Founder Andy White on Filejet Pricing & The True Cost of Entity Management
Filejet CEO and Founder Andy White gets a lot of questions about the true costs of entity management and the different levels of service and pricing that Filejet provides, so we sat him down for a friendly interrogation. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation:
Q. Why does Filejet offer different levels of service?
Not every Filejet user is the same. Every organization has their own workflow and their own style. We have some customers who want to use our entire suite of offerings, and some want more of a do-it-yourself (DIY) experience. We have different levels of service to meet the different needs and personalities of our clients and how they want to use Filejet. All three plans were created based on feedback received from clients and prospective customers.
Q. Which level is the most popular & why?
The Professional Level is the most popular. It provides that perfect level of automation, visibility and organization for most people. The Professional Level resonates well with customers who embrace technology and who want to be able to do things on their own schedule. They want to get their own answers while also wanting to automate as much as possible when it comes to annual report filing, so they can be more efficient. We also have fantastic support for our Professional Level customers, so they have a “live” person to talk to when they need to.
Q. How do your clients typically choose which level to use?
When we talk with them on our discovery calls, we listen carefully for their pain points. Our account reps help them match the right plan to what they are trying to accomplish. We are often able to align our service with something they’re struggling with.
Q. Who are the typical users for each level?
Often, it’s the personality of each user that is different. People interested in the Basic Level are maybe not ready to give up entity management control to the platform. And maybe they don’t have many entities to worry about. They’re the DIYers. They want a reliable platform to organize all their entities, tell them what to do and when, and then they’ll do it themselves.
The Professional Level is for people who have a lot going on and are not technology averse. They love to go into the platform to see exactly where they stand, but they’re too busy to manage everything, and they like the fact that Filejet can do it faster. They don’t want to file 50 annual reports themselves; they have more important ways to use their time. Even something that only takes them 15 minutes to handle themselves – it only takes 1-2 minutes on Filejet, if that. They receive an email, answer a couple of questions, hit submit and Filejet does it instantly.
Managed Services Level clients like to know they can go into the platform at any time, but they want everything done for them and to speak with directly to their own Filejet concierge whenever they need something. If Filejet needs questions answered to complete a task, a person they know by name is going to contact them to get that information as expediently as possible. It’s like having Filejet as an additional member on your team.
It all gets back to how you want to interact with Filejet. We have an avenue for everyone. Each level has access to best-in-class entity management software, but it comes down to you want to work with it. People who gravitate toward professional and fully-managed are the same: they have the same level of pain or frustration related to the way they’re doing it now – some just want a more hands-off, concierge-like experience.
Q. How does Filejet pricing compare to your competitors?
The first step is to compare apples to apples and, shockingly, Filejet prospects often don’t know what they’re spending. You need to know all the tasks and be able to put a time and dollar amount to them. A lot of prospective clients don’t even have a handle on how many entities they have. We are absolutely a time saver and a dollar saver, but it can be quite a hurdle to get an understanding of what they’re spending now. If you don’t know your current spend or how many entities you have, that’s the first sign you need Filejet!
Q. What factors drive the entity management costs of businesses?
It has to be “time leakage” for our clients and “cost creep” of existing legacy vendors. We see this daily. Our clients are primarily in-house general counsels / legal teams. They are extremely important and highly valuable members of their organization.
Spending 10 minutes searching for information that is not at their fingertips… or 15 minutes to check if something is complete… or having to make seven calls to an existing vendor who doesn’t get back to them – these are all momentum and efficiency killers that add up. Now add that up over a year and across the entire team that is working on entity management. It can add up to hundreds of hours every year and this “time leakage” equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
Filejet users often don’t realize the amount of time they spend and they underestimate it because entity management is a process they’ve been doing for so long, so they don’t think about tracking the time it takes them to ensure compliance. They don’t know how much they are spending, but we know that even basic tasks can take at least a half hour to complete. Multiple that by tens, hundreds or thousands of entities over a year and “leakage” doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s a gusher.
“Cost creep” is also something we see over and over. We frequently see clients not realizing some of their legacy vendors are increasing costs 10% to 20% or more every year. Fast forward five years and registered agent services that started at $100 per year have climbed to over $300.
Prospects also typically don’t know how many entities they have. They can’t even tell you confidently if their entities are compliant and, if you don’t know, that’s a problem.
Q. What do legal departments find most frustrating about entity management costs?
I think it’s just the lack of visibility. They just don’t know what they’re spending. Or, they have moved entity management to outside lawyers which is an added expense. Plus, it’s very frustrating to pay late fees and fines with interest because an entity is out of compliance.
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Learn more about Filejet entity management software options by visiting our pricing page. You can also contact a Filejet team member for a free compliance audit or software demo.