Are you getting strategic value from timekeeping data?

Are you getting strategic value from timekeeping data?

When a practice uses the right tools in the right way, timekeeping data can also provide a golden opportunity to inform strategic decision making

Time recording isn’t just a necessary administrative function, according to Colin McArdle, Tikit’s senior account director for the accountancy sector in EMEA. In this article he argues that when a practice uses the right tools in the right way, timekeeping data can also provide a golden opportunity to inform strategic decision making.  

It’s our experience at Tikit that most practices are missing an important opportunity to use timekeeping data in more strategic ways. If you have a time recording system which collates, analyses and reports on time data, it can generate information that is of great use to the practice. With the right timekeeping tools, time data can be manipulated into actionable business intelligence which informs high-level decision making. So what are the tools which transform timekeeping from an uninspiring administrative task into a reservoir of insight? And how can you then put the data to work?

To begin, the strategic exploitation of data relies on timekeeping systems which first and foremost gather high quality information. Practices need software that will capture very accurate data. The optimum systems are those that provide contemporaneous time capture. This is particularly enabled by those which allow accountants to enter time data wherever they are, onto whichever device they have to hand. So the systems that let you enter time anywhere – on the desktop, mobile phones and tablets – are the ones to aim for. These enable remote working, maximise the opportunities to capture time and therefore maximise potential revenue. In addition, they ensure the data is highly accurate – which is the best kind on which to base sizeable decisions.

Secondly, for practical reasons, the timekeeping software should make the aggregation and analysis of information fairly painless, enabling frequent and quick interrogations of data. So practices ought to invest in timekeeping software that has the capacity to configure and generate a range of reports fairly easily.

Put these two capabilities in place and practices can start to think about using the accurate data that has been captured in strategic ways.

What can be done with data?

Another key role that time data can play is in helping you gain a very clear view of the actual cost of any given engagement. This gives you ammunition with which to make stronger, more confident bids for future work. As importantly, it can be of great help in avoiding the expensive mistake of under-pricing work to secure a contract. However, this is just the beginning of what timekeeping data can deliver.

Management tool

This data can also be used to tell the practice how to allocate its resources in the most efficient and effective ways for future work. This is extremely valuable when you’re costing bids for future work as outlined above. One aspect is that the data can be analysed to reveal who did what. It tells the practice how to ensure that future bids reflect an optimised allocation of personnel. You’re empowered to assemble bids that are keenly priced based on an accurate view of the skill blend required.

Moreover, as time recording data is very current, you’re getting an almost real-time snapshot of current activity. It gives you the opportunity to fine-tune the mix of personnel deployed and reorganise it quickly, if required, to achieve the client’s objectives in the most efficient way for your practice.

Finally, timekeeping data can be used to give you insights into performance and loading, providing you with information which can help you be more responsive to your client demands. Ask what work patterns are emerging. Where utilisation is low and where is it high. This kind of visibility informs decisions about how talent is retained, developed and recruited. It also gives you the opportunity to rebalance internal workloads more equally which will have a beneficial impact on practice morale.

Today, practices are operating in a highly competitive environment. The right timekeeping data derived from the right timekeeping software provides one route wherein practices can be more competitive and grow their profitability. You should take it.

To learn more about Carpe Diem join us for a webinar on 28 June, 2018 at 10am, to find out how time recording can help firms increase revenue and through sophisticated management reporting can make a critical contribution to your practice’s growth-focused strategic plans by:

  • Empowering your practice to make more accurate forecasts of what a future similar project will cost which can lead to stronger, more confident bids for future work.
  • Informing resource allocation and management. Running data through forecasting models allows you to make projections about future work allocation and distribution.
  • Delivering insights into performance and loading across the whole practice. What work patterns are emerging? Are there areas of low usage and are these alongside other areas that are under too much stress from too much work?

Or contact Colin directly at [email protected].

About Tikit and Carpe Diem

Tikit is a world-leader in technology solutions for professional services firms. Carpe Diem is its flagship contemporaneous all-device timekeeping software product. Developed and refined over 20 years, Carpe is one of the most widely used timekeeping solutions in the world.

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