What does an air raid shelter and a beach hut have in common
August 25, 2010
I suppose having your office in an old air raid shelter or a beach hut has more benefits than we can imagine, especially when the weather is good. This article filmed by Meridian TV demonstrates how people are using technology to their advantage.
There is a saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Our current economic climate is forcing a lot of people to be more creative on how to get the best from their resources, the most precious of which is time. Remote working certainly helps us make the most of that and with wireless technology and mobile communications a huge chunk of our precious time is saved just by working at home and not travelling to/from an office.
We too are making the most of the latest secure internet technology and mobile communications as our own team of secretaries work from their own homes. We’ve certainly see the benefit through the long hard winter of 2010 when we were delighted to report that every one of our team were able to turn up for work!
There’s lots of ways to free oneself from an office and remote secretarial services is just part of it. Consider posting letters from a computer anywhere in the world, online conferencing, intelligent telephone routing and sending dictation while on the move.
Read about Blackberry dictation
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After you’ve read the application form, you really do need to check the skills
January 22, 2010
I feel I must share with you some of the results of the tests we receive back from “transcriptionists” looking to work with us.
I have already posted on our website details of the lengths we go to to make sure that we recruit only the best people who have the characteristics we feel are best suited to working autonomously for our clients. If you haven’t yet read the case study, a link is here.
Our online application form acts as a filtering system for the “wrong” type of person applying to work with us. Before we take any application further we also make sure that they can read, write and spell business English. Occasionally I am appalled and shocked at the standard of some of the documents returned back to me. Firstly, because it is obvious they don’t understand what an apostrophe is and, secondly, they don’t have the commonsense to figure out a way of cheating on my document.
Here’s a completed test which was received by me today. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORD DOCUMENT. If you’re involved in recruitment you might find this test document useful too.
It’s snow joke
January 5, 2010
This picture was taken whilst trying to drive into work this week. As you can see the weather conditions have made driving quite treacherous.
This reminds me of what happened to one of our clients last year, in February 2009, when London came to a standstill because of the snow.
Our law firm client thought they had everything sorted and business was as usual because their solicitors could dictate from their blackberrys from home and had no need to travel. The upset came when they realised that their secretaries couldn’t get into the office and it caused them a huge backlog of work and tremendous pressure to meet deadlines.
We had an outsource module added to the client’s digital dictation system so that the dictation from the solicitors could be sent to our service with a click of a button, by-passing employed secretaries and resulting in documents being produced more cost effectively and timely.
So far in 2010 we’ve already broken a record of having one of the longest cold snaps for decades. The local authories have ran out of grit to keep our roads safe. It looks like things will be getting worse.
What contingency plans do you have in place for your staff not being able to make it into work?
Now is the time to take full advantage of technology available. Using remote secretaries who are home-based means you don’t have to worry about getting into the office to have your work done. Access online is straight forward and our remote services can fully integrate into your in-house digital dictation system.
If you don’t have any digital dictation yet, then what are you waiting for? Use our free software and work from home instead. Call us now on 0151 227 9150 to set up your free account and don’t let the severe weather conditions interrupt your business.
7 Headaches cured
September 7, 2009
What causes stress and disruption to your business operation? I’ve come up with a list of headaches commonly found in all businesses at some point. Are you in pain now when you don’t have to be?
1. WHO’S COVERING THE SICKNESS AND HOLIDAYS?
The holiday season (or the flu season) can be massively disrupting to your business if you don’t have skilled temporary staff to call on. If you work in a quieter rural area then chances are you will struggle finding a temp who’s available when you need them. And once you’ve got them trained up on your systems (often about 2 days) then it’s time for them to move on. You’ve probably wasted half a week of your time training the temp and you’re still left with a backlog of work by the time your usual secretary arrives back. Some larger firms don’t even use temps. They hire an additional secretary to provide the year round cover they need. What an expense! Your outsourcing company doesn’t require you to send a minimum amount of work or sign up for a specific contract period so you can make use of the service just when you need to. PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
2. A BACKLOG OF WORK
If your dictation is taking 2 days to turn around then you have a backlog. And it’s costing you money. Files are not up to date leaving you at risk of negligence and, let’s face it, the faster you can work through the files, the faster cases are settled, and you get paid quicker. Why put up with it? PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
3. NOT ENOUGH INTERNAL RESOURCES FOR A ONE OFF JOB
Dealing with an unusual heavy workload with limited resources can cause backlogs to your usual workflow. You need to have a database typed, perhaps a lenthy document which can take a secretary 2 days to reproduce, or lots of recordings but it’s too much for one secretary and you need it quickly. Making use of a team of outsourced secretaries for those one off jobs is a very cost effective way of keeping up to date with your workload. Document Direct has hundreds of registered secretaries and it’s a straight forward process for us to manage “bulk” transcription/copy typing and return it to you in the fastest time (usually the same day). PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
