Connecting People in New Ways, Anytime, Anywhere
Partner Solution Brief
When law firms need to automatically log billable time
spent communicating with clients through Microsoft
Lync Server 2010, they turn to etcTimeTracker for Lync.
Partner: Enabling Technologies
Website: www.enablingtechcorp.com
Partner Size: 35 employees
Country or Region: United States
Industry: IT services
Partner Profile:
Enabling Technologies is a global IT
consulting practice that was named the
2010 East Region Microsoft Partner of
the Year for Unified Communications. It
has deployed more than 300 unified
communications implementations. The
company etc DevCorp. is a subsidiary of
Enabling Technologies.
For more information about Enabling
Technologies products and services, call
(800) 923-4310 or visit the website at:
www.enablingtechcorp.com
For attorneys and paralegals, who charge fees for every
communication they have with clients, etc DevCorp. offers
etcTimeTracker for Lync. Using the familiar Microsoft Lync user
interface, staff can select from a list of open cases. The time they
spend exchanging instant messages, speaking, or collaborating
with clients or peers about a case gets logged into a database,
which can be imported into the firm’s billing system. This
solution improves what until now has been a manual, errorprone process.
Business Needs
For law firms, time is money.
Whether they’re doing research
about a case or talking to clients
on the phone, every second they
can bill their clients means more
money for the firm. That’s why
many law firms want to speed up
their billing processes. Lawyers
should not have to spend too
much time gathering billing
information to submit to clients
for invoicing.
Increasing the efficiency and
accuracy of key processes such as
billing is critical for law firms. This
is especially true in today’s
challenging economic times, when
clients are asking for proof of each
minute they are being billed for.
Law firms today need to have
accurate and accountable ways of
billing everything from phone calls
to instant messaging (IM) sessions
with clients.
etcTimeTracker for Lync was
created to efficiently track time for
law offices. The solution integrates
Microsoft Lync Server 2010
(formerly Microsoft Office
Communications Server) with time
and billing software. To improve
billing accuracy, etcTimeTracker
provides the ability to
automatically track inbound and
outbound phone calls. The
application also assigns client
numbers and billing codes to all
forms of communication.
Solution
The application interoperates with
the Microsoft Lync 2010 client to
automatically track the time
someone spends on it using any
form of incoming or outgoing
communication. Using
etcTimeTracker, attorneys can track
phone calls, emails, IMs, voice over
IP (VoIP) calls, or video calls.
The solution integrates all forms of
communication with a law firm’s
billing software to make the billing
process simpler and more accurate.
It automatically tracks call data and
client information, using the
presence capabilities in Lync Server
2010. When a client calls the law
firm, for example, the application
captures the time spent on the call
and all other relevant information
for billing purposes.
The application also embeds a
notification drop-down menu into
the Lync 2010 toolbar, for easy
access to new emails, IMs, or voicemail messages stored in Microsoft
Exchange Server. With one click,
attorneys and other legal
professionals can access a contact
card that includes client contact
information and data related to
that client, such as documents and
recent conversations.
Additionally, users can quickly and
easily assign client or case
numbers to each email, IM, or
VoIP call. Any time an attorney
places an outbound call or uses
another form of communication,
whether through Lync 2010 or a
phone, the communication is
tracked and stored in a database.
The menu in Lync 2010 displays
the calls made, and the user can
easily assign a client number to
the call.
numbers within Lync 2010. For
attorneys who are busy working
on cases, this is very easy. They
don’t have to navigate between
multiple applications.
Benefits
Improves Efficiency, Billing
Accuracy
By automatically tracking all client
communications, law firms can
improve billing efficiency by
providing precise billing
information to their clients. Billing
accuracy is greatly improved with
this solution, because law firms
can definitively show how much
time was spent on a client call or
an IM session. Instead of
estimating that a call took 40
minutes, an attorney can say the
call was exactly 47 minutes and 21
seconds long. That’s important,
because for law firms every second
counts when it comes to client
billing.
The etcTimeTracker for Lync
solution greatly improves the user
experience by automating the
tracking of client communications.
It also makes client billing much
more efficient and accurate.
Eases Time-Tracking Process for
Attorneys
For law firms, etcTimeTracker
simplifies the tracking of time
spent communicating with clients.
The solution automatically tracks
incoming and outgoing calls,
emails, IMs, and video
communications in Lync Server
2010. Attorneys no longer have to
worry about entering billing codes
or client numbers when they talk
with clients. The process is simple
because users can communicate
with clients and assign client
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published October 2010
Improves Cash Flow
By automating tracking and billing
processes, attorneys can reduce
the amount of time they spend
preparing invoices. Using
etcTimeTracker, law firms can
improve efficiencies and collect on
their receivables faster, thereby
improving their cash flow.