Business Need

The firm works with businesses and individual clients across Coventry and Warwickshire, nationally and beyond and, through its predecessors, has a well established reputation for providing service excellence to all clients.

They specialise in a wide range of legal services and place great emphasis on the importance of communication, accessibility and responsiveness, and to building a strong personal relationship between solicitor and client.

TIC visited them to discuss their communication requirements. They had a 14 year old BT Meridian Norstar System and were conscious that they were paying far too much for its support. Additionally, they were concerned that in a competitive market they were behind the times when it came to their call handling efficiency.

  • Their receptionist needed to be better utilised in other administration areas and the current system didn’t offer the required level of call routing.
  • They needed to be able to track client calls as the current system was unable to give fee earners accurate billing information.
  • Client interaction over the phone was a prime concern and ensuring that all clients’ calls were dealt with promptly and professionally was of key interest.
  • Improvements in message delivery needed to be sourced as complaints had been received with regard to members of staff failing to get back to deal with client enquiries.
  • Staff location was an issue as often, due to the nature of the work, key fee earners found themselves out of the practice and unable to receive calls/messages from clients as quickly as they would like, especially out of main business hours.

The Technical Solution

  • NEC SV8100 Configured With 15 x ISDN Channels, My Calls Desktop Software, 40 x Digital Handsets, 8 x Soft phones, 32 Hour Voicemail System, 16 Port Automated Attendent System, Unfied Messaging, My Calls Manager and Voice Recording Software.

The Benefits

  • The new system’s advanced inbound call routing capabilities ensured calls were routed quickly and professionally into the desired skill set ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction when contacting the practice. This allowed the receptionist more time to process additional admin duties improving her productivity level.
  • The call management software installed provided the business manager with regular information on how the system and staff were performing. Vital information such as inbound call volume trends allowed staff to be rostered correctly in line with the peaks and lows of incoming calls. In addition, the ability to cost centre calls on behalf of clients was easily achieved with automated reports being emailed to fee earners. This simplified the whole cross billing process.
  • Voice recording software enhanced both the firm’s ability to train new staff on correct client communication procedures, whilst also enabling fee earners to record conference and case related conversations. This helped the senior management team ensure that all telephone based client liaison met the firms demanding and high standards.
  • Client phone based messages, traditionally transcribed by admin staff, were now delivered directly to the legal secretaries unified voicemail boxes, therefore reducing processing time and ensuring that no content was lost in the transaction. Staff that were in and out of court and chambers now had messages delivered into their inbox on their smart phones, ensuring all messages were delivered and acted upon faster than ever before. A marked reduction in call charges was noted as staff no longer had to ring into the practice to see if any messages had been left for them.