January 2009

The Deltek dilemma many firms face illustrates the situation for owners and partners. Essentially, the choices are:

1. Upgrade to Deltek Vision at a cost of many thousands of dollars. You must also pay for data conversion from your old software owned by Deltek and its new software solution.

2. Stay with your current solution. Risk rises because there will be no software updates. You must plug shortcomings with time-consuming, error-prone manual processes and Excel spreadsheets. And if you encounter a problem, support has or soon will be unavailable. If you find a consultant, the Law of Scarcity says you will pay $200+ per hour for assistance.

3. BillQuick.

Other firms generally have only two options: 2. Stay or 3. BillQuick.

In short, doing nothing is an emotional reaction that is high on hope, high in cost (hidden, ignored or imposed) and very high on risk. You KNOW your firm can't continue the way it has. You KNOW you need to invest wisely so you not only survive but your thrive when the down cycle starts back up. You KNOW your best decision must be Strategic, balancing long-term with short-term considerations.
 

What Happens When You Change?

When you change from one solution to another, your firm will incur direct and indirect costs such as: 

• Software

• Data conversion

• Lower productivity during the transition

• Customization, primarily invoices that reflect your firm's professional image the way you want them to.

• Training

• Consulting

• Rethinking company procedures and policies

Your firm will also experience many new benefits, including:

• Improved efficiency/more billable hours

• Higher revenues from more billable hours

• Higher profits from reduced operating costs

• Faster billing

• Faster cash flow

• Updated professional image (primarily through new invoices and more timely information)

When you change your solution, especially in this economic climate, the key is quantified benefits. Don't accept hyped statements; ask for proof and run the numbers yourself. If the vendor has one, use their ROI tool, then ask for a detailed explained of the values and assumptions. This also applies to case studies and benefits. Everything must be clear and unambiguous. If the sales rep (or someone else in the vendor's organization) can't explain the basis of the ROI values and assumptions in terms you understand, for instance, then don't waste any more time.
 

Why Change To BillQuick?

First and foremost, because BillQuick listens to its customers and the many firms that contact us every year.

With BillQuick, you choose the capabilities needed by your firm. For example, real world firms work at home, at client offices, at project sites, at satellite offices, in their cars, on a plane, and so on. With BillQuick, you are not limited to a PC desktop version. BQE Software offers anytime, anywhere tools with which you can:

• Manage projects

• Enter, edit and manage time and expenses

• Bill clients

• Run any report

• Manage receivables

You can perform these activities anywhere, anytime using Web Suite, our browser-based version of BillQuick. Web Suite runs simultaneously with BillQuick in real-time. In addition to Web Suite, you can manage time and expenses on your Smartphone, PDA or via email. You can even turn appointments in Microsoft Outlook into time entries with a click.

For your timekeepers who take timesheet deadlines as a "suggestion," BillQuick's Agent module automatically reminds them when they're late. Timely hours means more accurate and more complete budget, job cost, earned value, billing, and utilization and profitability reporting. Agent also schedules any report for automatic delivery by email or to a printer. Imagine the hours saved every year by managers and staff! All of your company information is real-time, whether you are using BillQuick on the PC Desktop, Web Suite or add time and expenses through your Smartphone. 

Finally, BillQuick adapts to you. You control who can access information and functions. You can set user preferences and global firm business rules. If needed, you can set exceptions to business rules for one or a handful of projects. Bill rates can be standard or custom to a project, type of work, employee role, or any combination. Invoices can be tweaked or broadly customized to project the professional image you want. Reports can be customized to match your management style. You don't need Excel to take care of exceptions the software can't handle. And the accounting tasks are simpler and secure. BillQuick integrates with popular accounting software, but does not compromise confidential accounting data by allowing everyone to access it.

Bottom Line

Optimizing your operations now is critical. "Holding on" means more high costs and high risk. You need every billable hour and every ounce of real-time information to survive. When the economic cycles back up, you will be ready to thrive and surpass competition. While they're fumbling to fix their information systems while trying to get jobs done, sucking profits away at an alarming rate, you can be racing past them with higher profits and smoother operations.