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TimeSolv Now Automates Client Payments With Its New Zero AR Technology
April 21, 2021
TimeSolv is cloud legal billing software with built-in electronic payment technology and a new companion technology called Zero AR that minimizes arrearages and write-offs.
TimeSolv Now Automates Client Payments With Its New Zero AR Technology
The most difficult part of law practice is not maintaining your expertise in a practice area, hanging a shingle, attracting clients, managing lawyers and staff, or exceeding client expectations. These are all challenging but nothing compares to achieving a 100% collections realization rate. Until now. A new technology in TimeSolv called Zero AR automates client payments.
The Killer Feature
The spark for Zero AR came from TimeSolv customer David Johnson, CEO of Modern Family. Zero AR is the implementation of a business methodology in software. "Zero AR simplifies the process for our accounting team," says Johnson. "And then there's the real reason we use it — it's better for our clients."
Setup involves two steps. First, update your engagement letter to inform clients about your new autopay policy. This policy gets entered into TimeSolv as Payment Settings on either the client or matter level. Second, enter payment information provided by the client — a credit card or checking account.
Once setup, use the Invoices page in TimeSolv to bulk pay invoices to which your autopay policy applies. You can use retainer funds, the payment method on file, or a combination of both. The Invoices page offers a wealth of other tools, including the ability to edit, email, and print invoices. TimeSolv even shows you which invoices you have previously viewed similar to the read/unread status in email software.
For payment processing, TimeSolv supports LawPay as well as its own TimeSolvPay service. TimeSolvPay has no monthly fee and guarantees that it will match or beat the processing fees you currently pay.
"In working closely with legal practices every day, I know that collecting client payments can be slow, and often is never completely realized," says TimeSolv CEO Raza Hasan. "But it doesn't have to be that way. Technology is the key to solving some of those accounting issues and eliminating the AR that puts a strain on a business. That's why we developed Zero AR."
Once you establish a Zero AR policy at your firm, TimeSolv enables you to batch pay client bills when they're due using each client's stored payment information.
Other Notable Features
TimeSolv's philosophy is simple — make it easy to enter time and expenses, generate bills, and get paid. Time entry is of course the first step.
The Time Entry dashboard is always one click away. This page features a calendar that shows your totals for each day and identifies days with no time or insufficient time. The time entry form on this page uses your firm's predefined activity codes and abbreviations to save time and ensure consistency. The Save & Duplicate button speeds up multiple entries of the same type. If you use timers, you'll see them listed on this page for review. You can also create time entries from Outlook via the Microsoft 365 integration as well as from TimeSolv's desktop and mobile companion apps.
Some law firms have business models that would make Rube Goldberg proud. Whatever you can dream up, TimeSolv likely supports it. For example, you can split fees before or after time entries and by any percentage, and even split billed time by a different percentage than expenses.
Clients are also escalating the complexity of law practice by imposing budgets. TimeSolv features Matter Budgets that you can further break down by timekeeper. Limits can be soft and warn you of overages or hard and prevent additional time entries.
What Else Should You Know?
Billing software has profound lock-in dynamics, resulting in law firms feeling trapped in legacy products. Recognizing this, TimeSolv has a dedicated conversion team. It's the only product that can migrate all historical data from Timeslips. TimeSolv can also migrate all your Tabs3 data and later in 2021 PCLaw will join the club. Pricing for TimeSolv starts at $39.95 per user per month with discounts for annual commitments and larger firms.
Neil J. Squillante is the founder and publisher of TechnoLawyer, an award-winning network of free email newsletters for lawyers and law office administrators. Many consider TechnoLawyer newsletters the only ones they need. A Fastcase 50 award winner, Neil has a long track record of inventing successful advertising and publishing technologies and related best practices. Previously, Neil practiced commercial litigation at Am Law 100 firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law and his B.A. from Duke University. At UCLA, Neil served as a Managing Editor of UCLA Law Review.
