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13 January 2010
The harsh weather conditions of the New Year are playing havoc with many firms' normal working patterns. Not only is travel difficult for road and train users but power problems and school closures, requiring parents to stay at home to look after children, have resulted in key staff shortages and knock on delays to normal workflow.
Voicepath clients have used the flexibility provided by our outsourced transcription and manuscript typing services to provide immediate support to fee earners who have made it in to the office or who are working remotely but lack support internally.
Richard Bate, General Manager of Voicepath commented "We have seen an increase in workload over the first two weeks of the New Year and I am pleased to confirm that the Voicepath service is not influenced by the weather and that we have been able to provide clients with the required extra support just as they needed it".
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11 November 2009
The last few months have seen Voicepath play a key role in supporting a number of business partners user group gatherings.
In late September in Newcastle, Direct Dictation Solutions hosted a dictation seminar day at the city's Hotel Du Vin, attracting representatives from many of the region's law firms. Delegates were able to hear news about the latest dictation devices, the newest release of the WinScribe digital dictation software and how the Voicepath service can integrate with their existing infrastructure and document production processes. Jacqui Ryan, founder of Direct Dictation Solutions said "We were very pleased with the day and with the number of delegates who attended. We were also delighted to have Voicepath join us. They are the only transcription service we would recommend and consistently deliver an excellent service to our clients here in the North East".
October saw Voicepath be one of the key award sponsors at the LawNet 20th Anniversary Conference held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport. LawNet, the national collaborative network of mid sized law firms, hosts an annual gathering for the senior decision makers in their member firms. This year's event saw sessions hosted by leading legal commentator, Joshua Rozenberg and other leading law firms consultants. Voicepath are LawNet's recommended supplier of transcription services and now have over 30% of the member firms as clients. Sponsoring the Best Use of Technology Award at the Conferences Gala Dinner, Richard Bate, General Manager of Voicepath handed the award to Mark Slade, Managing Partner of Nottinghamshire based Fidler and Pepper. A Voicepath client, Fidler & Pepper were given the award in recognition of the development their own I-phone application to allow clients on-line access to case updates. John Thomas, Chief Executive of LawNet commented, "We were delighted with this year's Conference and it was a suitable celebration of our 20th birthday. I would like to thank Voicepath for their ongoing support and for the continued excellent service they are providing to a significant number of our member firms."
Bonfire night in November was the date for the BigHand Annual User Conference held at Vinopolis in Central London. As the first member of BigHand's outsourced transcription panel and the panel member with the highest number of BigHand user firms as clients, Voicepath are delighted to be the only member of that panel to have supported every one of BigHand's User Conferences so far. Over 150 delegates attended the day and evening celebration and were able to hear updates on the BigHand software and related partner activity including the best use of Blackberry and other mobile devices as dictation handsets and the use of the Voicepath outsourced transcription service. Dan Speed, marketing director of BigHand said "the Annual Conference is an important part of our year and is a great opportunity to maintain links with our clients and business partners. Voicepath continue to be an important partner for BigHand, a company we like to work with and we wish them every success."
Richard Bate, General Manager of Voicepath noted "Supporting our business partners in their activities is an important part of our own marketing effort. Working with a range of partners allows Voicepath to meet with a wide range of personalities within law and other professional firms, and this allows us to explore and explain to them how our service might benefit their own operations. We look forward to more of these activities in the future."
06 April 2009
Law firms risk falling foul of their own professional body's data protection rules by outsourcing their typing work to India and other countries outside the European Economic Area.
The warning from Midlands legal transcription service Voicepath follows media investigations into the illegal sale of confidential information from supposedly secure call centres in India; these showed the ease with which such details can be bought.
Despite recently tightening up its rules governing the use of IT, India still has no formal data protection legislation - and Richard Bate, General Manager of Leamington Spa-based Voicepath, says this potentially brings UK-based firms into conflict with their own professional code of conduct.
"The issue for law firms considering outsourcing transcription or other services overseas is whether they are able to comply with Rule 4 of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Code of Conduct. This sets out the requirements for dealing with the protection of clients' confidential information and the duty of disclosure owed to clients," said Mr Bate.
"There are considerable risks associated with sending confidential and personal data overseas. Cheaper options are almost always riskier and to us, the risk is not worth taking. It does not take a huge a leap of imagination to predict the consequences of being in the public eye and having the details of your divorce made public.
