Goughs
Solicitors, one of the leading multi-location law firms in Wiltshire,
has started to reap the benefits of improved management performance,
efficiency and delivering added value to clients, since the introduction
of SOS Connect from Solicitors Own Software in February 2011.
With
six offices and 70 staff, Goughs is committed to a programme of
continuous improvement as managing partner Kevin Basnett explains. “Our
top priority is to further improve the quality of our work by offering a
holistic and outcome-focused service to both private and commercial
clients and to deploy efficient IT tools to help us monitor and manage
that performance. We are not a bucket shop needing high levels of
automation throughout. However in SOS Connect we have found a flexible
IT system that can be adapted to meet the varying requirements of
different departments while enabling us to support the performance and
management of fee earners through real-time information and automated
alerts.”
Goughs
has been a client of SOS for accounting and practice management since
2004. Michele Morton, accounts manager at Goughs said: “SOS was very
popular with everyone on the accounting side, but we felt that we had
pushed the software to the limit in terms of matter management. So 12
months ago we decided to see what SOS Connect had to offer to help us
introduce a fully integrated document, case and work flow management
system. Staff had a lot of confidence in SOS because of past experience
and the good relationship, but we also perused the market to be sure
there was nothing better to meet our needs.”
Contracts
for the addition of SOS Connect were signed last year. Michele Morton
continued: “A key strength of SOS Connect is the flexibility to amend
and create customised workflows and Goughs has been determined to take
ownership of these facilities to become as self-sufficient as possible.
We got everyone involved in the arrival of the new software which went
live in a hitch-free “big bang” earlier this year. Introducing Connect
gave us the perfect opportunity for department heads to review and
spring clean business processes, introduce new standard procedures and
templates which are now greatly aiding our efficiency.”
Although
it is early days Goughs is benefiting from the ability to monitor
client estimates against work-in-progress and take appropriate action to
keep both internal management and clients informed of progress and
deviations. Automatic time recording and the integration of email are
according to Michele Morton, “incredible and especially important in the
context of marketplace changes. Clients are noticing our continuous
improvement and we are already looking at the advantages of providing
clients with online access, remote working and introducing the SOS
customer relationship management module..”
Kevin
Basnett comments: “We do not fear the changes in the marketplace and
there is always scope to do things better to improve our effectiveness
and thereby differentiate ourselves through a quality service and
wide-ranging expertise. SOS Connect is helping us to achieve these
improvements.”