Adapting isn’t easy—but it is possible, especially for professional services companies that take the time to plan for what the future may hold. 

Today we’ll look at three professional services trends—along with challenges and solutions—to be aware of heading into 2022.  

What professional services have been most affected?

Professional services comprises many industries, including services for:

• Audit and accounting 
• Business consulting 
• Financial advisory
• Managed services (network management, cloud infrastructure, printing, SaaS) 
• Law
• Recruitment
• Technology 

Key characteristics that set professional services apart from other industries are:

1. The custom services they offer to clients
2. The need to foster long-lasting client relationships
3. Billing for engagements based on time and materials

Number three is of particular importance when it comes to professional services trends in 2022 and beyond. If billing isn’t efficient, accurate, and error-free, it will be nearly impossible for professional service firms to survive. 

Professional services trend #1: Increased speed of business & technology

Over the past few years, advancements in technology moved quicker than anyone expected, and experts expect that to continue. As client needs and wants continue to evolve faster than ever before, successful firms will adapt their processes to maximize the speed of both their tech and their overall business operations. 

To compete in a tech-driven market, professional services firms need to: 

• Get data out of silos
• Upgrade from legacy tools
• Equip teams with advanced software 
• Offer automated delivery and accurate insights to clients
• Digitize workforce management

By taking these steps, firms can provide increased transparency, accurate proposals, faster estimates, precise billing, and higher levels of cost-efficiency. Done correctly, your firm will also naturally make changes to provide more value to clients rather than simply relying on what’s worked in the past.

Professional services trend #2: Digital delivery

One of the biggest professional services trends to emerge in recent years is a lower barrier to entry created by digital delivery of services at lower costs. The industry has moved away from physical infrastructure, brick-and-mortar offices, and traditional business frameworks, and that’s opened up many professional services to competition. 

To succeed in the new digital-delivery marketplace, professional services firms need to:

• Rely on data to inform all decision-making and planning
• Use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation to increase productivity and decrease delivery costs
• Consider building a supplemental network of internal and external talent you can call on as needed
• Capitalize on the fact that cloud-based tech has made advanced solutions accessible and affordable to companies of all sizes, while giving them the ability to scale quickly
• Optimize skills and talent to ensure you have a human-centered strategy that’s as strong as your digital one

With more than a third of professional services firms expecting 75% of their revenue to come in digitally over the next three years, this is a trend you can’t afford to ignore.  

Professional services trend #3: Outcome-based business

Outcome-based business models work differently—and sometimes more effectively—than traditional rate-based business models. 

Rather than basing your fees on the time it takes your team to achieve a certain outcome, this model focuses on the outcome itself, as well as the effort it takes to reach it. Within this model, risk is shared between the vendor and customer because all that matters is whether the outcome is achieved.

In order to make an outcome-based business model work for you, experts say your firm must establish and follow best practices that will:

• Streamline your operations
• Improve your delivery models, and 
• Make proposal creation and billing faster and more accurate.

With customer expectations putting pressure on firms to be faster and more focused on the end result, offering outcome-based pricing—at least for certain projects—is one professional services trend every firm should consider. 

How time tracking supports these professional services trends

When it comes to digital delivery and improved billing and business speed, time tracking software is already a no-brainer. A solution like Time Tracker not only tracks every billable minute with the press of a button, but it also simplifies timekeeping and boosts profitability—both of which benefit clients in terms of transparency, efficiency, and ease of payment. 

What may surprise you is that time tracking can also benefit your firm if you switch to an outcome-based business model. Once you’re no longer billing clients for time, all of the efficiencies you find and capitalize on during a project stay with your business. 

Did you find a way to cut two hours from every planning meeting? That time is yours to spend on other projects with no need to pass along those savings to a client unless you want to. The same is true with efficiencies you find through software upgrades, staffing changes, or time saved during any part of the process—as long as you track that time for yourself so you can see where your margins are improving. 

See how Time Tracker can help your professional services firm

Try Time Tracker free for 14 days.

The post 3 Professional Services Trends to Know in 2022 + How to Make Them Work for You appeared first on eBillity.

But what’s the best way to onboard people who aren’t familiar with employee time tracking? Here’s a step-by-step guide to familiarizing new employees with attendance tracking software. 

1. Teach employees about time tracking in general

Education is a crucial piece for employee time tracking, but most companies skip a key part of the process. Before you jump into the specifics of your system, give employees context about why attendance tracking software is beneficial — to the company and to them. Create a handout or short video that explains the benefits of employee time tracking, and make it specific to your business, if you can. Ask employees to complete a short quiz on those benefits after learning about them.  

If you’re using Time Tracker, those advantages could include: 

• Faster submission of timesheets and time-off requests
• Simpler, quicker approvals or denials of requests
• An automated system that’s designed to get everyone paid faster
• Transparent scheduling that keeps managers and employees on the same page with up-to-the-minute daily, weekly or monthly schedules 
• Reporting on past projects that managers can use to ensure they’re giving employees enough time to finish a task or project, and that they’re staffing up appropriately for busier times  

While the advantages of time tracking will vary depending upon what your company has in place, the best employee time tracking solutions should have clear benefits that you can market back to your workers. And taking the time to educate employees at the outset will not only cut down on errors but also prevent time theft. 

2. Explain your employee time tracking system

Once you’ve outlined the benefits of attendance tracking software, walk employees through your system. Give them clear guidelines for tracking their time, such as:

• Whether your company uses time cards, time clocks or weekly timesheets 
• How to clock in and out
• How long their breaks should be and how often they should take them
• How to correct entries if time is entered incorrectly
• Who to contact with questions

Create a simple educational process or checklist that employees can work through to learn the basics. The best employee time tracking solutions will give you a headstart in that department. 

For example, with Time Tracker, start with the Online Help Center. There, you can find answers to common questions such as:

• How do I edit my user profile?
• How do I make a time entry?
• How do I submit entries for approval?
• How do I take back a time entry I already sent for approval?
• How do I delete an entry?

Scroll through the topics to determine which articles will be beneficial to your employees, or simply search the entire help database whenever you need it. 

3. Schedule check-ins

After you’ve educated new employees on your attendance tracking software, give them time to get acclimated. Check in briefly on day 2, day 5 and day 10, for example, or set your own check-in schedule. Whatever the schedule is, avoid micromanagement. The best employee time tracking software will allow you to take a more hands-off approach, and if yours isn’t doing that, consider another solution. 

4. Show results

Finally, don’t forget to close the training loop. After an employee’s first month, offer some insight to them on how their work is affecting your business. Pull a report to:

• Show them where they’re spending their time.
• Tie that back to company profits or productivity.
• Explain how the hours they’re working are contributing to their benefits (PTO, health insurance, etc.).

Eventually, use that information during the review process to improve efficiency and identify places to improve. At the beginning, though, focus on the positives. The best way to keep your workers engaged in employee time tracking is to show them how and why it’s working. 

Ready to try Time Tracker for yourself?

Get started with our 14-day free trial.

The post Employee Time Tracking: A Step-by-Step Guide to Onboarding appeared first on eBillity.