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Using Technology to Improve Incoming Fax Delivery
Issue
Most medium and large law firms have central mailroom facilities that
receive, process, and deliver all incoming faxes. And in most firms,
this process is largely manual: faxes are received and printed out on
plain paper; someone logs each fax into a database, noting recipient
and sender information, arrival time, and number of pages; a routing
slip is completed and attached to the fax; and the fax is delivered,
by hand, to the recipient. Such a system is slow, labor-intensive,
and cumbersome.
In an attempt to speed up delivery times and save resources, Law4U
have recently taken up the electronic fax delivery service in their
office. The firm, which has over 120 attorneys, receives approximately
200 fax documents (around 2,500 pages) a day.
Under the old, manual system, it took between seventeen and twenty-two
minutes from the time a fax was received in the Fax Centre to the time
it was delivered. The electronic fax delivery service has produced
significant savings in labor costs, dramatically quicker delivery
times, and a ripple effect of efficiencies throughout the firm's
administrative systems.
The Law4U Solution 'TraiTel Telecommunications'
The firm already had a standard fax software system installed, however
this solution only allowed for faxes to be delivered to a designated
computer and the faxes could only be seen in the software's native
file type, thus only saving on paper for unwanted faxes or one's that
needed to be filed away. However, when the information was destined to
an attorney they still had to be printed and manually
delivered.Law4U's proposed solution was to do away with this still
very manual process and decided to start using the TraiTel service at
their Fax Centre, where it would be used to receive, log, and
distribute faxes to the recipients via email in a format that every
desktop would be able to read.
"We decided to get 5 TraiTel numbers, which enabled us to put in
place some very basic email rules that allowed for the faxes to be
routed 'automatically' to the correct sections. With this in place we
were able to forward the faxes to the correct attorneys in less then a
quarter of the time it used to take."
Law4U then developed a workflow process that includes reviewing all
incoming faxes on screen to ensure image quality and verify page
count; distributing the fax to the recipient and their designated
co-recipient (usually a secretary or administrative assistant) via
email; and logging all faxes electronically. Via their email system,
they incorporate rules to be automatically applied, specifying how
users prefer to receive faxes. All reporting and tracking is performed
through the TraiTel service.
Benefits
Faster Delivery Recipients now receive their faxes within three
minutes of the fax's arrival in the FaxMaster Station, more than five
times faster than faxes were delivered under the old method.
Remote Retrieval Recipients can now receive their faxes anytime,
anywhere-all they need is access to their email. This has been a
tremendous help for attorneys and paralegals working in satellite
offices, traveling, or working at home.
Electronic Conversion Incoming faxes can be delivered via an
electronic file format that is usable by the firm's word processing
system. Some of the benefits of this capability include reduced retyping
time for documents and briefs, electronic filing of client- or
matter-related communications, and significant savings in labor costs
for word processing and filing.
Retrieval of Lost Faxes A fax that is misplaced or accidentally
deleted from the recipient's computer can be retrieved from their Fax
Center server for a specified period of time. In this case, the firm
saves faxes for two days; the only limit on the length of time faxes can
be saved is the amount of system resources that can be dedicated to the
storage of emails.
Data Tracking The automated system has significantly improved the
accuracy of tracking data and has eliminated the need for manual input.
Because data is collected as faxes are received, the reports provide up
to the minute information.
Labor Savings The fax department is staffed around the clock,
five days a week. The old method required a staff of two full-time
employees to manually log the fax information into a database, fill out
the fax delivery slips, and deliver the faxes. The TraiTel service
allows one person to do the work that previously required two, resulting
in a reduction in labor of fifty percent.
Summary
The firm has benefited significantly from the implementation of the
TraiTel service. The average delivery time of three minutes is 85%
faster than the old system, and the new system provides a secure digital
archive of all faxes received. The firm's users have given the new
system the highest possible ratings for convenience and usability; the
new remote access capability has been especially popular among users,
who cite it as a major source of increased efficiency. We are currently
tracking the quantitative savings, but we estimate minimum annual
savings of $150,000 in labor costs alone. Additional savings produced
by a more efficient firm-wide workflow will be realized in the next six
to nine months.
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