Q: What’s the story behind Dovico?
Dovico’s story begins 27 years ago with an engineer who had a tough time organizing the time he spent on his client’s work for billing. Our founder, Yves Doucet, used to be an engineer. And his logically creative mind was always being frequently side-tracked by the problem with getting paid for his work. Often he would underbill his clients, which would leave him shortchanged. So, he took some time away from his busy schedule to come up with a solution, a digital timesheet.
Enlisting his entrepreneurial sister, Diane Doucet, Yves, Diane, and another partner founded Dovico. At first, the “timesheet” was an electronic device where engineers (or anyone in need of tracking time) would press a button to signify that they were working on a client project. They would then connect that device to a PC to upload the data at the end of the day. The PC would then tabulate all of the working hours and prepare a simple report.
As mainstream technology evolved and the internet’s adoption exploded, the evolution of Dovico led them away from the buggy hardware devices and into the software realm. First, Dovico offered installed software where users would purchase and self-administer their Dovico Timesheet. Then, as the internet cloud grew, Dovico took their software entirely online to where it is today, as a SAAS (Software As A Service) offering.
Dovico now helps thousands of small and medium-sized businesses across dozens of countries worldwide track employee and project time for billing. With three decades of experience, Dovico’s track record in time tracking is unrivalled.
Q: How have you helped small businesses grow in the past?
Because Dovico has been around for such a long time, we have been able to watch our clients grow right alongside us. Some of our clients have been with us for over 15 years. One client, in particular, a mechanical engineering firm, started using Dovico Timesheet 10 years ago when they only had five employees. Now, they boast over 150 employees and proudly boast Dovico as helping them save money that they reinvested into the company’s growth.
By enabling their employees to track time anywhere, either at the office or on the road using their smartphones, this engineering firm sees immediate value in having their billable time tracked in real-time. They are in the business of selling time, so it’s only logical that they track every minute with pin-point accuracy and urgency.
Many companies come to us with spreadsheets that they’ve used to tabulate project time. These spreadsheets are hard to scale and require a lot of admin time to chase down employees to send in their manual timesheets and consolidate every file. Many small business owners and administrators don’t have time to waste, yet, billing clients is vitally important. Dovico Timesheet eases that administrative workload and helps those who wear multiple hats within a company organize their most precious resource: time.
Q: Which specific industries benefit from using Dovico?
Dovico Timesheet is ideal for any company that bills clients for time and expenses related to projects they’ve worked on. Historically, Dovico’s flexible online time and expense management have matched well with the following industries:
- IT & software development
- Financial services
- Medical administration services
- Engineering services
- Contractor and professional services
- Non-profit and volunteering services
- Architectural firms
- Freelancers
Q: What value does an online timesheet give a small business that a spreadsheet can’t?
About 90% of Dovico’s new clients are those who are growing away from the dreaded spreadsheet. Every complaint is the same: “It takes days to gather all of the spreadsheets together from every employee (when we can get ahold of them) and bill our clients, and we don’t have days to waste anymore!”
In point form, here are the benefits of getting away from a spreadsheet to track project time and costs with Dovico:
- Reduce the admin costs (and frustration) associated with gathering, tabulating and correcting multiple spreadsheets.
- Increase time tracking accuracy. Timesheet errors can cost upwards of 20% in lost company revenue!
- Set notifications to remind employees to submit their timesheets.
- Time & expense tracking is accessible anywhere from any device connected to the internet.
- Automatic managerial approval processes.
- Stay on top of project costing and budgeting, and receive instant alerts when budgets are at risk.
- Keep track of employee vacation and leave time.
Q: With many timesheet options available, what makes Dovico special?
First and foremost, Dovico is a “people-first” company, and we strive to empower our clients to grow successfully -just as we do ourselves internally. Our mantra is to serve, and so, we align well with small to medium-sized businesses that embrace a community-first philosophy.
We’ve been around for 27 years, so we bring a wealth of expertise to the project time and cost tracking realm. We’ve listened, and with that expertise, our software has evolved directly from our clients’ needs.
Q: Let’s break out the crystal ball. Where does Dovico see itself in a rapidly-changing software world, say five years from now?
We’ve seen how work teams evolve with our product, and now, a timesheet is more than just a place to track time. Projects, tasks, and communication are essential to the success of a project. Once upon a time, tracking an individual’s time against a project was how a business grew; now, it’s much more communal. It’s how well an entire team has collaborated on a project that deems how successful it gets. While it’s always important to track time for revenue, now it’s more important to track time for impact.
Dovico Timesheet is evolving towards a team-based time and contribution tracking system. Historically, employees view timesheets with trepidation and skepticism. It’s why they dislike filing them. Employees need to know they are valued for more than the money they bring to the company. They want to see that they are growing personally from the work that they are doing professionally. Dovico envisions a timesheet that provides monetary value to the company and but contributes meaning to the time worked to the employee. Companies only grow when their employees succeed.
About Dovico
Dovico is a time tested leader in the project time and cost tracking industry. Based in Moncton, Canada, Dovico serves customers worldwide, looking for an easier way to bill their clients for project time worked.
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