Professional services
Software for professional services firms
In a firm that sells time, the gap between work done and work invoiced is pure lost revenue, and it is almost always caused by capture friction rather than dishonesty. The systems we build for professional firms make recording time faster than avoiding it, and then make sure the invoice, the timesheet and the utilisation report tell the same story.
Where it usually breaks
Billable time, retainers, deliverables and client documents tracked in four tools that do not reconcile at month end.
What we build instead
Client and matter records, time capture, recurring billing, document management and utilisation reporting that agrees with the invoices.
- Client, matter and engagement records
- Time capture and utilisation reporting
- Recurring retainer billing
- Secure client document access
Time, deliverables and invoices that agree at month end
Getting there means handling what generic software skips. These are the four that cost the most in this sector.
Time captured on Friday for the whole week
Reconstructed time is understated time. Capture has to be available in the moment, on whatever device is to hand, or the firm quietly writes off hours it actually worked.
Retainers that drift out of scope
Without visible burn-down against the retained hours, scope creep is only discovered when someone compares the invoice to the effort months later.
Documents emailed back and forth
Version confusion and confidentiality risk both come from the same cause. A client area with controlled access removes the attachment chain entirely.
Utilisation nobody believes
When the utilisation report is assembled separately from billing, the two disagree and the conversation becomes about the spreadsheet rather than the capacity problem.
What you end up with
- Time captured at the moment of work, not reconstructed later
- Retainer burn-down visible before the engagement overruns
- Recurring billing produced from actual recorded effort
- A client document area instead of an email attachment chain
- Utilisation reporting that reconciles to what was invoiced
The disciplines this draws on
Professional services: common questions
We are a small firm. Is a custom system overkill?
Often, yes, and we will say so. Below a certain size the honest answer is an off-the-shelf tool plus a little integration. Custom becomes worth it when your engagement model does not fit what the products assume.
Can clients log in to see their own matters?
Yes, and it is usually the fastest win in the whole project. A client area that answers status, documents and invoice questions removes a surprising share of the calls and emails your team fields every week.
Tell us how your operation runs
Including the parts held together by a spreadsheet. You will get a straight answer on what is worth building and what is not.
A reply from a developer. Not a sales pipeline. The person who reads your message is the person who would do the work.
An honest answer on fit. If an off-the-shelf product solves your problem better than a custom build, we will tell you which one.
No obligation. A first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Discovery output is yours either way.