4. ASKING PEOPLE TO WORK OVERTIME - AND PAYING THEM!
Managing people and overtime rates for “out of hours” work can leave you exasperated. There’s a reason why you need to work late in the night or at weekends — because you’re busy and have to deliver a quality service to your clients. So your staff should be helping you, not hindering you and making your job harder. But not everybody wants to work late, earn overtime and have their weekends disrupted. Document Direct’s outsource typing service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’re non-threatening to your existing staff, we simply wait in the background for the day that you need to use us. PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
5. RECRUITMENT, TRAINING AND RETAINING
Would you rather recruit a fee earner or a secretary? If we unravel the job specification and look at each task that we ask our employees to do and look at specific processes, it’s possible to see just how easy it is to take the typing part of a secretary’s job and outsource it. Once that’s done, putting your resources (people) to better use is easier. Secretaries are no longer just “typists”. They’re asked to be personal assistants, office manager and unqualified fee earners. Quite frankly, they’re too expensive to type. PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
6. FINDING SKILLED STAFF
Love it or hate it, but none of us can live without it. Technology. It’s the most rapid changing industry and it affects us all. So when it comes to finding a secretary who has the skills to keep up to date with the last versions of software it can cause huge headaches. After all, unless you already employ an expert who knows what skills to recruit, how do you know what questions to ask? At least with outsourcing your documentation you’re assured that you can keep up with your competitors and work on their documents with the most up to date word processing techniques. Poor word processing and presentation of your documents to a competitor firm says a lot about the skillset of your workforce and speaks volumes. PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
7. TOO MUCH WORK AND NOT ENOUGH HOURS
If you need more time why waste time travelling to the office? Why not work from home or on the train while commuting? Using a digital dictation system will give you valuable hours when you realise you don’t have to travel to the office to send work to your secretary. In fact, you can be anywhere and send your work from a mobile phone. And you can send your work at any time of the day when you’re accessing a 24/7 remote service. Would that give you the flexibility you need to use your time more effectively? PAIN RELIEF CAN BE FOUND HERE
So would you like to have one or two headaches removed? Ask for our Free Trial and give yourself some pain relief.
Which digital dictation system do you choose?
July 15, 2009
- It’s not expensive
- The devices work in the same way you’re used to
- Manufacturers are no longer producing analogue tapes, so we’re all forced into the “digital switchover”
Document Direct is compatible with the majority of digital dictation systems (DDS) and sound file formats. That means we can work with Philips, Olympus, BigHand, Winscribe and many other formats now available. But which system is the best for you? We’re almost 4 years old and have amassed a great deal of experience when it comes to working with the different systems, types of hardware and the various costs associated with them. There are many benefits to switching over to digital.
- The dictation can be transcribed faster by fewer secretaries which reduces your secretarial overhead and increases workflow
- Opportunities are created for flexible and remote working, you (and your staff) are no longer office bound
- Hard cash is saved when overhead can be slashed by outsourcing
So why are there still so many firms who don’t yet have a DDS? We’re in a situation now where firms need to save money but they can’t afford to invest in a DDS. Add to the fact that most people don’t like change and are fearful of new technology so they will procrastinate even more in making a decision. But each of these objections can easily be overcome.
We recently set up a solicitors practice, using free software, so they could choose to send their dictation to their in-house secretary or their favourite outsource typing agency. The only cost to the firm was for the handsets (and they vary vastly in price). The solicitors practice no longer needs to worry about secretarial cover during the holiday season. With a click of a button, their work is outsourced at a much lower cost than using a temping agency. Their work was backlogged by as much as three days. Now that we’ve helped them clear their dictation they’re working through their files faster. This can only be a good thing when it comes to holding onto work in progress and billing.
Would you like more information about implementing a digital dictation system in your firm? If so, contact us now.
Online directories. I’ve had enough.
June 30, 2009
Online directories. Over the years I’ve paid for a few. I should have learnt my lesson by now. I’ve just received another telephone call from yet another legal directory asking me to “upgrade my listing” to a banner advert. I didn’t even know I had a listing with them. Apparently it’s been there for a while. I did point out that I’d not received a single solitary lead from it, but thanks anyway.
Given the fact that I’ve not received a single solitary lead from a free listing, why would I want to pay a “special price” of just £200 to have a flashing banner on a webpage?
The salesperson couldn’t event tell me how many hits “transcription services” receives each month, let alone what hits their current customers receive. Then I was told that there are no guarantees with any marketing. So no thanks. I’ll refuse your offer of a “special price”.
Now, if I was asked to buy something that would give me something tangible and I could have guaranteed results, I might be interested.
I offer a “try before you buy” freebie so clients can see for themselves how outsourced typing services can impact on their business. Do you think online directories will use the same tactic?
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