Navigating Billable Hours

Robin Miller

I have recently transitioned from a company that was purely recurring revenue to a company that is heavily involved in  billable hours.  I'd love to visit with Customer Success Leaders at companies that manage billable hours.

Jim Jones

Hi @Robin Miller - we sell our software on a subscription model...and we also have Professional Services that are done on a billable basis (customers buy a block of hours, CS manages the hours and helps customers use them most effectively, etc.). If you'd like to talk more just reply here, or DM me!

Jeffrey Kushmerek

Hi Robin,

Managing billable hours can be tough for a SaaS company. I suggest doing what Jim suggests above- buying a block of hours, and then using a timetracking tool like Harvest to make sure that time is tracked.

What you do not want to get into is the ad hoc model, and randomly billing 100 and 200 dollars here and there

Brian O'Keeffe

I have not see CS itself ever be billable. It has always been professional services. Often the CSM (me!) was establishing professional services were needed, got the SOW created and signed and then did a warm hand off to the PS team.

It was often tough, who wants to pay? But often the issues required a rewrite of a custom integration (I cringe when I come across them) or they needed implementation assistance outside the support of support. A reworking of the business structure, or the final configuration of a module never completed during the deployment.

Tracking was done using project management software and that was debated on occasion and came to me. You mean each team member bills for each meeting etc...? This was never a big revenue stream for existing customers and often cost more than we billed them for. Many were great, long-term customers when a giant change, like a merger, that required rework or, a loss of internal resources that required someone with the ability to support the product and advise the new resources in charge on how to administer the product.

Good luck!