Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new Web-based time and billing application (see article below), a suite of server-based PDF applications, and a hosted wiki service for collaboration and document management. Don't miss the next issue.
Pay Me More
By Neil J. Squillante
If a typical software application has 100 features, but most people use only 10 of the features, should the software company jettison the 90 features that only a minority of people use? Yes, according to the growing number of software companies creating lightweight, Web-based applications.
One such company, Logic Design, recently launched PayMo, a Web-based billing application for lawyers and others who need to track their time. PayMo doesn't do as much as its more mature competitors — by choice. Instead, the company focuses on a few core features and a lickable interface that looks like something from Apple.
To get started, you set up clients and projects (matters), and then simply track the time spent on tasks within those projects. PayMo has two types of users — managers (such as managing partners and office managers) who can see everything, and individual users who can see only their own time entries.
PayMo can track the time you spend on a task with a stopwatch and then create a time entry. You can edit time entries anytime before submitting them. The stopwatch shows you how much time you've billed for the entire day and week, not just the task at hand. If you don't like the idea of tracking your time in a browser, you can install a lightweight desktop application for Mac or Windows with much the same functionality.
Managers have access to many more functions. From a single dashboard, you can access and review everyone's time-sheets. Thanks to an array of charts, at a glance you can gauge overall performance and spot slackers. You can view time by client, employee, and project, and you can drill down further for more details. At any point, you can generate bills and send them to clients via email. You can also save bills and reports in PDF format.
PayMo is free for up to three users. Otherwise, it costs $3.99/user/month. If you have 30 or more users, you can choose to pay a flat fee of $150/month. Learn more about PayMo.
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