AI-powered Time Capture

A Generative AI application designed to help law firms recover more revenue with timekeeping automation. ZERO Systems adds an intelligent layer on top of existing time entry tools to automatically capture and categorize every moment of billable time, reducing errors and delays. Tailor-made for all timekeeper flows: contemporaneous, reconstructive, and in-between.

Challenges

Incomplete and Late Time Submissions

 

A common industry challenge for law firms is manual timekeeping that often results in incomplete and delayed time submissions. Even when timekeepers enter hours contemporaneously, the time-consuming process results in excessive non-billable administrative work, wasting over 100 hours per timekeeper annually. Meanwhile, those who reconstruct their hours on a weekly or monthly basis face challenge in recalling all relevant activities. This leads to delays and inaccuracies in time entries.

 

Billable Time is Consistently Underreported 

 

Firms estimate losing at least 20% of billable time due to leakage from ineffective manual timekeeping. The lack of a solution to replace the traditional manual timekeeping process prevents law firms from maximizing their revenue potential.

 

There was a need to expand this capacity by 15x to over 150,000 comparisons per year, without increasing the headcount.

Solution: HerculesAI's Generative AI System

Beyond the delays in time entry, the manual timekeeping process of law firms often overlooks the smallest billable increments—the elusive 6-minute entries. Recording 0.1-hour activities can be challenging for several reasons, especially for attorneys whose work is often intense, varied, and demands high levels of concentration. 

 

Nature of the Task: Some tasks are so quick and routine that they might not seem worth noting at the moment.  

 

Interruptions: An attorney might take a quick call, answer an urgent email, or consult briefly with a colleague. Remembering to record each of these brief activities can be tedious.  

 

Perceived Insignificance: In the moment, 6 minutes might seem insignificant compared to hours of work on the matter, so it's easy to overlook or deem it does not worthy of entry.  

 

Cognitive Load: Pausing to start a time entry every few minutes can disrupt workflow and concentration, and hinder productivity.  

 

Volume of Activities: On a particularly busy day, attorneys might engage in hundreds of brief activities. Remembering to record each one accurately can be overwhelming.  

Significant Boost in Time Entry Efficiency

By implementing AI-powered Time Capture, law firms can rapidly address manual timekeeping challenges. Within the first month of deployment, there's an average increase in time entry velocity of over 50%. We have observed attorneys improving from a 50-day entry cycle to same-day entries, a shift attributed to the support from automated time capture and assistance with time entry. Through AI implementation, law firms can better capture billable time with accurate, real-time reporting. This solution not only automates time capture but also aids in activity reconstruction and streamlines the entry process with AI-generated billing narratives. It intelligently associates time with clients and matters, enhancing efficiency. By generating draft time entries that only require review before being posted to the billing system, the average timekeeper saves at least 50% of the time they would spend on manual time entry. 

Customer Story: Snell & Wilmer Captures Elusive 0.1 Billable Hours through Assistive AI 

At Snell & Wilmer, a global law firm with over 450 attorneys, the integration with Hercules introduced powerful and assistive AI capabilities to their existing technology stack without eliminating the need to replace their current time and billing system. With AI-powered Time Capture automation, Snell & Wilmer effortlessly captured the elusive 0.1 hour increments that made up approximately 3 out of 4 activities, which were often missed in manual timekeeping. With significantly less administrative work, timekeepers were also able to improve their billing hygiene with faster time entry. 

Key Highlights

  • 200+ additional billable hours captured per year for each timekeeper through AI-Powered Time Capture
  • >50% improvement on time entry velocity through timekeeping automation. 
  • 75% of activities are 0.1-hour increments, accounting for the most frequently underreported entries.  
  • 20+ configurable settings allow for tailor-made timekeeping to suit each individual.
  •  Seamless integration with existing time systems.  

AI-Powered Application creates new revenue opportunities. It makes time entries effortless and frees up timekeepers to focus on providing value to their clients. It’s great to see time entries take care of themselves with the power of AI. - Ken Orgeron CIO, Snell & Wilmer 

Explore your specific use case and discover what Hercules can do for you.