Robert Ambrogi Blog
At the Clio Cloud Conference in San Diego today, Clio announced new features for its practice management platform and a new app for mobile devices.
The new features include a Firm Dashboard within Clio Manage, to provide firms with greater insight into their performance; Clio Scheduler, which allows firms to automate appointment bookings for their clients; and a new version of the Clio Mobile App, which Clio says “fully reimagines the Clio mobile experience.”
Jack Newton, cofounder and CEO of Clio, announced the new features during his keynote address this morning that kicked off the two-day conference in San Diego.
Clio Manage’s Firm Dashboard. Still in an early-release version, the dashboard is designed to give firms real-time intelligence into their key performance metrics. Modeled after metrics described in Clio’s annual Legal Trends Report , the Firm Dashboard provides visual insights into such metrics as Utilization Rate, or how much time is put toward billable tasks; Realization Rate, or how much of that work makes it to an invoice; and Collection Rate, or how much ultimately gets paid. As of today, early access to this feature is available to attendees of the Clio Cloud Conference.
Clio Scheduler
Clio Scheduler. This is Clio’s first feature release designed for Clio Suite, which combines Clio Manage, its practice management platform, with Clio Grow, its client-intake and CRM product. Also still in early-release, Clio Scheduler will automate scheduling and enable lawyers and clients to book consultations in seconds.
Clio Scheduler will enable potential clients to book meetings directly into a lawyer’s calendar in Clio Grow and Clio Manage, which then syncs automatically with third-party calendar integrations such as Google Calendar and Outlook.
This allows you to put a widget on your website or send a link to a client. When client clicks on the link, the client can browse your availability and pick an appointment slot, which then shows up as a calendar entry on the client’s device.
New Clio Mobile App. Clio says the newest version of its app — which Newton said is a ground-up redesign — will help lawyers stay productive and profitable while working on the go. Among its features, the app lets lawyers track time, log phone calls, take notes, manage calendar events, and more. Clio says the new design optimizes the mobile experience to make it easier for attorneys to accomplish quick tasks while away from the office. The app is identical for both iOS and Android devices and all upgrades will be identical. The new app is available as of today.
Other new feature releases and performance enhancements announced today include:
- New Clio Payments capabilities to make it easier for law firms to get paid using secure
payment links, schedule recurring credit card payment plans, get instant payment
notifications, and more. Newton said that over the last year, Clio customers processed over $1 billion in payments through Clio Payments. - Non-billable time tracking allows lawyers to track non-billable work to better understand where they spend their unbilled time.
- Expense categories help lawyers track different types of expenses to simplify financial
recordkeeping. - Outstanding balances gives law firms new capabilities in viewing, sharing, and managing
outstanding client balances. This enables firms to send clients a summary of all outstanding balances and pay them all with a single click. - Bill recipients (early-release) lets firms share bills with multiple recipients in a few simple
clicks. - Bill message template (coming soon) allows law firms to create a repository of bill
sharing templates that can be used at any time. - Service-only discounts allow firms to selectively apply discounts with minimal steps.
- Expense category tax (coming soon) lets lawyers quickly designate tax rates to specific
expense categories. - Accounting integration improvements with QuickBooks Online (QBO) and Xero allow
firms to sync more billing and account information, helping prevent duplicate information
entry and helping reduce the complexity of legal accounting. The goal is to eliminate all duplicate entries between Clio and other accounting applications. - New Clio calendar designed to give lawyers legal-specific features that make updates easier and more information available at their fingertips.
- Clio’s App Directory has expanded to feature almost 200 integrations, with the addition of new partners including PwC InsightsOfficer, Xerox Connect, and WiseTime.
- Enhanced Zapier Integration improves the ability for law firms to connect with over 1,000
apps through an extensive library of Triggers, Searches, and Actions. - Improved Outlook and Gmail add-ins offer new ways for lawyers to integrate messages and attachments from their inboxes with Clio.
- New Custom Fields Layout and Data Table Customization allows lawyers to optimize
their firm information to how they want to see it. - Full Text Search gives lawyers the ability to find the file they’re looking for quickly by searching for keywords within document titles, metadata, and contents of all firm files. Find any text across all the documents you have in Clio.