21 Nov 2024

All the value of e-Billing with none of the internal work: Meet Apperio BillClear

Picture this: Your legal team spends hours each month scrutinizing invoices, cross-checking billing guidelines, and exchanging endless emails and calls about sometimes minor discrepancies. Sound familiar? E-billing was supposed to streamline legal spend management, but with 30–40%* of invoices typically requiring queries, it has created a whole new layer of administrative burden.

Enter Apperio BillClear (ABC) – a solution that delivers on the true promise of e-billing. By shifting invoice review work to law firms and AI, BillClear turns a traditionally cumbersome process into a seamless experience. No more manual checks. No more back-and-forth emails. Just clean, accurate invoices that you can trust.

This approach means your team can redirect valuable time from administrative tasks to strategic initiatives that drive your business forward! No more wasting valuable attorney or General Counsel time on unnecessary invoice reviews. Keen to learn more? Read on…

What is Apperio BillClear?

Think of BillClear as your automatic quality control system – ensuring accuracy and compliance before an invoice ever reaches you. It's a new product that empowers law firms to handle compliance checks before invoices land in your in-tray. Law firms can now review and adjust invoices against your custom billing guidelines – catching and correcting any issues before full submission.

What makes Apperio unique is its use of real-time connection to law firm data. This means you get instant visibility into Work in Progress (WIP) and billing details as they happen, not just when the invoice arrives. When potential issues arise – whether it's a rate discrepancy or a guideline violation – they're flagged to you and sent to your law firm through BillClear upon initial invoice submission.

The result? Your team receives clean, accurate invoices that are ready for quick approval. No more spending valuable time on compliance checks or sending invoices back for corrections.

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Benefits for corporates: Speed, efficiency, better relationships, higher discounts

When your team isn't buried in invoice reviews, they can focus on what really matters – strategic priorities that drive your business forward. Here's how BillClear makes this possible:

Less work with pre-checked invoices 🔍

Imagine receiving invoices that are already verified against your billing guidelines. That's exactly what BillClear delivers. Each invoice arrives pre-checked and ready for approval, eliminating those time-consuming compliance reviews. No more pausing your day to investigate billing discrepancies or initiating lengthy email chains or calls about billing issues.

Better relationships with reduced friction 🔀

Remember the last time you had to send an invoice back for corrections? BillClear ends that familiar pattern of back-and-forth adjustments. Law firms handle potential issues before submission, which means fewer interruptions to your workflow and less strain on your relationships with outside counsel. You'll spend less time discussing billing issues and more time on meaningful legal work.

Higher efficiency with focused attention where it matters ⏩

BillClear lets you maintain oversight without getting lost in the details. The system flags only essential items that need your attention, streamlining the approval process while ensuring nothing important slips through the cracks. You keep full visibility of compliance and costs, but without the administrative burden.

Faster processing to unlock further discounts 🎯

BillClear will speed up your invoice processing dramatically as the time spent on querying is no longer required internally. This allows for faster processing of invoices which can unlock early payment discounts. Early payment discounts range from 2-10% so it can be a significant driver of value.

Advantages for law firms: Compliance and faster payments

Law firms face their own set of billing challenges – from managing multiple client guidelines to maintaining healthy cash flow. BillClear offers a practical solution that benefits both your firm and your clients. Here's how:

Confidence in compliance 🛡

BillClear is your billing guidelines expert. It automatically flags potential issues before invoices reach your clients, helping you align with each client's specific requirements. The result? Fewer rejected invoices, fewer payment delays, and stronger client trust. You can focus on practising law instead of revisiting and adjusting bills.

Faster time to payment ⏩

When invoices arrive clean and compliant, they move through approval faster. It's simple math: fewer queries mean quicker payments and more predictable cash flow. BillClear helps you avoid the common pitfalls that typically slow down payment – like guideline violations or rate discrepancies – by catching them before submission.

Opportunities for tiered incentives ✅

BillClear introduces something unique: a tiered approach that recognizes and rewards consistent billing accuracy. Firms that maintain high compliance standards can earn access to an even more streamlined invoicing process.

By submitting consistently accurate, guideline-compliant invoices, your firm can build a reputation for reliability while enjoying faster payments and stronger client relationships.

How BillClear works: Real-time, precision data for accurate legal e-billing

Ever wished you could spot billing issues before they become problems? That's exactly what BillClear's real-time data capability delivers. Instead of waiting for invoices to be submitted to discover discrepancies, BillClear connects directly to law firm data, catching and correcting issues at the source.

But that’s not the best bit. At the heart of Apperio is work-in-progress (WIP) tracking. Like an early warning system, it monitors billing details before they ever reach the invoice stage. When potential issues arise – you can collaborate with your law firms who can address these items while the work is still in progress, rather than weeks later when memories have faded and adjustments are more complicated.

This real-time approach means:

Issues are caught and corrected early
Manual compliance checks become unnecessary
Invoice rejections drop significantly
Approval cycles speed up
Both sides save valuable time
Value goes up for both sides
Better working relationships

The bottom line? A billing process built on accuracy and trust, where problems are prevented rather than fixed after the fact.

Legal e-Billing that works for you, not against you

E-billing promised to save time and money, but for many legal teams, it's created just another admin burden. BillClear changes this equation by enabling and empowering law firms to be compliant and accurate. Your invoices arrive pre-checked and ready for approval – no need for your team to scrutinize every line item or spend hours on manual reviews.

Let's put this in perspective: How much time does your team currently spend reviewing invoices, following up on discrepancies, and managing billing queries? Now imagine redirecting all those hours to high-value work that drives your business forward. That's what Apperio’s BillClear makes possible.

By combining real-time data with upfront compliance checks, BillClear creates something unprecedented in legal e-billing: a system where both sides benefit. Your team gains efficiency and cost savings. Law firms enjoy faster payments and clearer expectations. And everyone spends less time on administrative tasks and more time on what matters.

This is legal e-billing done right – where accuracy drives efficiency, and efficiency strengthens relationships.

A new standard in legal spend management

Legal e-billing should make life easier, not harder. BillClear delivers on this promise by bringing clarity, efficiency, and trust to the invoicing process. For corporate legal teams, it means getting the oversight you need without the administrative burden. For law firms, it provides a clear path to compliance and faster payments. Both sides spend less time on billing administration and more time on valuable work.

Ready to see BillClear in action? Find out how it could reshape your legal billing process:

✅See exactly how much time your team could save
✅Learn how to eliminate billing queries and delays
✅See how real-time data can transform your billing oversight

Book your demo today.

Keen to learn more best practices first? Read:

*Based on our research

Author:

Dominic Aelberry

CEO