BQE understands that the operational needs of a small firm are the same, if not more demanding, than those of larger firm. In fact, small firm team members often wear multiple hats within the business. That is where CORE Express comes to the rescue.
BQE CORE allows firms to access a complete business management software for professional services. CORE can polish the internal business practices of a company and assist in simplifying project management, timekeeping, billing and accounting- allowing you to maximize cash flow and efficiency.
CORE Express offers the Time & Expense, Billing, and Manager subscriptions in a value-priced package, providing an easy option for smaller businesses to begin enjoying all the features and benefits of CORE. Let us give you further insight by sharing 6 key ways CORE Express can improve day to day business operations to achieve optimum results from your team.
Timekeeping
Many small businesses feel the constant shift from being too busy to not having much work. The best way to control this phenomenon is timely and accurate timekeeping. Understanding where your time is being spent on a project, engagement, or matter helps you understand the capacity of your team on a week-to-week basis. When that is understood completely, you can begin to plan ahead and utilize your resources better. Accurate timekeeping also builds trust with clients and helps organizations develop consistent billing practices— leading to more consistent cash flow and the opportunity to hire additional employees for more work. Time is the most basic metric to monitor when it comes to building a successful business; CORE’s flexibility empowers your firm with time and expense tracking—from the office or in the field, with no more hurdles.
Resource Management
After companies engage in standard practice time keeping, managers have a rich resource for tracking and predicting the flow of work within an organization. It becomes easier to plan start and end dates, as well as know how to streamline tasks on specific projects or phases. This is critical: as a better understanding of what it takes to “get the job done” is gained; companies produce better work and become more efficient. This is valuable for both the organization and their potential clients, as the bidding process becomes more accurate and competitive. There are too many small businesses that bid for work without any foresight of their margins or profitability. No more need to tell yourself “I’ll make it up on the next one.” With BQE CORE, companies can lead from the front.
Streamlined Billing
The trickle-down effect of poor timekeeping usually leads to poor billing practices. Small firms say it can take days or weeks to coordinate what needs to be billed to a client. There is an unpredictability in billing schedules with the approach of “we will get the invoices out by the end of the month.” This can lead to projects going unbilled due to confusion and mismanagement: this is a cashflow killer. The longer it takes for your firm to send out the invoice, the longer the delay in payment will be. Many small firms are intimidated by sending out invoices or billing the full amount owed. “That is too much to bill this month, I’ll save some charges for the next invoice.” Having the option to bill for some services and hold off on others is only possible if there is accurate tracking for what has been billed and what hasn’t. Otherwise, work easily gets missed and left on the table, meaning less profit for your firm. For firms who rely on fixed fee billing, you still have much to consider when it comes to your billing. Did you account for all additional services and expenses? Don’t under-bill your firm for the sake of customer service. Yet, more often than not, under billing occurs due to inaccurate record keeping, bad time management and not following standard operating procedures for billing. If your company has fallen into any of these habits, CORE can update your processes and increase the efficiency of you and your team.
Accountability
For any company, an increase in efficiency also brings an increase in accountability. Being able to schedule and allocate hours towards projects, control costs, and understand the impact of metrics for employees like utility and billability helps companies lay the foundation for growth. Holding employees and project managers accountable for the performance of work does not have to be a hard or tedious process. It all comes back to accurate time tracking and the ability to analyze it. Being able to create a culture of “what could we do better next time?” encourages employees to take an active role in the success of the organization. Feedback and communications to increase efficiency encourages employees to engage. Your firm should strive to maximize the contributions of each employee. In the long term, this leads to higher worker satisfaction and less turnover. Engagement and accountability tap into your workers get the most out of their jobs and helps your firm develop the greatest capital a firm could want—human resources.
Consistent Workflow
After a firm establishes best practices for time entry, billing, employee and project management, it can forecast timelines and schedules for new work. Using analytics to forecast peak seasons and find opportunities to expand during downtime is a successful business model made possible by CORE. Predictability, people, process, and product are all key to preparing a company to grow. Many organizations don’t know how to break through to the next level—mostly because they never identify and measure the appropriate metrics. With CORE, everything you need is in a single software.
Grows As You Grow
In general, BQE offers a unique and flexible “pay only for what you need” pricing structure for BQE CORE. Companies pay only for the features that their staff need based on user roles within the organization. CORE offers an exceedingly high solution for users through competitive pricing, flexible subscriptions, and simple mobile access to your data. The customization abilities of CORE is unparalleled, enabling firms to tailor it to meet their unique needs.
For additional information on CORE Express, connect with our Sales team for guidance. For customized assistance for your organization Schedule a Live Demo with one of CORE Consultants today.
