Here on Smart Working we look for innovative web or mobile apps that make your business work and life easier. We have reviewed products in the past but going forward we are taking a more hardline approach to whether the application has real value to your business and the impact of switching to the application if you have something already. Many reviews that I read espouse the features and cool functionality of the product (which we will still do) but don’t actually think you might actually be using something already (which you probably are) in your business.
My real point there is to avoid what I call “Shiny Object Syndrome” which most of us entrepreneurs fall prey to and must learn to look away when the newest coolest thing is one the market (have you seen the lines for iPhones?) and must try it for their business. You could make web application trials a full time job which why we are here for you.
The product we are reviewing this week is somewhat of a stalwart in the web application space and it is focused on time and billing for freelancers and small businesses. It is called Freshbooks and the Toronto-based company has grown to be quite a powerhouse for freelancers and small businesses to be the time tracking and invoicing system of choice. In the interest of full disclosure, I use this product for my business. So let’s do the rundown:
What we like:
Extremely well designed and intuitive UI – Aside from using all the pretty Web 2.0 colors it is well designed from the menus to the help sections that make it inviting and natural for people to sign up and get started quickly which is the hardest to do with web apps. You have seven seconds to engage and convert them to customers. Freshbooks makes this look easy.
You can actually send snail mail – Yes, there are many people who don’t want to read your invoice or take the time to print the PDF. Even if they do you have the ability to buy stamps and Freshbooks sends the physical bill. That is awesome and a nice touch when everyone is trying
Serious web application integration – Smart companies these days put out their API to leverage the community. Twitter is the most current example of an ecosystem building around an API. Freshbooks has created and is participating in a small business application API “ring of apps” that includes Outright (expenses), BatchBlue (CRM) and Basecamp (task and projects you can bill to) and Freshbooks might be the one to rule them all.
Ironically, there are many customers and vendors who use Freshbooks and end up sending each other Freshbooks invoices. There is currently work to make this payment exchange even easier which will add another differentiator to their list.
All the payment gateways – Like many companies who seem to make it hard for you to give them your money (re: cable and cell phone companies), Freshbooks makes it really easy. They allow you to let customers pay via 14 different gateways from Paypal to Authorize.net making it painless to get your invoices paid.
Freemium Service – As is typical these days, there is a free starter version to get you hooked. The service is free to use indefinitely, but limits you to three client accounts. Paid versions start at $14 a month and allow you to bill more clients and have more users at your business working on the system. If you’re looking at online invoicing systems, definitely try this product.
Killer Customer Service – When I was going through a name change of my business, I figured that I would have to fight and probably lose the battle to change my subdomain (COMPANY.freshbooks.com) because many companies are quite frankly either lazy or don’t want to solve the problem (see Flickr). I sent a request and low and behold within a day, they said no problem and just let them know and the change should be fairly fast and it was – truly impressive. Back in 2008 the Network Solutions offices we were visited by Saul Colt, “Head of Magic” at Freshbooks and the Chief Evangelist for the platform. One of the cool things they do is travel the world and visit cities where there are customers and take them to dinner to not only meet them but solicit real live feedback. Don’t you wish every company did something like this for their customers?
What we wish they would improve:
Limited accounting package support – Yes, it does have API integration with IAC-EZ, Outright and Clarity Accounting which is great but you still need to do an export to get the data over to Quickbooks. Maybe I live in a world of API’s and expect some automation with the biggest accounting package out there. Granted, it could be Intuit blocking the path (which is probably the case since they say they have the features) so I am willing to go easier on this one, but some deal must be struck eventually. Otherwise, Freshbooks might go ahead and build a better Quickbooks – I’m just saying…
If you have something should you move to it?
I would strongly consider the move if you have a desktop application that has been limiting and you have a few clients to move over and automate more of your business. If you have a web tool that does most of this then no. Then again, signing up for the free trial is painless and you could always try a parallel test with a few clients to see if things go smoother with this solutions.
If you are starting a business, should you use this app?
Definitely. This is an application that is the top of the heap in terms of productive and quality software. Every dollar you invest should yield you two and with a platform like this that makes your time tracking and invoicing painless and accelerates client payment, it is a no-brainer.
You can check out Freshbooks at www.freshbooks.com
Screenshot Credits (DailyBlogTips)
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