Robert Ambrogi Blog
Aderant, a global provider of business management software for law firms, is today unveiling a benchmarking tool for law firm billing that is the first product to emerge from the newly minted Aderant Intelligence group.
The new tool, Aderant Intelligence: Benchmarking, is designed to enable firms to benchmark their billing performance by comparing their own metrics against those of their market and peer groups.
The new tool is available for customers of Aderant’s BillBlast e-billing product in the U.S. and Canada. Aderant is currently offering the product through an early adopter program to gather and incorporate additional client feedback.
Trey Ruello, Director of Data Services.
“Historically, billing has been a ‘black box’ for law firms, an area marked by scarce data and high anxiety.” Trey Ruello, director of data services at Aderant, said in a statement. “Benchmarking sheds light on law firm billing, answering questions about billing realization and revenue cycles, informing goal-setting, and maximizing earnings.”
According to Aderant, the Benchmarking tool enables firms to compare their key metrics against others within their practice areas as well as the broader legal market. It focuses on measuring how a law firm is performing in regard to billing realization when compared to the overall market. Aderant says it will be adding other data analytics to cover more areas of interest for law firms.
Metrics provided by the tool include:
- Deductions rates and deduction codes.
- Discount rates.
- Write-off rates.
- Accounts receivable days.
I have not seen the Benchmarking tool, but Aderant says it provides a visual representation of billing performance down to the client level and comparative data showing how the firm stacks up against peers.
It also flags areas for improvement and occurrences of revenue leakage, such as reductions, highlights delays in payment, and reveals opportunities for improved adherence to client-provided billing guidelines.
Metrics can be filtered by practice areas or groups and law firm size. A forthcoming release will add a filter for law firm type. It does not yet filter by regions.
Aderant says future plans for its new Intelligence group include the release of additional benchmarking analytics, such as for profitability and productivity, as well as the development of AI-driven solutions that will complement Aderant’s product suite.
Anyone interested in seeing a demo of of Benchmarking or joining the early adopter group should email info@aderant.com.