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Working smarter

August 16, 2010

The biggest difference with a good digital dictation system is that each separate document can be a separate dictation file on a computer network. new-structure

Imagine having hundreds of tapes, each containing one letter or one file note and each marked with the file name and order of priority.  Each item is clearly visible to anyone in the firm so it is very easy to prioritise and pick out the urgent work.  Jobs can be assigned to the most appropriate team member and work can be evenly distributed across the firm.

Add an additional team of outsourced secretaries to the structure and the workflow can be reorganised again.   There is no reason to pay employed secretaries an hourly rate of pay on  salary to type up non-urgent (but essential) file notes when they are easily identified, outsourced to an external resource and produced on a totally different cost basis which is far more efficient.  The file notes are produced at a much less cost,  there are no blockages in the dictation workflow, the files are kept updated much faster and all this means that when clients phone the office for information they are being dealt with in a much more responsive manner. 

Throw into the mix Blackberry dictation. This gives solicitors the freedom to dictate while away from their desks.  Dictation can be sent to either in-house or outsourced secretaries at any time of the day.  Once linked to outsourcing they can enjoy the benefit of out of hours and weekend services so they can work from any place at any time.  I can hear the groans now, ’why would anyone want to work at any place and in the middle of the night’.  But spare a thought for those hard working individuals to appreciate their work life balance and want to take time out during the day to go to their kid’s schoon play.  Now they can catch up working in the evening without having to travel to the office.  Of course, there will always be the seriously driven lawyers who    

All this means that solicitors can be more responsive to their clients. 

Read article: Working Harder
Read article: The lasting legacy of the Internet is speed

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

Working harder

August 16, 2010

The diagram below shows a typical structure of a law firm. The dotted lines show the flow of work, that is dictation and transcription between the departments and secretaries. 

trad-structure

The problem with this diagram is that it is very difficult for the secretaries to share their workload. You might ask, why would they want to? Each secretary receives their tapes which holds a lot of work, urgent work can’t easily be prioritized and as only one person can work on the tape, the secretary has the burden of churning out as fast as she can all of the documents relating to each set of files on the tape.

It’s not visible what type of work is on the tape either. Not many people take the time to write a dictation list and itemize the documents required. After all, that takes time too. So a tape will quite often have lots of special instructions, “do the usual”, admin tasks as well as correspondence and documents which can suddenly become urgent.

Multiply this scenario for each secretary in each department and multiply again by the number of departments, and it’s easy to see how backlogs of work can occur.

Read article: Working Smarter
Read article: The lasting legacy of the Internet is speed

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | 2 Comments 

The lasting legacy of the Internet is speed

August 16, 2010

What will determine our success is not how fast we receive information.  It will be how quickly we can respond to it.

We can find the information we need with a few clicks of a button, at any time and from any place with the increased usability of mobile technology. Life is certainly moving along at a pace. We can chat with our friends by email, text message and now Facebook. We can access our work systems from our own home PC using the internet. We have greater flexibility of the times that we can be available for work and the places we work.

Changes have been made in the office so that emails can be read on the move on Blackberrys, if the phone isn’t answered within three rings then a message is left with voicemail and solicitors now  type their own emails to provide a faster response to their clients.

In fact, we probably find that we’re forced to keep up, to keep moving with the times because failure to do so results in, well, failure.

But there is a greater impact on our psyche that this fast paced world is having. As we accept the fast flow of information as normal so do we think that a slow response is abnormal.  In fact it’s downright inconvenient and causes disruption.

Think about the last time you were put on hold on a telephone call. Perhaps you were told that you were in a queue and placed third. Did that information ease your anxiety levels? Probably not. After all, the reason for the phone call is usually a personal request for information, to make an appointment or query or pay a bill. We certainly don’t wait on hold to have a chit chat with our friends. So the delay causes an irritation which, if left unattended, then causes a massive inconvenience. That experience is well remembered too. The next time it’s necessary to phone that organization the expectation is to be put on hold. And as that has a detrimental effect on the perception of that company. One that is either far too busy handling lots of complaining phone calls, or not enough staff, or not enough staff working hard enough.

The speed of receiving information, being responsive to requests for information and customer service are all linked together.

How does a firm become more responsive to its clients?

Read article: Working Smarter
Read article: Working Harder

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | 2 Comments 

Awards short listed

August 13, 2010

awards-shortlisted1We’re delighed to announce that, for the second year running, we have been short listed in the Remote Worker Awards. 

The Awards are unique as the only business awards recognising employers for their flexible working solutions and employees for showing that remote and home based working can improve business productivity, improve work life balance and help the environment.

We’re extremely proud to be recognised for our efforts in changing the way we, and our clients, work.

The category we have been shortlisted for is the Blackberry Remote Employer.

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Outsourcing for solicitors

June 17, 2010

contact1I’m asked these same questions regularly:

1.  How can outsourcing work for me?
2.  Do we need to change the way we dictate and work?
3.  Do you need to have access to our case management systems?

Now, just because outsourcing needs technology, that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult or mind-boggling to explain or implement. 

Legal secretaries are performing far more tasks than typing and producing documents.  You no longer see job vacancies being advertised for legal audio typists.  The role has developed and they are (or should be) professional PAs who are assisting solicitors, dealing with telephone calls, time recording, the mail, filing, diary keeping, in some cases running case managed matters.  They are unqualified fee earners.  But still, 50% of a legal secretary’s time is spent typing documents. 

Now that it is possible to identify each piece of dictation a team’s work can be managed more efficiently.  Digital dictation systems can identify  urgent letters, a non-urgent file notes, statements or pleadings.  The urgent correspondence can be prioritised and for very urgent (note, there’s alwas 3 levels o urgency: urgent, very urgent and mega urgent) work, it’s now possible to have multiple secretaries work on separate pieces of dictation so it can be completed in half the time. 

Outsourcing helps when non-urgent work (those dastardly file notes which are essential for fees and compliance) can be produced  elsewhere on a completely different cost basis, freeing up the in-house secretary work flow - usually resulting in reduced head count and  overhead. 

How it  works is different for each individual and firm.  But let’s face it, if it was too difficult then nobody would be using it and it would have failed years ago. 

No, you don’t need to change the way you work.  Well actually  that’s not entirely true.  Sometimes some changes are necessary.  But not in the way you think.  Your style of dictation remains the same, your documents remain the same.  What may change is how you work in the future.  Because once you have access to remote working, flexible hours and 24 hour services then that opens up a whole new world of opportunity.  If you’re brave enough to take it. 

If you would like a no obligation chat with me about how outsourcing can work for you click here for our contact details.

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Easter Bank Holiday Opening Times

March 26, 2010

It’s half term, Easter is around the corner and you’re probably looking forward to an enjoyable long weekend break.  Quite possibly your staff are making the most of half term and have booked time off.   Undoubtedly, your clients are putting extra demands on you as their requirements can be very  urgent too at this time of year.  Managing holiday periods is never easy and it can be very stressful as we want the people we care about to be happy and have what they want and need. 

We care about our clients too so we’re staying open for business throughout the bank holidays.  The angel secretaries are sitting in the cloud waiting to help you at any time you need. 

We also care about our team and some of them will be making the most of the bank holiday break.  So during the night time on Good Friday and Easter Monday the 1 hour turnaround may not always be achieved. 

If you do require urgent work then please call us at any time of the day on 0845 053 1626 and we’ll make sure a team member acts straights away.

Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

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