How S‑E‑A avoids backlogs with Intapp Billstream

S‑E‑A deployed Intapp Billstream to achieve record-low work-in-progress backlogs, increasing its average quantity of draft bills by 450 each month without adding extra billers.

Established in 1970, S‑E‑A — a recognized worldwide leader in forensic analysis and investigation — employs more than 300 professionals. The firm provides a wide range of services to reveal the cause of product, material, and structural failures. Its engineers and investigators have served nationally and internationally as analytical litigation experts.

Streamlining workflows and reducing errors

S‑E‑A’s investigators spend a considerable amount of time on the road. Lacking a mobile time or prebill management solution, investigators needed to track their time and make modifications on paper, try to connect to a VPN to make entries on the road, or rekey the information into firm management software upon returning to the office. All of these options proved inefficient, introduced the possibility of transcription errors, and delayed S-E-A’s accounting team from starting the invoicing processes — driving up work in progress and slowing receivables.

“We watched an Intapp Billstream demo and decided it was the right product for us,” says Misty Marcum, Chief Financial Officer at S‑E‑A. “We felt confident we would be able to provide our users with a seamless experience.”

Our investigators can easily review and edit draft bills from their mobile phones or tablets, submit multiple draft bills at once, and respond quickly to client queries whether they are in the office or on the road.

JASON BAKER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, S-E-A

Fostering universal adoption

The firm rolled out Intapp Billstream in a phased 8-month deployment for personnel across 12 offices, including mobile devices for the firm’s billable staff.

“It was genuinely rewarding to find users so excited to start using Intapp Billstream based on the positive feedback they had heard from their colleagues,” says Shishir Shetty, Vice President of Billstream at Intapp.

Our average quantity of draft bills has increased by 450 each month — and we haven’t added to our number of billers. That speaks volumes about how the software has helped us.

LESLIE BUTLER, MANAGER OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS & EVIDENCE, S-E-A

Increasing throughput with a transparent workflow

Following the Intapp Billstream rollout, S‑E‑A’s invoice work-in-progress backlog has reached the lowest level in the firm’s history.

“Our average quantity of draft bills has increased by 450 each month — and we haven’t added to our number of billers,” said Leslie Butler, Manager of Business Systems & Evidence at S‑E‑A. “That speaks volumes about how the software has helped us.”

Mobile capabilities have helped the firm’s professionals work smarter, not harder, leaving them more time to focus on work delivery.

“Our investigators can easily review and edit draft bills from their mobile phones or tablets, submit multiple draft bills at once, and respond quickly to client queries — whether they’re in the office or on the road,” said Jason Baker, the firm’s CEO.

“We can complete our monthly billing in a week,” added Butler. “Before, when I would review the status of draft bills at the end of each quarter, there would be a lot of WIP. That’s not the case now. We can see where draft bills are in the workflow so we can make targeted nudges. With paper, you don’t know what happens to the draft bill as soon as you distribute it. Now we have full transparency.”

Executive Summary

S‑E‑A, a worldwide leader in forensic analysis and investigation, uses Intapp Billstream to streamline its billing workflow and increase visibility into draft status. The firm has closed gaps and inefficiencies in its billing processes and greatly accelerated its processing.

Challenges

  • Outdated invoice processing workflows often required paper-based inputs and manual rekeying, introducing the risk of errors.
  • The firm lacked visibility into review status, bottlenecks, and process duration.

Results with Intapp

  • Reduced manual input: Intapp Billstream automates S‑E‑A’s work-to-bill lifecycle to accelerate the billing process, minimize the risk of human error, and improve realization.
  • Greater visibility and collaboration: Firm professionals can easily review, edit, and collaborate in real time — whether in the office or on the road.