With BRYTER you can take the first step away from a traditional rate-based billing approach towards a product-based pricing approach (based on the digital applications you are creating). Typically, the approach you are taking is either based on generating extra revenue or geared towards attracting new clients and improving your reputation.
Revenue-generating approach
There are a variety of ways to monetize digital solutions. The most common ones we recommend and have seen in the market are broadly outlined below:
Hourly Billing
Following a more traditional billing approach, you can monetize the development and delivery of your BRYTER applications on an hourly-billing basis. For example:
Client X is interested in a digital solution and there is a clear business case to deliver it. Law Firm Y agrees an hourly rate with the client to produce this digital solution. Lawyer Z takes 20 hours to build and deliver the digital solution and charges the client 20 hours based on the hourly rate agreed in advance. This approach may also be taken to optimize and streamline the way you deliver client services (e.g. lease review and reporting tools).
Flat Fee / Project Pricing
Another way to charge for digital solutions would be to agree a flat or project-based fee with your client. This project-based approach is common for larger scale projects such as LIBOR transition review work which may also include the use of complementary technologies (such as, contract analysis tools). For example:
Law Firm Y agrees to build a tool for Client X in return for GBP 20,000. The scope of this work might include:
- building of the digital solution using BRYTER;
- initial setup and integration costs; and
- initial training and maintenance for the first 12 months.
As digital solutions may require ongoing support, maintenance or updating during the course of their lifetime, Law Firm Y may additionally wish to consider ongoing costs after the first 12 months of use. If so, it is recommended to additionally agree with Client X the subsequent costs if the digital solution needs further maintenance. From a Software as a Service (SaaS) perspective, it is market standard to price-in an “ongoing fee” after the first 6-12 months (see below).
Pay as You Go (PAYG)
PAYG offers your clients flexibility – allowing them to only pay for the digital solution(s) when they use them. This approach requires you to setup some form a paywall or other payment mechanism on the digital solutions. Other considerations on pricing may include, the price per:
- user account;
- end user session;
- assessment or result generated; and/or
- other action (e.g. uploading a file to the digital solution for review or assessment).
For a PAYG model, paywalls are often utilized to give access to solution on a case-by-case basis. BRYTER can help to implement paywalls. This approach involves a recurring payment plan whereby your client is able to use the application(s) on an ongoing basis. From a SaaS perspective, it is market standard for digital solutions to be priced on a recurring basis. When considering subscription-based pricing, you should typically account for the following:
1. Term of the subscription (e.g. annual or monthly): normally monthly terms will incur a higher charge due to the term flexibility.
2. Limitations on the license:
- everyone at your client organization;
- limited access according to end user accounts; and/or
- limited by geography (e.g. UK only), function (e.g. legal department only) or scope (i.e. provided under a specific scope of work).
3. Bundling, e.g. one or a bundle of digital solutions via an Appstore.
4. Focused pricing tiers to take account of the following factors at a variety of client organizations, including (but not limited to):
- size and profile of client organization;
- the number of documents or outputs required by the end users at the client organization; and/or
- the number of end user sessions required by the client organization,
5. Setup costs including (but not limited to):
- building and configuring the digital solution(s);
- setting up the technical infrastructure (including embedding, any APIs, etc.);
- initial and ongoing training for users at the client organization;
- maintenance including ensuring that the content is kept up to date;
- ongoing technical support (N.B. this can be provided directly by BRYTER); and/or
- ongoing subject matter support relating to content of the digital solution(s) lawyer.
Reputation and referrals
Digital solutions built on BRYTER can also be used to attract new potential clients or to establish/improve/retain your reputation as thought leader in the market or organization.
Free Service
You can offer your clients entirely free modules in order to generate leads for a certain practice area or subject matter, or to develop a new brand. Typically, these free modules would be available on a public website and/or would require a sign-up process to register client details. The value of this would be to drive traffic to a certain practice area or business division and indirectly generate paid client engagements. Common examples of such solutions would be client information gathering and guidance tools. For instance, you may wish to offer initial guidance to clients via a digital application to engage your clients and gain more insight into the client issue in order to drive more paid work in that area.
Freemium
You can offer your clients a free version of part of your digital application(s) with the option for “in-app purchases” to access the premium version. The free part of the application will offer your client some initial information but will be limited. Once your client wishes to receive guidance or wants to access the full application, they would be directed to make payment.