‘Ghost’ secretaries speed up workflow for regional firm

09 January 2006

Outsourced legal transcription specialist, Voicepath, is helping general practice, Herbert Mallam Gowers, to smooth out the peaks and troughs in its workflow without resorting to the trouble and expense of hiring temporary secretaries.

After hearing how it was helping a London firm run a secretary-less office the Oxfordshire firm approached Voicepath looking for a reliable source of cover for secretaries who were sick or on holiday, and during periods of high demand.

After a successful trial period, Herbert Mallam Gowers now outsources a proportion of its transcription work to Voicepath’s nationwide network of experienced home-working secretaries.

Firm partner Stephen Ewens began using the service after a redundancy left him and another partner sharing secretaries. He comments: “Before Voicepath came on board, I was faced with using temporary staff when there was more work on than our internal staff could manage. Some temps were good, but equally some were useless. Essentially, what I needed was consistent, high-quality support able to transcribe dictations quickly, which is exactly what I got with Voicepath.”

Voicepath is able to manage every aspect of a firm’s transcription process all the way from dictation file transmission to delivering a finished, fully-checked document in either 1 or 24 hour timescales. Ewens continues:“I find it especially useful for typing up long attendance notes, files notes or memos which I typically deal with when our support staff are out of the office. Outsourcing these transcriptions means they come back a lot quicker.

“Being a fully secure service, it is also an ideal choice when typing up confidential notes. Using Voicepath allows me to ensure this is done without risking sensitive information going around the office. It is certainly much more secure than using temps.”

With the service now fully bedded in and in frequent use by Ewens, he and the firm are beginning to feel the benefits. He concludes: “Our ‘ghost secretaries’, as we call Voicepath, have played a key role in speeding up workflow at the firm. With no more queues for transcription, I am able to work more quickly and efficiently. This not only improves my working life, but benefits the firm as a whole.”