The Verdict is Unanimous - WinScribe is a Winner!

Gawith Burridge, a leading Wairarapa-based legal firm with offices in Masterton, Martinborough and Greytown, provides a full range of legal services to corporate, local body and private clients.

The Challenge - Using Technology to Work Smarter

With over 30 partners and staff working at all levels of expertise, Gawith Burridge is the largest legal firm in the Wairarapa. Despite significant changes in recent years, the firm prides itself on its ability to maintain individual contact with its clients.

To support this changing environment, the organization is continuously looking at ways to improve its processes and use technology to enhance the way it does business. Sharline Fitzgerald, Manager at Gawith Burridge, notes that the firm has evolved a great deal over the past 5 years. In 1999, all dictation was done using tapes but the firm was actively looking at better ways of handling this critical function. “In the end, WinScribe was the only solution we really looked at”, recalls Sharline. “There wasn’t anything else like it on the market at the time.”

Prior to implementing the WinScribe solution, both the tape and the client file were sent to Word Processing for transcription by one of the organisation’s three full-time typists. This meant that lawyers and their PAs were constantly going to Word Processing delivering tapes or looking for files which was clearly an unproductive use of their time. “We knew there had to be a better way of doing things”, admits Sharline.

The Solution – WinScribe

Now Gawith Burridge has 14 authors, most using Philips SpeechMikes and one using a DS 3000 digital portable for dictation on the WinScribe system.

“Feedback from the authors is that it was very easy to learn”, says Sharline. “They are very comfortable with the system.” In fact, one author at the firm admits that WinScribe is the only application on his computer that he personally uses – his PA generally looks after the rest!All of the firm’s typists use WinScribe’s Internet Typist, which gives them the ability to work locally or remotely. “We have two branch offices”, explains Sharline, “in Martinborough and Greytown. Staff visiting those offices can dictate into their PCs using their SpeechMikes and send those jobs over the Internet to the WinScribe server at our head office. The typists can access those jobs and have them ready the same day whereas before the lawyers used to dictate on tapes, come back to head office and then get those tapes typed, putting them a day behind in their work.”The firm’s users are also impressed by the reliability and robustness of WinScribe. “We’ve had instances where an author’s computer has crashed or there’s been a power cut in the middle of a dictation, but the job is always there when the author’s PC comes back up”, explains Sharline. “Our authors have huge confidence in the system.”


The Result - Big Productivity Gains and Positive Feedback All Around

The firm has experienced a significant decrease in turnaround time – from 24 hours to half a day – even though the number of full-time typists has decreased by one. Sharline attributes the reduction in the number of typists to the efficiencies of the WinScribe system and to a change in the author’s work styles. The firm now has two full-time typists handling up to 85 dictations per day on a heavy day.

“WinScribe was easy for them to learn as well”, she adds. The head typist lists her favourite features as the ability to allocate another typist’s work back to her own queue for checking mistakes, having Personal Queues and being able to retrieve completed work if required.

“You can’t compare the old tape system to WinScribe”, she tells Sharline. “If they ever tried to take it away, I’d have to leave!” Sharline echos this sentiment. “We could never go back to tapes after using WinScribe.”
Implementing WinScribe has achieved much more than just eliminating the need to send tapes and files to Word Processing. “Our typists love it”, confirms Sharline. “Their workflow is better, job allocation is fairer and priorities can be attended to more quickly.”

The installation of WinScribe was carried out by Sound Business Systems, the Auckland based voice and data solution provider. “Updates are straightforward and training requirements for new staff are minimal as it’s a very easy system to learn. The ongoing support has been very good”, says Sharline.
Sharline sums it up nicely. “The return on investment is in being more efficient and achieving quicker turnaround. And that’s not just good for the firm, it’s good for our clients as well.”

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