eBillingHub®, the market leader in simplifying electronic billing for law firms, announced the public release of 'The Real Cost of Electronic Billing' white paper on their official website Real Cost of Electronic Billing. The eBillingHub commissioned this five page report on law firm ebilling costs and the use of their market leading Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, the eBillingHub, and how it has helped firms simplify the complexity of the eBilling process and gain control of the ever increasing volume of the electronic bills.
"Law firms have not gained the same process and informational advantages from electronic billing as their in-house counterparts, so the idea that law firms will recoup their extra effort and expense when their invoices are paid quicker has also not come to pass ,"said Greg Coticchia, CEO, eBillingHub."This white paper confirms that today's eBilling process for many firms is extremely manual and comes with unexpected costs, more staff time, delayed payments, and reduced realization rates."
The eBillingHub helps law firms speed up the collections process, reduce the complexity of electronic invoice submissions, eliminate billing backlogs and common submission errors, and minimize or eliminate the need for additional staff to administer electronic billing. For law firms, using the eBillingHub results in improved cash flow, increased partner distributions, and enhanced client service.
As it has turned out, according to this report, electronic billing costs law departments much more than reasonably thought:
- Much more staff is required. At least one firm pegs this cost at an additional $224,640 per year.
- Average diary-to-cash time is actually slower -- 11 days slower according to one firm's analysis, costing that firm $2,500 per $1 million billed.
- More attorney time must be spent on billing and collections, at an opportunity cost (to one firm) of $270,000 per year in billable time.
- Firms are more likely to write off small and/or disputed invoices, costing a firm up to$500,000 per year.
While these may be unintended consequences, law departments see value in electronic billing and firms' will continue to be required to use ebilling solutions for their clients. "The key for law firms is to develop systems designed to counteract these costs." stated Daniel Garcia, Chief technology Officer and co-founder of the eBillingHub.
"Firms can leverage technology and implement good processes to ease invoice upload, avoid costly and time-consuming invoice rejections and provide transparency into the entire electronic billing operation. The right systems can help firms to minimize the real cost of electronic billing."
Considered the defacto standard for law firm electronic billing, eBillingHub delivers its law firm ebilling solution as Software as a Service (SaaS) built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), providing Web services standards for its integration with practice management systems such as Thomson Elite and ProLaw, ADERANT, RainMaker and others. With hundreds of customers and service providers using eBillingHub and its LEDES Toolkit™, the eBillingHub has established itself as the leader in simplifying the e-Billing process for law firms worldwide.
About eBillingHub®
eBillingHub delivers simplified electronic billing for law firms worldwide, making it possible for firms to eliminate costs and improve cash flow as they grow their electronic billing volume. The company's patent-pending technology, delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS), provides a comprehensive and collaborative approach for preparing, tracking, submitting and managing the electronic billing process. Unlike tools used by law firms to create LEDES invoice files, the eBillingHub simplifies the electronic billing process by integrating a law firm's time and billing software with multiple electronic billing vendors, which are often specified by a firm's clients. For more information, please visit http://www.eBillingHub.com.