Businesses of every size find time tracking an outstanding benefit, primarily when monitoring productivity. Many areas in the company can use the software to their advantage, including administrative or human resources, business leaders or management, clients, and staff members.
It’s suggested that more startups and smaller businesses would succeed if there were a greater measure of efficiency, a clarification of productivity, such as time tracking. It has the capacity to narrow down the time spent on each project within the company.
With a timesheet and invoicing software, the manager can remotely monitor performance time for a project, assess it at a later time, and then invoice the client for the billable working hours. It’s automated, documented, and can’t be refuted.
This software is growing in popularity because it makes things much simpler and more straightforward for businesses to track staff activities.
With startups enlisting a company of primarily newcomers to the industry, eager but perhaps lacking in production and efficiency, the software will help teams learn where they need to improve. The best way to do that is to use the overall best performance as a benchmark to strive for, with that will come growth.
Consider the benefits a startup or small business can look forward to when incorporating time tracking and invoicing within the organization.
What are the Benefits of Time Tracking and Invoicing Software
A client’s primary focus when sending an invoice to a company is that the business puts forth a genuine effort with their project, that it be efficient, prompt, and fully worth the rate.
With fierce competition in every industry, companies aim to provide the most competitive rates but how can they prove the final amount has been earned with productivity, time management, and organization?
When using time tracking and invoicing to monitor staff performance and follow up with billing for the client based on the data gathered, there’s a “paper trail,” if you will, detailing steps leading up to the completion.
Find a guide on time-tracking software for small businesses at https://smallbizclub.com/technology/tech-reviews/what-you-need-in-small-business-time-tracking-software/
Let’s examine the advantages a business leader or management can see with this software.
1. Micromanagement is No Longer Necessary
Often, management finds it necessary to step away from priorities to micromanage projects, so they flow meticulously. Staff finds it intrusive and an underestimation of their capabilities. With time tracking, the software will assess the performance remotely for the manager to evaluate at another time.
If improvements need to be made, the entire team can be brought together for the regular project meeting with an overview of how the project can proceed more effectively. It might not be wise to let staff know they’re being “watched.” It could have the same effect as being micromanaged.
2. Tracking Time
The primary objective of the software is to track time, offering varied options for tracing the performance of the staff within the company. It allows you, as the manager, to see the amount of time involved in each project and assignment. You can assess the performance of each individual and how they work as a team.
You can develop a benchmark for what should be expected based on how they work together vs. the highest-performing individual.
3. Flexibility with Task Management
As a manager, time tracking allows the ability to assign tasks and deadlines to staff a job that was challenging as a project manager previously. The software helps to define those roles more sensibly.
In a startup in particular, establishing roles allows staff to flourish and will help to develop a work ethic and, ultimately, a business culture. The startup will grow into a small business, creating discipline and working toward a new set of office codes.
Staff will become accountable for the work they perform individually with timesheet software; they will essentially be transparent in their performance. That means more attention to detail and self-discipline transforming the environment.
4. Assess Efficiency
Startups have employees coming in who are eager, driven, and ready to go. Many are new to the industry, just starting. They tend to dive in gregariously but that doesn’t equate to efficiency or exceptional productivity. When a client receives a bill for a project, they want to see that the hours were warranted.
With timesheet software, the ratio between non-active/active time will configure an accurate report on staff productivity and the level of efficiency.
5. Encourages the Team to Improve
The ratio results in motivates the team to strive for the greatest efficiency. When you’re a part of a team and have stats within a certain range, most want those numbers to increase and will work harder to ensure that they do.
Because these tracking systems are set up on all devices, employees will be aware that they’re there and pay more attention to how long they’ve taken to work on a project and the productivity percentage. This can either be an incentive to do more and try harder or become a stressor.
6. Invoicing Clientele
Invoicing clients is always somewhat tricky, whether doing so on an hourly basis or per project. A minimal hassle exists when incorporating the time-tracking software. You’ll be tracking the project and the work performed, allowing an accurate invoice to be produced.
7. Keep Setting New Benchmarks
As a small business owner, estimating how long projects will take could establish a reputation for your business in the future. It would be awful to toss out a guess, horribly off the mark, setting the tone with prospective clients moving forward.
Time tracking software allows you to more accurately estimate a timeframe for a project’s billable hours. That allows a reasonable benchmark for the business and prevents you from feeling like you’re in the “minor leagues.”
8. The Startup Cleans Up
When the startup owner becomes a small business leader, there’s a clarification of employee performance where before it was uncertain. The timesheet and invoicing software make the process easier.
You can see productivity, efficiency, actual worked hours, time spent on non-work-related stuff, and a ratio between non-active/active hours. This helps a manager decide who works diligently for the business and is essentially depleting the cash flow.
You can then retain the strong performers and separate them from those with the potential to lose business for the company using what is documented rationale. You could then aim to bring on new talent with the same focus as the newly formed current staff.
As a business owner, you now have a greater insight into business management, allowing you to move forward to the next stage, going from a small business into a larger-size organization.
Final Thought
A small company in the grand scheme still seems somewhat invisible in the business landscape. Still, you aim to transition to a large firm in the near future. Time tracking has guided you on the path from a startup to a small, productive business and has motivated the desire to expand and grow.
Time tracking combined with invoicing establishes credibility with clients and creates professionalism for your brand’s image. That means you’re already beginning to differentiate your company from others in the industry, an accomplishment in itself, considering the fierce competition in every market.
Also read: Maximizing Business Coaching Outcomes: Tools and Techniques
