When you run your own studio, there is so much to take on, from actual design and development work to writing proposals, preparing contracts, bookkeeping, marketing and more. Anything that can automate a process and limit the time spent on a task is a great benefit to us, and Billings does just that.

Before switching to Billings, we were pretty much doing time tracking and invoicing manually. That means the entire process was daunting, so I did a lot of research and tried out many products to find something that fit well with a design business and our workflow.

The simple interface and design of the product was a big draw, since that's just how my mind works (and is also often the sign of a good product). I also really liked that clients could be sorted into groups, which I use to easily get a snapshot of clients with current projects, ongoing work, or those pending or on hold. All of the customization was also important to me, especially in categories, as it helps me to see how much time is spent on design, development, meetings, research, etc.

With Billings, I spend less time doing things that the software does automatically, which means more time doing work for clients. We can easily import a client in from Address Book, create a project and start tracking time immediately. The simplicity of sending an invoice is also a time-saver, since all we need to do is select a few tasks and click "send invoice." Billings helps to speed up the time it takes to provide a quote, as we can look back at similar projects and tasks and use them to create estimates. Being able to generate a variety of reports also improves how we work, since we can easily prepare time sheets, expense reports and other documents that would otherwise be time consuming to create. Billings Touch was a nice addition, as I am often working on the go at a client or coffee shop. I can track time as it happens and sync it over later, further simplifying the process.

By tracking time efficiently, and by generating reports based on that time, I am able to analyze my business in new ways that can lead to increased revenue. I can compare our billable hours to time spent doing other tasks, make adjustments as necessary and determine how much work we take on at any given time.