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Case Study in the series on Case tracking Online
Sills & Betteridge are a nine partner firm in the city of Lincoln. We operate from three buildings all of which operate on the same computer system. Our total numbers are approximately 75. We carry out a broad range of work for private and commercial clients. We are one of the largest participants in the domestic conveyancing market in Lincoln.
The firm’s preferred IT supplier for the last five years is Videss. Their main product, Legal Office Desktop, provides us with accounting, database, diary, document management and various case management tools. The Videss conveyancing case management was installed at the inception of the system.
The implementation of the case tracking software has taken a little over a year. This has been due to issues both with Videss and with us. Conveyancing is a high pressure environment with a large number of matters running simultaneously and reaching completion each week. It has proved difficult for the conveyancing partner to devote sufficient time to the project at times when the IT manager has required his input.
Generally we have been extremely pleased with the level of service provided by Videss. However, when we did not appear to be driving it forward, Videss were not proactive and their commitment to the project seemed to wane.
The implementation of this project was technically difficult both for us and we perceive for Videss. One issue was the full extent of the specification required. Videss were not easily able to identify from the statements of our conveyancing department what were key and what were merely desirable features. A lesson learnt is that IT suppliers will read down ambiguous requests as being merely desirable functionality if that functionality is technically difficult.
Our two classes of user for the software are ordinary private residential buyers and sellers and their estate agents. We perceive case tracking software to be a relatively limited “pull factor” for clients. More significant is the impact on estate agents. At present, estate agents telephone frequently chasing progress. These calls produce little benefit for the agent but significantly impairs the efficiency of our conveyancing operation. The need for a more efficient method of communication with agents was the prime driver for installing this software. We want to educate estate agents to use remote access to ascertain progress on all of their matters. The hope is that if remote access is appreciated by estate agents the system will be a significant “push” factor persuading estate agents to refer clients to us. At present, this is expressed in terms of hope and expectation. The system is technically ready and launches to estate agents and the public are planned.
Videss offered us the options of hosting the data or having our own web server. We chose to host the server itself. This was mostly driven by long term pricing. We plan (subject to client consent) to run all our conveyancing files on remote access. With a large volume of cases our own server was cheaper. Our confidence in doing this was due to us having a full-time IT manager. The Videss system is a live real time system taking information from our conveyancing case management system. We have an efficient conveyancing operation and do not have any reservations about clients seeing how far a file has progressed. Until completion we aim to move on each incoming piece of information on the day it is received. We do not expect the implementation of the system to generate additional chasing telephone calls from clients.
We envisage that most clients will access the software in the evening. We have no plans to provide out of business hours staffing. It is possible that this software will lead to more clients communicating with us by email. Again, it remains to be seen whether there will be a shorter turnaround time for clients to provide necessary information.
We have installed a Netscreen firewall supplied by Videss which provides both hardware and software protection. Although we have previously had dial-up access it has been used sparingly and this case tracking is the first serious attempt at remote access.
Sills & Betteridge has employed a full-time IT manager since the installation of the Videss system. One of the partners, not the conveyancing partner, has overall responsibility for IT but possesses very limited technical knowledge. The introduction and maintenance of case tracking software is simply part of the IT manager’s role. It is therefore very difficult to judge what level of IT expertise would be needed to introduce case tracking software into a conveyancing operation with less IT support.
As Sills & Betteridge chose to purchase the product outright and to host it itself, we have incurred a capital cost of approximately £10,000. The only on-going payments to Videss are if for any reason we need their support or for any future upgrades. ADSL broadband access costs approximately £1,000 per annum but this also provides the entire firm with broadband internet access.
Generally the firm considers that this has been a worthwhile exercise. The long implementation time has been typical of IT projects in the firm. That is undoubtedly due to busy practitioners giving priority to client work at the expense of internal administrative systems.
Paul Cowen – IT Manager, email pc@sillslegal.co.uk.
Gary Phillips – IT Partner,email gip@sillslegal.co.uk.
Firm: Sills & Betteridge.
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