ClockSpot

Full Review

While I was reviewing Clockspot, I couldn't help but think how useful Clockspot could be for the country club I first worked at, because the time-tracking system we had was garbage. There was one tiny punch-pad tucked away in the lower level, away from the kitchen, bar, spa, and gym where employees would work. There was nothing like starting up the car after a long day at work, only to remember you'd forgotten to go to the basement to punch out. Clockspot would have made life a lot easier.
Clockspot functions as a web portal. So for my first job, I would just have to log on to the website, find my name, and hit clock out. And because it's web based, I could have used any one of the four computers we used to run the restaurant. And it really is that simple. Once an employer buys a clockspot account, he/she can create accounts for employees so that they can clock themselves in.
And employees don't have to use the computer if that's not an option, they can call-in. I personally wouldn't use this feature, and I don't think anyone with a smartphone would want to - apps are much more fun to use. Still the versatility is a nice feature. Employee logins from the website require passwords, and the paranoid employer can even set voice authentication if he/she's afraid of coworkers checking in their buddies.
Checking in isn't all you can do from the online portal. You can also choose what task you're checking in for (to get the right pay code), and you can update the status of your work throughout the day. Obviously this makes sense in some professions and not others, but the more often you update your status the more detailed the reports are. Admins can also assign tasks through Clockspot, and employees can mark the start and end of assigned tasks. The portal also lets you send internal messages, and instant message.
For employees, Clockspot makes for a pretty solid time tracking tool. Not only does it provide numerous ways to clock-in, it does a lot of long term tracking for paid time off. As an admin you'll get to see which employees are overdue for a vacation, which ones are underperforming, etc. And since everything exports to excel, the data is relatively easy to work with during payroll. I don't like how you have to act through Excel to get something from Clockspot to QuickBooks, but that kind of direct support doesn't exist yet.
Because Time-Tracking can be applied to many different situations, I'll explain what I think it's best for. My first job, the type where you're an employee and you go in everyday for a fixed amount of time, Clockspot is good for that. We already had something that I assume was similar, but Clockspot would have worked fine if not better. But for something like the law firm, where a team of 4-5 woks on a case, there are better apps. Clockspot is not designed to directly invoice, nor did I get the feel that it was good for teams.
Clockspot makes a pretty bold statement by saying "Clockspot pays for itself, you will save 12 times the cost of your subscription, just in saved labor costs." You make that call for yourself, but here are the prices. Single ($9/month) is limited to one manager and one employee. Standard ($19/month) comes with one manager and one employee, but is expandable ($3/month/additional user. Premium ($49/month) comes with everything in Standard, plus additional storage, live training, and live support.

The Bottom Line

It's so hard for me to decide if a startup or small business needs Clockspot. I'm working for this startup, and don't need anything like that. I'll leave it at this: Clockspot is very useful if you're a small business that employ hire many laborers/workers. Think of a landscaping business that has to hire a lot of mowers and mulchers. For this group, Clockspot will be useful because it'll track a rigid amount of time. The web-portal itself is so nice, but Clockspot has decent outside potential too. At the very least, if you're running a restaurant, consider replacing what you have now with Clockspot (out of sympathy for me).

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