No two consultants are alike. Every consultant brings with them a unique perspective and background, based on years, sometimes decades, of experience. One thing all consultants do have in common, however, is they must be good at managing their time. Most consultants employ time tracking software for this reason — so they can manage their client work and get paid. But, there’s more reasons than just those two. Here are five ways consultants can benefit from time tracking.
Improved billing accuracy
Consultants can ensure that they are accurately billing the time spent working on client projects. Because every billable hour is recorded, an accurate report or invoice can be generated in seconds. This can help build trust with clients and prevent misunderstandings about the amount of time being billed.
Growth in revenue
If you are not tracking your time you are giving some of it away for free. We have interviewed several of our customers and they all share the same story. After deploying time tracking software they saw up to a 30% increase in billable hours. Without having to work a single hour more, consultants can increase revenue simply by keeping better track of time.
Better project management
Time tracking can help consultants better understand how long different tasks take. Once you have accumulated time tracking data it’s much easier to query it and make more accurate estimates for future projects. This can help you better manage workloads while keeping projects on time and under budget.
Improved productivity
Knowing exactly where your time is going makes it easier to improve productivity. For example, you may realize you are spending too much time on billing or other administrative tasks. Then you can take steps to be more efficient by outsourcing or streamlining these processes.
Increased focus time
Perhaps the single most powerful benefit of tracking time is the amount of time it frees up. Increasing revenue and decreasing wasted time opens up more time in your work schedule. How you use this time is entirely up to you. As an example, some consultants might use that time to fit in more billable work, while others might use it to learn more about their field of expertise.
