Based in Essex, Birkett Long LLP, with offices in Chelmsford, Basildon, Colchester, and (more recently) Malta, chose the SpeechWrite 360 cloud solution after a comprehensive review of the dictation market.
Move to the cloud
The company’s existing dictation solution was not fit for purpose with the ‘cloud-first’ strategy that the firm had adopted.
“We were 60% there with our cloud strategy and remote working when the pandemic hit, having already switched to Office 365 and issued our employees with desktops and laptops. There were a few applications left to move to the cloud, and dictation was one of them,”
– Neil Mansell, IT Operations Manager for Birkett Long, comments.
It became quickly apparent that the existing provider did not have a cloud dictation solution that would work for the large number of fee earners and admin staff across the three branches.
Evaluating the dictation market
The firm set about evaluating multiple cloud based dictation companies to see which would fit their list of requirements and critical success factors. These factors included a full cloud solution with the ability to use anywhere, from any device, accessibility from a browser and having a easy to use interface for both desktop and mobile devices.
“SpeechWrite stood out as having a pure cloud dictation solution that would fit with our ‘cloud-first’ strategy,”
– Neil adds.
Pilot and roll-out
Once the firm had chosen 360 as the preferred solution, they initiated a pilot for two departments (made up of desktop and mobile users) for their proof of concept, including the Family Department – one of the heaviest users of dictation in the firm. The users picked up the new system very quickly after the SpeechWrite Service Delivery team deployed a comprehensive training plan, and a series of training videos were issued to all users so they could refresh their knowledge at any time during the pilot.
Within two months of completing the successful pilot, SpeechWrite 360 was remotely deployed to all one hundred and forty seven users in the firm across multiple departments – all during a national pandemic.
Agile working
The 360 mobile app allows the eighty seven fee earners at Birkett Long to dictate, review, edit and approve all from their mobile device at anytime in any location. Having experienced issues with the previous dictation app, the firm has been particularly impressed with the reliability of the 360 app.
“This ability for our fee earners and admin staff to work in an agile way (anywhere at anytime) was a key requirement of the cloud dictation solution. 360 delivers this with a reliable and easy to use mobile app,”
– Neil explains.
The admin team are also able to enjoy flexible working with all fifty three users able to access their work from any device at any location at any time.
“Technology such as Speechwrite 360 is critical for agile working and has been essential for enabling our users during this national pandemic.”
– Neil adds.
Reporting
The seven team leaders at Birkett Long have access to a suite of reporting via live dashboards, allowing them to access real-time data driven metrics to provide insight into organisational workflows and drive meaningful process improvement.
With an overview of their team, they can act accordingly and manage their team work levels as and when they need to.
