Time prints money for law firm

A year after the printer review had been implemented Gilbert + Tobin requested a second review, this time targeting scanning and improving the hard-to-soft document element of its electronic document management system (EDMS).

Each case within the EDMS is allocated a client number and all documents relating to the case are stored electronically.

Documents created by the law firm were easily saved into the system, but hardcopies such as faxes needed to be scanned in after they had been sent or received.

Cornerstone used a combination of Lexmark MFPs with the vendor’s Document Solution Suite, customised with some scripting, to reduce the number of steps in the process.

A quarter of the fleet are now MFPs, up from just three scan-capable devices over four floors.

The MFPs were actually multifunction upgrades to the existing printers Cornerstone had already installed during the print review. The extension units plug into Lexmark’s T6 series mono laser printers to turn them into fully-fledged MFPs that can print, copy, scan and fax. Sending or receiving a fax automatically creates a PDF that is saved into the relevant case file in the EDMS, removing the need to scan it on a separate machine. “That’s a huge time saver and ensures that all their documents are getting placed into their customers’ files,” says Hogrefe. “The secretaries love it,” confirms Solomons. The most commonly replaced device was the standalone fax.

Although the documents the lawyers created ran over 100 pages, those they received to scan averaged less than 10 pages.

On occasion Gilbert + Tobin receives boxes and boxes of A4 paper that is outsourced to a dedicated scanning company. Cornerstone is still discussing ways to bring these enormous jobs in-house, but Hogrefe says it will take a fair amount of software and configuration with the EDMS to implement.

EDMSes are still a difficult product to sell. Cornerstone is yet to convince a customer to make the leap but Hogrefe says the technology is on its strategic radar.

The biggest problem to EDMS implementation is a prohibitive price tag and the complexity of installation. The massive project of process engineering is not for the fainthearted and the SME market also lacks a good mid-range package, says Hogrefe.