Enough structure to stay accurate, without adding another burden
The Indispensary's operating model will be familiar to many growing service businesses: multiple clients, different billing arrangements, a distributed team, recurring client tasks, internal business tasks and regular reporting needs.
Some clients work on retainers; others are billed in arrears for the time used. Freelancers invoice The Indispensary for their work, and Joanne needs to be sure those invoices match what has actually been logged before client billing goes out. The business needed enough structure to stay accurate, but not so much complexity that the system became another burden.
Joanne needed a way to:
- Task management: Manage task work across her own business and client delivery.
- Accurate time tracking: Track time accurately across a large freelance team.
- Retainer reporting: Send regular reports to retainer clients.
- Invoice checks: Check freelancer invoices before paying them.
- Where time goes: Understand internal versus client-facing time.
- Team availability: Keep visibility over holidays and team availability.
- Less manual work: Reduce the manual reporting that had become part of her weekly routine.
Before Avaza, one of the biggest pain points was client reporting.
“I was manually pulling reports and emailing them to clients every week. So being able to automate them – it was just a game changer for me.”
One system for tasks, timesheets and client reporting
Features The Indispensary uses
As the business grew, so did its operational complexity. Joanne was no longer just managing her own work: she needed a reliable way to coordinate internal and client tasks, track time across a large freelance team, keep clients informed on retainer usage, check invoices from associates and understand where time and cost were going. Avaza became the system that brought that work together.
For Joanne, the biggest reason for staying with Avaza is clear: timesheets and reporting. Other platforms have approached The Indispensary, but Joanne says they have not matched what Avaza offers in this area. For a service business built around people's time, that matters. Time is not just an internal metric: it affects client trust, team payments, monthly invoicing, cost visibility and business decisions.
Internal and client tasks in one place
The Indispensary uses Avaza to manage both internal business work and client delivery. For Joanne it is more than a place to track individual tasks: it is the central working space for her own business and the wider team. When information is scattered across email, chat, spreadsheets and shared folders, time gets lost. Avaza gives The Indispensary a practical home for the work itself.
Automated weekly reports for retainer clients
Many of The Indispensary's clients work on retainers, so transparency around time usage is important. Clients need to know how much time has been used, and Joanne needs a repeatable way to keep them informed.
Avaza's Timesheet Detail reports let The Indispensary send automated weekly updates to clients, replacing a manual process. Instead of waiting until month-end or relying on ad hoc updates, clients get regular visibility into the work being done. For The Indispensary, reporting is not just administration; it is part of the client experience.
Checking freelancer invoices against logged time
The Indispensary works with a sizeable freelance team. Joanne has "about 30 in the team who are freelancers", and they invoice her for their work. Avaza's Timesheet Summary reports help her check those invoices before paying them, and that same accuracy then flows into client invoicing.
“With around 30 freelancers invoicing us, Avaza's Timesheet Summary reports make it easy for me to check their invoices against the time logged. Once I know the team's invoices are correct, I can invoice our clients with confidence too.”
For a business with multiple associates and multiple clients, this is a crucial operational control. It reduces guesswork, helps avoid billing errors and gives Joanne confidence before invoices are sent.
Seeing where time and cost go
The Indispensary also uses Avaza reporting to understand how time is spent across client work and internal business work. Some freelancers work directly with clients; others support Joanne's own business. Avaza helps her compare that activity, giving her a clearer view of cost and contribution across the business.
“Avaza's reports help me see how much work the team is doing for clients versus how much time is going into internal business support. That visibility into time, cost, and client-facing work is really valuable for understanding where the business effort is going.”
Holiday cover with Team Schedule
Joanne uses Avaza's Team Schedule to keep track of team holidays and arrange cover. For a distributed team supporting multiple clients, leave visibility is not just an HR detail: it affects continuity of service.
“I do my task management in Avaza both internally and within my wider team. And the way that it works just works brilliantly for me. Also one of the biggest things for us is the time tracking. I feel Avaza is just way ahead of everybody else. I've had other companies approach me about moving over to their platforms and they just don't come anywhere near what you offer on the timesheets and the reporting.”
Less manual reporting, more confidence in every invoice
The biggest change for Joanne was moving away from manually preparing and emailing weekly client reports. Here is what changed across the business:
- Less manual reporting: Weekly client reports are automated, saving time and improving consistency.
- Stronger client transparency: Automated weekly reports show retainer clients how much time has been used, keeping them informed and reducing the risk of awkward surprises around hours, billing or usage.
- Better invoice confidence: Comparing freelancer invoices against Timesheet Summary reports means payments to freelancers and billing to clients are based on accurate time data.
- Clearer operational control: Client-facing work, internal work, cost and team activity sit in a single system.
- A system the team can learn: Joanne finds Avaza relatively easy to use and has written a user guide for her team that links to Avaza's own support videos, so team members can quickly find the help they need.
The support experience
Alongside the product, Joanne highlighted Avaza's customer support as a major differentiator. For a founder-led service business, responsive help when something is unclear or a workflow needs improving can make the difference between a tool that gets adopted and one that gets abandoned. For Joanne, Avaza's support feels relationship-led rather than transactional.
“And you guys, I have to say, are phenomenal. In so many cases, the customer service behind software companies can be dreadful, but with Avaza I feel like I have a real relationship with the team, and that you care. Everybody at Avaza is so responsive and helpful on the chat. I think you really stand heads above other software companies for the customer experience.”
What's next
Like many mature Avaza customers, The Indispensary doesn't just use the product passively. Joanne has clear, practical feedback based on real workflows, including consolidated invoice lines for Xero, weekday-only recurring tasks and deeper customisation of task views. She is also excited about Avaza's MCP server and is looking to AI-enabled reporting through Avaza, as she already spends time using Claude.
The lesson for growing service businesses
The Indispensary is a founder-led, people-powered service business with real operational complexity: clients, freelancers, retainers, time tracking, internal work, reporting, scheduling and billing checks.
Once a service business grows beyond one or two people, visibility becomes harder as work spreads across people, clients, tools and billing models. Avaza brings that work back into one place, so leaders can see what is happening, clients stay informed and billing is based on accurate time data. For The Indispensary, Avaza is not just task management: it is the system that keeps the business organised as the team and client base grow.