"Outsourcing much of the administrative burden of a solicitors'' firm is often believed to be synonymous with offshoring but there are many examples of successful outsourcing arrangements within the UK, which are bound by relevant and enforceable legislation. Compliance with the SRA rules should be the minimum standard that lawyers set themselves in such cases - and the fact is they won't do that if no properly enforceable procedures are in place."
Voicepath employs trained legal secretaries based entirely in the UK. It says that the number of enquiries it has received since the start of the economic slowdown has increased as law firms and other professionals seek to streamline their back office functions to ensure the long-term viability of their businesses. It also works with other professional sectors.
16 February 2009
Outsourced transcription specialist, Voicepath, has demonstrated its commitment to providing legal firms with high quality and reliable outsourcing services by becoming one of the first companies in the country and perhaps the first in the legal technology and services sector to be registered to the new Quality Standard ISO 9001:2008.
The internationally recognised Standard, which ensures that registered firms follow a formal framework for monitoring and evaluating their internal processes, was upgraded in November 2008 as part of the International Standards Organisation’s periodic review and introduces a number of changes to the requirements of the Standard based on user experience. The requirements are similar to those that law firms have developed in order to gain Lexcel accreditation – the Law society’s practice management standard.
Voicepath’s outsourced transcription service, the success of which depends upon Voicepath securely transcribing high volumes of confidential client documents on behalf of a rapidly growing number of law firms, first gained ISO 9001 accreditation in 2007. Recognising that client firms need absolute confidence in their choice of transcription service partner Voicepath have chosen to stay at the forefront of general and industry specific standards.
Richard Bate, general manager of Voicepath, comments:
“We are delighted to have received such early recognition of the enhanced quality processes and procedures we follow at Voicepath. When we first gained the ISO 9001 certification in 2007, we committed ourselves to driving standards as high as possible. This upgrade is formal recognition of this commitment. With many law firms looking at restructuring their support services to use outsourced transcription it is vital their users have well founded confidence in the service if firms are to realise full benefit. We have heard a number of stories where individuals have been let down by other service providers which stem from poor procedures in terms of technical set-up, transcription quality and customer service. The internationally recognised ISO 9000 certification means clients can be assured of a consistently high quality from Voicepath.”
Richard concludes: “The economic climate is driving more and more firms to look at how they can manage their cost base and move existing fixed costs to variable ones. Achieving this without consideration of service quality and reliability, however, is likely to only cause them more problems in these tricky times.”
11 September 2008
BigHand today announced that the Top 100 law firm Howard Kennedy has become the first firm globally to implement a digital dictation workflow system using VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). VDI is embedded within the VMware virtual computing environment, and will enable Howard Kennedy to provide all its lawyers with remote access to their desktop whilst out of the office. BigHand has partnered with Howard Kennedy to integrate their software with VDI, enabling lawyers to dictate at home or while travelling, and to send the dictation directly to their secretaries for typing.
Back in March 2004, BigHand was also the first vendor to offer digital dictation over Citrix or Terminal Services technology. It is the only digital dictation provider to offer a true thin client solution, and supports more Citrix and Terminal Services firms than any other vendor. BigHand was able to leverage product superiority and extensive technical expertise to rapidly develop a robust solution for Howard Kennedy.
BigHand digital dictation is now being used by more than 200 lawyers and secretaries across the firm. BigHand’s BlackBerry dictation application is also being used by lawyers to record, edit and instantly send dictation to the BigHand workflow system. Lawyers who are away from their office on client business can continue to submit dictation, just as if they were still sat at their desk. Dictation is processed by the firm’s own secretaries, or forwarded to their outsourcing partner Voicepath for typing. This ensures a rapid turnaround of all client work, regardless of when it is created, or where in the world the dictation originates.
John Rogers, Head of IT at Howard Kennedy, comments:
‘’We evaluated all of the leading suppliers through a tender process and user trials, as well as examining market share and published accounts, and concluded that BigHand was in the strongest position to meet our needs. We were particularly attracted to the flexibility offered by BigHand, both in terms of its Blackberry remote dictation, and their commitment to developing integration with the VDI remote desktop.
VDI is opening up new ways of working, and BigHand’s integration means that lawyers can work just as well away from the office as when they are here. We’ve already had users working from many locations around the world, including Ireland, Malta, France and the Cayman Islands. Several of our partners work part-time from home, and VDI integration enables them to submit work from home and have it sent out to clients the same day. This, together with the Blackberry integration, frees lawyers from being tied to their desks and enables them to provide a better service to their clients.’’
