Direct conveyancing firm Goldsmith Williams has extended the use of an advanced mailroom automation solution to its Remortgaging department, ensuring fee-earners receive all case documents by the start of the business day, and boosting productivity and capacity in the department.
With the 250,000 incoming remortgage documents automatically routed to the relevant fee-earner’s task list for actioning, Goldsmith Williams estimates that it is saving over 50 hours of fee-earner time every day as a result of reduced administration and a more streamlined and effective business model.
Designed and implemented by Basware UK, the mailroom automation solution scans and classifies incoming paper-based mail, faxes and email, and assigns around 90% of documents to the correct legal case with no manual intervention, so that the majority of mail is with fee-earners by 9:30am. The system also automatically identifies and flags up tasks which need to be prioritised within the department.
As a result of this approach the 50 remortgage fee-earners at the law firm can prioritise their workload more effectively and have successfully reduced the turnaround time for handling cases by 25%, improving overall service and meeting urgent remortgage requests.
With the Basware solution, all remortgage documents are scanned on entry and matched and indexed to the correct case number using Kofax Indicius software. The classification system then routes the electronic documents automatically to the relevant fee-earner and task list for actioning.
The project forms a key part of the law firm’s corporate strategy, not only in promoting a better work-life balance for staff with its flexible working policy, but also as part of its CSR and green IT policy, with the goal of reducing paper-based communications by 40% by the end of the year.
According to Maria Rodman, head of administration at Goldsmith Williams: “A key advantage of the mailroom automation solution from Basware is that it underpins our flexible working strategy. Staff can access their caseloads remotely, and can search for and retrieve any documents they need, removing the need to take files offsite.
“Having all documents digitised on entry and available electronically has eliminated the risk of lost documents and enables us to distribute and share information instantly and efficienctly. As a direct result, not only are fee-earners able to work more productively, the department as a whole has increased its capacity and is able to manage workload and case distribution more effectively.”
James Flaherty, head of ICT at Goldsmith Williams added: “The Basware solution also forms an integral part of our business continuity plans. Having all our remortgage documents stored and archived electronically gives us the reassurance that we can continue to operate as normal in any eventuality, guaranteeing continuity of service for our clients.”
Extending the mailroom automation solution to the company’s remortgage department has been phase two of the project being carried out by Basware UK, and follows the successful roll-out of the solution in Goldsmith Williams’ Road Traffic Accident department. The solution will be then extended to the conveyance department, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
To find out more about Basware's range of Imaging and Data Capture solutions, please contact info.uk@basware.com or call Karen Airey on +44 (0)1606 331234.