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A 'less-paper' future for law firms

Fact: the legal sector is the heaviest user of paper out of all the professions.

When we think of the legal profession, it's easy to conjure up some largely traditional images - all paper-based: red-ribboned paper bundles; case files bulging with signed documents, testimonies and more; desks submerged in paperwork and filing cabinets overflowing. Indeed, according to recent research by the Library Associates Companies Group, on average each law firm employee uses £600 worth of paper per annum - around four times the business average. Traditional it may be but it's plain that paper-based communication is neither cost nor time-effective, nor is it planet-aware.

But that is set to change.

In a multi-pronged manoeuvre, legal bodies are under pressure now to transform themselves into 21st century entities.

  1. The Legal Services Act 2007 introduced broader scope for higher levels of competition within the legal services industry - bringing cost efficiencies sharply into focus
  2. The introduction of and compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, and the British government's equivalent Data Protection Bill, from 25 May 2018 will force the issues of accessibility, traceability, and correct retention and disposal of information
  3. The government is in the process of investing £700m+ into the Digital Case System, a juridical revolution where all members of the court will be able to view electronic bundles of documents on a large screen

Goodbye outmoded business practices, hello to a modern, 'less-paper' future!

What we are talking about is a shift from a paper file to an electronic one. It's not about becoming entirely paperless, it's about reinventing the legal process digitally. The focus should not be on removing every piece of paper from the office, but should rather be a move to improve access to information, reduce physical storage requirements and increase overall productivity and efficiency.

Restore Digital Mailroom: the first step towards transformation

At Restore Scan, we understand that the idea of 'reinventing the legal process digitally' is daunting.

From our years of experience, however, we know that one of the most intelligent first steps a legal firm can take in their quest for 'less paper' is to manage the in-and outflow of both digital and paper-based information, i.e. by setting up and running a Digital Mailroom solution.

Restore Scan provides managed services and on-site solutions - through software tailored to connect with your practice management system or an implant team, where appropriate - for the digitisation and capture of inbound mail. This can be in letter or email format, via a portal, on social media or from a text/messaging service. Our professional team supports every step of the journey, from concept through to design, development, testing, training, deployment and go-live.

Restore's Digital Mailroom benefits include:

  • Reduced costs: digitising and indexing mail means you will no longer have to allocate so many employees to process documents and correspondence on-site. By automatically feeding relevant contents into pre-defined business processes and workflows, these implementations typically result in 75-90% automation at project completion
  • Increased security: file viewing can be restricted to authorised members of the team only, who can trace a clearly defined audit trail of which documents have been accessed, where and by whom
  • Saved space: on-site mailroom and team shrinks, if managed off-site even more so. Digital files can be kept on central servers, backed up in the Cloud while the requirement to keep those vast paper archives is drastically reduced by following strict retention and disposal protocols
  • Speeded up processes and retrievals: at the touch of a button!
  • Optimised customer satisfaction: analysis of incoming written correspondence from email, texts, Twitter, Facebook and so on, can intelligently route them to the correct team, which, in turn, provides faster, more comprehensive and consistent responses to enquiries
  • The first step taken: on the route to digitisation, reduced paper usage and cost, and meeting the requirements of the Digital Case System and new data protection regulation...

...you'll soon realise just how time-consuming and, yes, crazy some of the tasks you'd been doing on paper were...

For a no obligation consultation with a digital mailroom expert, contact info@restorescan.co.uk or call 0808 278 3271

 

 

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