David Fryer, CEO at BigHand comments:
‘’I am delighted that we were able to work so closely with Howard Kennedy to develop a VDI solution, in what we believe is a first for the professional services sector. Progressive firms such as Howard Kennedy are looking to virtualised systems in order to more efficiently manage networked applications. BigHand was first to market with Citrix and Terminal Services functionality, and we have again demonstrated an unprecedented level of thin client expertise through our partnership with Howard Kennedy.’’
21 July 2008
As the gradual withdrawal of analogue dictation support forces legal practices to adopt digital dictation software, many practice managers are left not realising the anticipated benefits. However, outsourced transcription provider Voicepath tells us it is all a question of looking for the added value that you can get from your system. Adopting a digital dictation system (DDS) often comes with the glittering promise of cost savings from reduced overheads and a more efficient workflow. However, the reality emerging is that many practices have simply replaced their analogue system with the new digital system like for like and the opportunity to make their working practices commercially astute is missed.
Jan Durant, Head of IT, Lewis Silkin, remarks: ““We were one of the first law firms to adopt and roll out digital dictation and in reality at that time it was simply more cost effective for us to ‘go digital’ than buy replacement analogue kit. Initially our users were wary of it, purely because they were the first to try it, and tended to use it in the same way as they had the old analogue system. “
Over recent years a dramatic improvement has been seen in the ways in which authors can deliver dictation; now no-one wants to return to the days of lost or broken cassettes.
Jan continues: “Digital dictation has been fully ingrained in the firm for a number of years - our BigHand system is our de facto standard - and has far surpassed its initial brief. For example, fee earners can work remotely using either their Blackberrys or dictating remotely via Citrix and their dictations are available for transcription immediately. In fact many significant benefits can come about by integrating DD’s workflow capabilities with other technologies and services.”
However, dictation delivery is only one part of the whole process. Irrespective of how it arrives at its destination a dictation still needs to be transcribed.
Whereas the analogue tape was typically retained by the same secretary, a digital workflow system dictation can be pooled to multiple typists, regardless of location, and varying workload levels shared. In theory, this should remove the need for temps during busy periods, smooth workflow and remove backlogs. However in reality many firms aren’t achieving these benefits because they don’t proactively manage the dictation and subsequent transcription workflow. A DDS may well have the ability to do this but can’t do so alone.
Nottingham based firm Nelsons is one firm that has looked beyond the simple adoption of digital dictation as an internal workflow tool to the transcription aspect of the process. Evaluating the data their nFlow database held made it realise it could significantly add value, and achieve greater cost savings, by taking digital dictation one step further and outsourcing dictation to an external company for transcription.
Robin Easom, Head of IT at Nelsons comments: “With DDS in place, fee earners and support staff can work far more flexibly. As dictation files are discrete and more effectively distributed than tapes it allowed us to eliminate transcription backlogs. “
Tim Hastings, Nelsons’ CEO adds: “We built this into our ongoing efficiency and staff de-duplication drive. This then allowed us to ‘think twice’ before replacing any secretaries leaving the firm; instead, sharing their organisational tasks among remaining staff. Realising this would create situations where surplus work arose, lead to us initiating our relationship with transcription provider, Voicepath.”
In order for a firm to fully benefit commercially, the technology needs to be utilised in such a way that it backs up a well defined management process. If done correctly, it’s invaluable in enabling firms to break the traditional tape-style workflows and more effectively support a firm’s fee earners.
These systems offer a wealth of data that can highlight key issues and opportunities within a working practice. The underlying databases can evaluate information such as which typists are performing the best, which departments or partners produce the most dictation and which months produce the most dictation and therefore use the most resource. Unfortunately, these reporting tools are often ignored but they are vital in giving those responsible for maximising support staff efficiency the information they need. If, like Nelsons, they are used sensibly, a practice can streamline their internal typing resources and potentially outsource transcription at specific times or by specific departments that may not justify a full time post. As a result, transcription becomes a variable rather than a fixed cost – something all firms must be considering in this current economic climate.
The increasing adoption of case, practice and document management systems also means that digitally transcribed documents can be linked to specific cases electronically rather than uploading them at a later date manually and removes the need for ‘cutting & pasting”. In-system typing, where the outsourced transcription provider types directly into a firm’s document or case management system, is becoming increasingly popular and is another example of how technologies can be developed so firms can get more out of their investment. Importantly, firms gain commercially because they’re using an external provider yet they have the added security of dictation files not leaving their networks, and, at a user level the working practice more closely mirroring their internal one.
