How Knott Laboratory Saved 29 Hours per Month and Cut DSO by 39% with BigTime Payments

Industry: Forensic Engineering
Firm Size: 51-200 Employees
Main Use Cases: Timekeeping, Billing Flexibility, API Integrations, QuickBooks Integration, Wallet Payments

Overview of Knott Laboratory

Knott Laboratory is a leading forensic engineering firm with over two decades of experience providing expert analysis to insurance companies, law firms, and contractors. Working with complex billing structures and remote workers, the team needed a solution that understood all their moving pieces and could help move payment collection along faster.

Facing limitations with a server-based system (TimeSlips), Knott Lab sought a cloud-based, customizable solution to support their evolving needs. BigTime emerged as the ideal partner, offering rate flexibility, robust API support, intuitive reporting, and seamless QuickBooks integration. Later, the team discovered the power of BigTime Payments to streamline cashflow.

Challenges Before BigTime Payments

Outdated Server-Based Systems
Knott Lab previously relied on the manual time recording solution TimeSlips. Capturing billable hours was often challenging with TimeSlips, and remote access was limited—a challenge for a geographically scattered team.

Rigid Billing Limitations
Knott Laboratory often used varying rates by personnel and case type. This was essential for the team’s work, but it was a functionality that many systems (including TimeSlips) couldn’t support. 

Manual Reconciliation Processes
The team managed billing reconciliation through spreadsheets, which took hours to complete and risked data inconsistencies.

Limited Payment Options
The firm lacked modern payment capabilities, so clients were restricted to checks and outdated ACH methods. This was a growing issue as more and more clients desired digital transactions.

The BigTime Solution

Knott Laboratory first implemented BigTime to simplify billing and timekeeping, later adding BigTime Payments to speed up billing and protect revenue. 

With the functionality to support complex billing rules and reporting, BigTime was able to help Knott Laboratory transform their billing and revenue processes. The team now has:

• Flexible, cloud-based tools with support for remote time entry
• Fully customizable billing rates
• Powerful APIs and integrations with Salesforce, SharePoint, and QuickBooks 
• Automated reporting, synced production data, and streamlined project oversight

BigTime helped Knott replace rigid, outdated Crystal Reports with flexible and responsive reports that reflect real-time project data. With clearer insight into current projects and robust tools that flex to the team’s workflows, Knott eliminated hours of reconciliation time and improved time-to-payment by days.

The Impact of BigTime Payments

By implementing BigTime Payments, the Knott Laboratory team transformed how they managed and collected payments, with greater flexibility, efficiency, and improved client satisfaction.

Enhanced Payment Flexibility

Historically, Knott Lab did not accept credit cards and relied heavily on mailed checks or limited ACH transfers. BigTime Payments introduced modern payment options tailored to client preferences. The system now allows Knott Lab to:

• Accept ACH and credit card payments with configurable rules.
• Set thresholds (e.g., allowing card payments for invoices under a certain dollar amount).
• Offer individualized payment permissions for specific clients.
• Provide instant payment links via email for seamless transactions.

This flexibility gave clients, such as insurance adjusters and contractors, the ability to pay invoices immediately using corporate expense accounts, eliminating delays tied to check processing and routing approvals.

Accelerated Cash Flow and Reduced DSO

Knott Laboratory has seen a clear improvement in time-to-payment and a reduction in accounts receivable aging. BigTime Payments made it easier to:

• Convert overdue accounts by offering ‘pay now’ credit card payment options
• Reduce reliance on traditional mail, which now accounts for a minority of transactions
• Achieve faster reconciliation, thanks to consolidated Payment reports that track deposits and associated fees in one place

Streamlined Collections and Reporting

With BigTime Payments, Knott Laboratory was able to improve clarity and auditability during the reconciliation process—making it much easier to gain financial oversight. It also enabled Knott Lab to:

• Reduce administrative overhead by integrating directly with QuickBooks Desktop and avoiding dual data entry
• Cut reconciliation time from multiple hours to just 10 minutes
• Quickly trace payment fees and deposits

Results

• Average Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) improved by 39%, from an average of 52 to 32 days
• Per-period reconciliation time dropped from hours to just 10 minutes
• Began accepting 20% of clients began paying with ACH or credit card—which Knott Laboratory previously couldn’t accept
• Digitized invoicing, allowing Knott to accept credit card payments for the first time
• Recovery of aging invoices that previously went unpaid due to limited payment options
• 29 hours saved per month thanks to improved operational efficiencies

With API-driven automation and insightful reporting, the leadership team now has the data visibility to act strategically, manage workload capacity, and support clients more efficiently.