a formula for practical magic that changes lives. It is an old tool that was introduced in the 1930’s to Charles M Schwab, President of Bethlehem Steel, by Ivey Lee. Bethlehem Steel’s challenge was increasing productivity. Employees knew what they were supposed to be doing but the problem was getting them to do it. Ivey Lee introduced his idea as a way to become more efficient and told Charles M. Schwab to try it for 21 days.

The 6-A-Day Tool:

  • On the night before or the morning of, write down the 6 most important objectives to achieve that day.
  • Write them in order of importance. This list of action items becomes your list for that day.
  • Work through the list. Do not proceed to #2 until #1 is completed.
  • Whatever is not finished rolls over to the first item the next day and so forth.

Ivey Lee told Charles M. Schwab to use the tool for 21 days and to send  him a check for whatever he thought it was worth. A month later, Ivey Lee received a check for $25K with a note saying: “That is the most powerful tool for achievement that anyone has ever taught me and here is a fraction of what it is worth.” Bethlehem Steel went on to become the largest steel producer in the US within 5 years. Charles M. Schwab became the most powerful steel man alive earning millions of dollars on his own when the average income was $2 per day.

Many famous powerful business people attribute their success to this technique.  I originally learned of this technique in the book “Harmonic Wealth” by James Arthur Ray” found on Amazon.com and also on www.ReferenceForBusiness.com.

Give it a try!

Share your own success stories and other time management strategies in the comments below.