Time is money is an often-repeated quotation across businesses and this holds to professional business services as well. Professional business services require a specific business model that relies on accurate billing of the work done for each client to generate profitability. For this reason, real time tracking of employee time on per client basis is important to avoid profit drains of project profitability due to unbilled time and expenses.
Without time tracking tools, professional business services may suffer losses that can be greater because of much of the input such as consulting, collaborating etc., which is often invisible.
Businesses that invest in time and expense tracking programming are expected not only to just ensure that no loss in profit is taking place but also in arriving at effective pricing and decision-making where new work is being negotiated. It also ensures generating additional customer loyalty in the process.
Basics of time tracking – An Overview
Time tracking is about recording what time at work is being used. For instance, if an employee is working on a specific project, then by using time tracking tool one can quickly identify how much time that work has taken to complete. Worked hours are considered as the one of the ten key business metrics in this technological era. The growth of time tracking apps can be seen as how much importance is being given to time tracking in professional business services.
Benefits of time tracking for employees and projects
Tracking time by organizations, freelancers providing professional business services ensures accurate billing to the clients. With accurate data on their side helps organizations being able to charge for every bit of work done for a client or customer such as 20 to 30 minutes of extra work done that usually are forgotten. A time tracking software or tool provides greater insight into the way the team and overall organization are performing. In the case of employees, time tracking makes it easier to see where time is lost through avoidable actions and it is very useful as a self-improvement tool for refining their own performance during work hours.
Time tracking also helps employees in providing them a clear insight into their working day and showing all work that they are doing including necessary tasks to enable their billable work that may otherwise go unnoticed. Time tracking helps employees in highlighting certain tasks that are taking longer and may need additional training to complete them on time.
Time tracking helps inaccurate billing for projects for specific clients with a lower margin of error in the billing process. It also helps in producing accurate quotes while tendering for projects without hurting overall profitability.
Time tracking with artificial intelligence for professional business services
Artificial intelligence or AI has entered the industry as a new tool of trade and known for its ability for optimizing the least amount of time. AI-powered systems like facial recognition systems or chatbots are AI’s gift to time management. With learning algorithms, an AI based time tracking tool detects interactions with the tool and assigns time and tasks.
Time tracking with artificial intelligence can predict time requirements for new tasks, assists with scheduling to balance workloads across a team and making price estimations simpler and accurate. Time tracking tools with artificial intelligence also aid project management for more accurate scheduling that in turn allows improved workflow allowing project managers to streamline work assignments through automation.
Some of the key features of time tracking tools or software available using artificial intelligence for professional business services include-
- User-friendly interface
- Online reports
- Mobile compatibility
- Billing management
Time tracking software using artificial intelligence can be easily integrated into current systems and are coming with fully automated monitoring and tracking and accurate predictive assignment of time thereby helping in transforming the profitability and productivity of organizations/freelancers involved in providing professional business services.