Richard Bate, General Manager of Voicepath concludes: “Many customers approach us feeling frustrated at the lack of savings and efficiencies they are experiencing with digital dictation. The responsibility of exploiting such savings seems to lie somewhere between IT, HR and the legal practitioners themselves. Without specific ownership the benefits may never be uncovered. We work with our clients to create bespoke transcription solutions that also add value to existing case and document management systems. If approached with a commercial view rather than simply following the trend towards digital, the anticipated cost savings whilst enhancing fee earner support really can be a reality.”
03 June 2008
Outsourced transcription provider, Voicepath, has strengthened its position as the UK's leading provider of transcription services to law firms with another successful year.
The legal DDS (digital dictation system) market may be plateauing but the transcription outsourcing market is decidedly buoyant as growing numbers of firms become aware of its benefits, and as integrations between outsourced providers' and DD suppliers' systems make it easier than ever for firms to outsource to an external company.
Voicepath has led the way with full integrations between its systems and those of both the hardware and software DD suppliers so that the outsourcing aspect of a DDS and subsequent return of a typed document are completely seamless. Consequently it has been in a prime position to offer its high quality service to the ever increasing number of firms that are seeing outsourcing as means of reducing costs whilst enhancing fee earner support; particularly advantageous in the current economic climate.
Richard Bate, Voicepath General Manager comments: "We've had an excellent year, not only measured in terms of new customers but also in the ways we've developed our service to match our customers' changing and diverse needs.
"Results for the past 12 months show that our user base increased by 34% and there are now more than 2000 individuals using our transcription service at approximately 150 UK customer sites.
"We pride ourselves on providing a fast, high quality service. Last year, on average, documents on our fast turnaround service were returned within 45 minutes, with each document checked for accuracy by our independent Quality Control team; accuracy levels for the year averaged 99.94%. What's more, we offer SLAs that guarantee document turnaround times."
Last August, Voicepath achieved ISO 2001:9000 certification. Not only does this demonstrate its compliance with external quality standards but it assures customers that the service they receive will be of an extremely high standard. No other UK outsourcer can offer this assurance. Furthermore, its selection in September 2007 as LawNet's - the UK & Ireland's leading network of independent law firms - preferred supplier for outsourcing is testament to this.
Richard continues: "In an increasingly competitive market it's vital to meet customers' requirements not only strategically but also at the user level. When you hear stories of outsourcing projects faltering or even failing as a result of inferior services it shows just how important it is to be able to give customers what they require."
Responding to more sophisticated customer demands, Voicepath developed integrations between Voicepath and customers' case, practice and document management systems so that users don't have to 'cut & paste' on receipt of a document, as well as growing the number of firms using the 'in-system' service, an increasingly popular concept, which removes the need for any work to be transferred outside of the firm.
Bate concludes: "It has been an excellent year for Voicepath both in terms of volumes of work and in refining our service to fully meet our customers' expectations. We will be building on these developments to strengthen our position in the future."
12 May 2008
With difficult property and capital market conditions causing a downturn in some activity in the legal market, leading transcription provider Voicepath says it is a prime time to cut overheads and create a more efficient workflow through outsourcing. Richard Bate, Voicepath General Manager comments: “Clients use our transcription service on a pay as you go basis so fixed costs such as salaries, NI contributions and benefits are completely removed. Plus, as you only pay when you use the service you’re not paying for inefficiency, downtime, sick days or holidays. This makes it an extremely cost effective way of cutting secretarial overheads.
“Typically, in our experience, client firms can reduce their typing costs by as much as 60% whilst maintaining, and often enhancing, fee earner support both in terms of guaranteed document returns and quality of transcription.”
Not only does outsourcing allow firms to reduce their overheads but it also provides the opportunity to identify practice areas that are over utilised as well as under utilised.
Nottingham based firm Nelsons is one firm that has made significant savings by outsourcing their transcription to Voicepath.
Tim Hastings, Nelsons’ CEO comments: “In practice we discovered that the cost of Voicepath processing the package of dictation was less than half of the previous internal cost. In effect, outsourcing routine work and giving more complex and organisational tasks to existing staff has exposed capacity for work which we never knew existed. Moreover, we have found the quality and timeliness of outsourced work has matched internal standards.
Bate concludes: “Many firms will be feeling the effects of the credit crunch at this time and they will benefit by assessing the efficiency of their support structure; challenging the high secretary to fee earner model and reconsidering the recruitment of any additional or replacement secretaries. Those with flexible overheads, efficient workflow and restructuring capabilities will prosper.”
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