The ability to accurately forecast and then allocate work to individuals based on their credentials, availability and capabilities, and then to have them track billable hours in real-time, is a game changer – especially for law, accounting, engineering and other professional services firms where time literally is money.
The ability to forecast and track employee utilization has a direct impact on a firm’s profitability, productivity and even on its staff’s morale.
Optimize productivity (and employee satisfaction) across the firm
Of course, the most obvious reason to adopt workload forecasting software is to maximize your firm’s competitiveness and profitability by ensuring that people are working at their optimal capacity. But there’s more to it than that – accurate workload forecasting also helps employees manage their time well, prioritize their efforts appropriately, and avoid burnout.
All of which makes it more enjoyable for them to work at your firm, and leaves them less likely to leave than if they were overwhelmed and overworked.
Match the right people to right projects
Modern workload forecasting software for professional services firms enable managers to staff projects based on forecasted availability as well as things like education, location and other powerful information. These systems use a tagging system to help you filter individual resources by their credentials, availability and capabilities. This way, you can quickly find the people who are best matched to each project.
For example, you could search for an associate who speaks Spanish, has 40 hours+ available, and has an undergraduate degree in biotechnology.
Track availability and utilization by group or area
Today’s solutions also offer powerful reporting features. Vi’s intelligent workload forecasting and tracking solution for example offers colorful dashboards that provide a snapshot of the availability of associates or consultants in a specific practice group or office. See red-yellow-green reports to instantaneously determine forecasted workload.
Configure it to each group’s needs
Each office, practice group or department can configure the software to track availability based on their needs – for example tracking availability by day, week or month.
Make it easy for people to share availability and track their time
Intuitive solutions mean that it only takes a few minutes for employees to update their availability to take on work or track their time on each project.
Give it a try
To learn more about vi’s workload forecasting and time tracking software for professional services, or to book a short online demo, simply follow the link below.