About
Xmartlabs is a software agency that provides comprehensive end-to-end services, including design, prototyping, software development, and cutting-edge technologies like blockchain ML, and AI. Starting with 20 employees, the agency has flourished into a robust team of 120 professionals across Uruguay, Argentina, and Colombia.
"Toggl Track plays a critical role in ensuring every billable hour is accounted for. It started with billing and has since expanded to enhance our focus on strategic work like OKRs, foster work-life balance, and build transparency with our clients," says Enrique Galindo, Co-Founder and COO of Xmartlabs.
Results with Toggl Track
- 100% of the team tracking their time daily: At Xmartlabs, time tracking has optimized workflows and boosted the team's ability to make efficient use of their time. This enabled them to focus on achieving their OKRs.
- Enabling 6x team growth while focusing on employee well-being: Toggl Track has supported the company’s commitment to work-life balance, providing employees with the tools to manage their time effectively.
- Client trust and satisfaction: Detailing every billable hour allows for transparent reporting and precise billing, strengthening client relationships.
“Time tracking data is crucial for us. It helps us keep track of billable hours, maintain focus on company goals and OKRs, and improve other team metrics, such as time spent in meetings.”
— Enrique Galindo, Co-Founder and COO of Xmartlabs
Challenges
Enabling team growth: seeking a user-friendly, non-intrusive tool
Xmartlabs began as a small team working in the same office. As Enrique recalls, "it was a bit of a different era."
But, as the company began to scale and project complexity increased, the team realized it needed a reliable solution to manage its time and billing.
"Working remotely has many advantages, especially for the work-life balance, but it can easily turn the other way around if you lose track of working hours. Maintaining our team's work-life balance was key," he explains. "We can only improve what we measure, so time tracking became a crucial tool for us."
Enrique was clear about why he wanted to use a time tracking tool, and it wasn’t down to a lack of trust in the team.
“For us, it’s the opposite—trust in the team is paramount. We didn’t want anything intrusive, like a tool to take screenshots of what our employees are working on."
Solution
Beyond billing: keeping the focus on OKRs and reducing time in meetings
After choosing Toggl Track for its simplicity and non-invasive approach, the team soon discovered its broader potential beyond billing.
"Time tracking data is crucial for us. It helps us keep track of billable hours, maintain focus on company goals and OKRs, and improve other team metrics, such as time spent in meetings."
By quantifying time spent on specific projects, Xmartlabs ensures logged time contributes directly towards achieving the company's OKRs. This data helps identify areas where time investment does not align with strategic priorities, allowing for real-time adjustments and increased productivity.
Recognizing the need to optimize time management, Xmartlabs also uses Toggl Track to manage and reduce time spent in meetings.
"We use tags within Toggl Track to monitor meeting durations and ensure they are productive," Enrique explains.
Building transparency and trust with clients
Toggl Track plays a crucial role in fostering transparent relationships between Xmartlabs and its clients. They share detailed time tracking reports with clients, which builds trust by showcasing exactly how their resources are allocated and describing every hour they are billed.
"Our clients appreciate it—it helps us foster trust and long-term relationships with them," Enrique says.
Share client reports like Xmartlabs
Sign up for free100% team adoption: communicating the why behind time tracking
Xmartlabs is a results-oriented company, and all employees track their time daily. It has achieved full team adoption by clearly explaining how time tracking improves workloads—and overall work-life balance.
"We don’t need to know how many hours our employees are working—we want to understand where we can optimize those hours. Our goal is to balance productivity with well-being, and Toggl Track helps us achieve that," says Enrique.
"Our message to our employees is clear—we track time to bill our clients and to provide employees with a tool to manage work-life balance and address any issues that may arise in that area."
Most importantly, Enrique says Toggl’s time tracking tool shows how much trust the company has in its team.
“The time tracking tool helps them improve themselves by measuring time spent, identifying bottlenecks for future efforts, finding delegation opportunities, and gaining other insights that will help them work and live better."
