Carlos Seoane is the General Manager for eBillingHub from Thomson Reuters Elite. eBillingHub is a SaaS e-billing solution that helps law firms quickly and effectively respond to client demand for electronic invoicing. For more information, visit eBillingHub.com or email info@ebillinghub.com.
For several years, it has been clear that, for law firms, electronic billing is here to stay. In theory, the benefits are clear — receiving bills electronically through a single interface allows the corporate legal department to route, review, and approve them. Thus, a law firm should be able to ensure compliance with clients’ guidelines, expedite dispute resolution, create valuable data that can be subsequently mined, “go green” by cutting down on paper, and ultimately accelerate payment cycles. In addition, corporate legal departments continue to embrace e-billing as the wave of the future.
Electronic Billing: It’s Complicated
However, along with the theoretical benefits come some concrete drawbacks. Unique client billing guidelines on top of over 35 legal spend management vendors has made electronic billing error-prone, incredibly complex, and one of the largest expenses and greatest sources of lost revenue for law firms.
Based on our recent analysis, there is no indication that this complexity is going away any time soon. In fact, it will get worse: we at eBillingHub see a consistent 30 percent year over year growth in the number of e-bills our law firm customers submit. We also see a constant stream of corporate legal departments moving from paper to electronic billing—an average of 40 new corporate clients per month are being added to our library of almost 4,000 who already require electronic billing. In addition, anecdotal evidence shows that corporate legal departments are moving to e-billing faster than ever before, but are less prepared. And, the less prepared the law firm’s client is, the more issues and slower payment their firm will experience.
So what can law firms do about the incoming tsunami that is e-billing? Fortunately, there are several steps firms can take to stay on top of the wave. The first recommendation is to research reputable electronic billing software solutions, and then purchase the solution that best fits your firm’s needs. Electronic billing is simply too complex and too important to a firm’s bottom line to be done manually or with ad-hoc tools.
However, whether or not your firm uses electronic billing software, there are several steps you can take that reflect best practices and that make dealing with e-billing more straightforward and efficient:
- Place your e-billing activities within your billing organization
- Train your lawyers on billing codes and practices
- Minimize hand-offs for fewer mistakes
- Define an escalation path
- Help your clients get set up with e-billing
Learn More at the ALA Annual Conference & Exposition
If you’re looking to gain additional information on electronic billing trends and insights, you’ll want to attend the Business Matters session “Stop Losing Revenue Today by Dramatically Simplifying Electronic Billing,” presented by Ryan Ladisic, Sales Director for eBillingHub. Ryan has been in the legal billing industry for over 10 years and has helped transform electronic billing at hundreds of law firms worldwide. Also, make sure to visit us at the Thomson Reuters, Booth #501.
2013 ALA Annual Conference & Exposition Blog 