BDB Pitmans slashes time spent on document creation

BDB Pitmans slashes time spent on document creation

Novaplex’s Template Studio Docs is enabling BDB Pitmans to produce documents that adhere to the firm’s house style and branding, offering consistency and removing the complexities of formatting and numbering within Microsoft Word.

The templates the firm had developed internally before turning to Novaplex added to its developer’s workload. Knowing that there was an in-house developer, Robertson adds, meant lawyers frequently asked for changes to be made to their documents, which was an ineffective use of his time. “‘Disorganised’ is probably the best way to describe how we were previously managing our templates,” says Will Robertson, IT director at BDB Pitmans.

Docs integrates with the firm’s document management system (DMS) iManage10, which improves the process for fee earners by reducing potentially billable time wasted completing routine tasks.

“This integration is paramount because the firm is literally wasting money otherwise,” says Robertson.“Lawyers can be very specific about counting clicks — If they have more clicks with their mouse than before, they will work out how much an extra five clicks cost, because they are billing in six-minute increments.”

The firm uses the solution for specialised templates such as parliamentary monitoring reports, property leases and court documents, which all need specific layouts. The look of the documents is standardised, with the added flexibility to tailor each for an individual matter within seconds, says Robertson.

A seamless transition

The process of switching to Novaplex software gave BDB Pitmans a new starting point and structure for the firm’s files. The initial stage involved an analysis — which allowed the firm to settle on and standardise its house style. “We put a partner in charge of the house style; she is very meticulous and had the remit to make decisions,” Robertson explains.

Given the software provider’s extensive experience in the legal sector, Novaplex knew the requirements and so the team was able to advise BDB Pitmans on features they ought to include within their templates.

Novaplex were recommended to Robertson by his previous manager, he says and, after investigating other software products in the market, he was soon satisfied it was the best choice. Not only was the software far more intuitive and “sleeker” in its user experience, but its team also offered ongoing expertise and support that went beyond helping with templates.

“The ‘people factor’ cannot be overstated. The Novaplex team are professional and pleasant to deal with. I am not a fan of companies that are after a sale do not provide sufficient and timely support and we have never had that feeling from Novaplex at all.”

BDB Pitmans was able to leverage Novaplex’s wealth of knowledge to ensure the analysis phase was effective and efficient.

The implementation, training and adoption stages that followed also went smoothly. Lawyers were provided with a more attractive and user-friendly solution compared to previous, and so they began using it immediately, Robertson says.

BDB Pitmans uses two other software products from Novaplex to generate further efficiencies: Transform, which “does what the label says” and transforms documents from another style into the firm’s house style and Print, which defines printing rules based on each document type, reducing paper waste from printing wrong layouts and formats to the wrong paper trays.

The rewards outweigh the cost

“Docs and the other software we use from Novaplex are high-quality products that don’t cost a lot of money considering how much we use them and the volume of documents people are generating,” he says.

The products have saved the firm a significant amount of time, which can instead be channelled into enhancing the client experience. He believes that collaborating with the Novaplex team to proactively change and adapt the firm’s template offering incrementally over the years has also eliminated the need to undertake bigger projects down the line.

“Novaplex software doesn’t cost the earth compared to other software, so we invested a reasonable amount of money, had a great development phase and then smooth implementation and training, which was key for us,” he concludes.

BDB Pitmans was able to find a simple solution to its complex document production world, reducing additional work for people and bringing consistency to branding and documents; enabling the firm to deliver improved client service. The law is ultimately a people business, and it was the people at Novaplex that made all the difference to the project and the ongoing relationship with the firm.