Managing People !s Hard Work

What are the biggest problems employers face in law firms and businesses today? Put simply, people.

Making people do the work you need them to do is the hardest thing about running a business. Finding the right people is even harder. Fortunately business owners today have an option. And that option is to outsource.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a concept born from technology. Businesses now, more than ever, collaborate to deliver professional services and reach a common goal. It has become common practice to outsource back office functions or, in other words, to look for more capable and efficient providers of services so that you and your business can focus on your core functions, what really makes you money. The bonus of this business structure is that you save money and spend more time making money.

For law firms in Australia the uptake of legal process outsourcing has been slow. The legal industry in the UK and the US are years ahead. Australian law firms are taking baby steps and new firms are the real innovators in this sector as they find the competitive element outsourcing injects.

An entry point to outsourcing for law firms in Australia is transcription legal. The ability to employ dicta-typists at short notice, without contracts, is what outsourcing provides. Transcription Australia is an small industry but only a very few offer the expertise law firms require and can guarantee confidentiality. When looking to outsource your word processing department look for outsourcing companies which specialise in legal process outsourcing and have a physical presence in Australia.

Out With The Old, In With The.... New?

We recently sat down with a law firm to discuss the outsourcing of their transcription department. A partner of the firm had gotten wind of how one Sydney law firm had done away with their three dicta-typists and 4 days of backlog and was keen to do the same thing. We agreed to meet at their office. It turned out to be an amusing meeting. It went like this.

We met with their Admin Manager as well as their COO. The first half of the meeting went as scheduled. Calmly, the admin manager raised some concerns which we warmly settled. She then told us she began her career as a typist and how no typist could ever beat the accuracy and efficiency of a typist in house. We then discovered they were recording on tape recorders from the 1990's.

This law firm was by no means suffering but their potential was being severely stunted.

Transcription outsourcing is a product of technology and keeping up with technology is the key to good business. Law firms all over the world are adapting and LPO's have a big role to play.

Outsourcing your transcription department is a simple and valuable capability, one that is becoming vital to the competitive nature of law firms. All that changes is your word processing department disappears from your office, you free up space and your lawyers see their recordings magically appear in front of them moments after saying them.....well not instantaneously but it will surprise them. And the money saved.

They might complain for a day or two.....then they'll pick up their iPhone and command Siri to call their wife on a hands free device all while driving and flicking through the touch screen for the next song.

Although some laws we abide by may be ancient, many aren't and many more are being created today for the better. Legal transcription is just one key to open the next door.