Leading Scottish Accountancy Advisory Implements nFlow Digital Dictation

Top 60 UK accountancy firm French Duncan achieves better work management; benefits from enhanced remote working capability

nFlow, the leading supplier of digital dictation solutions to the accountancy sector, has announced that Scotland-based French Duncan LLP, ranked amongst the top 60 accountancy firms in the UK, has successfully deployed its Digital Dictation System (DDS) along with the nFlow Mobile for BlackBerry application. With the first phase of implementation complete in the firm’s Glasgow and Falkirk offices, French Duncan is seeing visible benefits of increased efficiency and productivity and improved work flow and work load management at these sites. Prior to this, French Duncan was using the traditional tape-based system for dictation.

The firm has plans to extend this implementation to its Edinburgh and Kirkintilloch offices shortly.

nFlow has facilitated better work management and greatly improved remote and mobile working at the firm. Fee-earners at French Duncan are now able to send dictations instantly from any geographical location with express guidance on type of document, priorities and urgency for transcription. Previously, secretarial staff received dictations on audio tapes, with no idea of how long the transcripts were. Also, quite often a single tape carried dictations pertaining to more than one client. This made work sharing difficult amongst administrative staff. Because the nFlow DDS is a workflow based solution, now digital dictations are automatically saved in the right place and accessible to the entire secretarial pool. This ensures that client work is executed in a timely manner even when the primary staff working on individual clients is away due to sickness or holidays.

Further, nFlow has customised the nFlow Mobile application for BlackBerry for French Duncan to deliver additional functionality. For instance, aside from just using their devices to record and send dictations, fee-earners are also able to send instructional messages (voice and email) to their respective offices such as requests for meeting room bookings or information of their whereabouts to arrange client meetings.

Robert Kerr, Managing Partner, French Duncan, said, “We are always on the lookout for technology that can help us become more efficient as an organisation, as efficiency positively impacts on the service we deliver to our customers. nFlow’s technology has delivered instant business benefits to us and we are very keen to extend the solution to our other sites.”
Rob Lancashire, Sales and Marketing Director at nFlow, added, “In fixed cost base organisations such as accountancy firms, operational efficiency can directly facilitate higher business margins. Especially in the current economic climate, and with increasing competitive pressure in the professional services sector, digital dictation technology can deliver significant operational cost savings. Some of our customers have seen productivity increases of up to 30% and reductions in operational costs of up to 10%. Here in lies the business case for digital dictation technology.”

nFlow’s Digital Dictation Technology Attracts Financial Investment Sector

JM Finn implements nFlow digital dictation system on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for productivity gains

nFlow, a leading supplier of digital dictation solutions to the professional services industry, today announced that its Digital Dictation System (DDS) has been successfully deployed at JM Finn, a leading privately owned UK investment manager, facilitating remote working and delivering productivity benefits to the business. Currently implemented in the company’s Bristol office, there are plans for gradual deployment at its other sites in London, Leeds, Bury St. Edmunds and Ipswich. Prior to nFlow’s DDS, the company staff were using traditional portable voice recorders for dictation.

The nFlow DDS is enabling better utilisation of resources, faster turnaround of transcripts for client document development and improved management and control of dictation tasks, all of which are contributing towards an enhanced customer service.

Following an investigation of the available solutions, JM Finn chose the nFlow DDS over all other competing products for its easy compatibility with the company’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and nFlow’s approach to business and customer service.

Investment advisors and fund managers are able to dictate customer-related information for documents from any geographic location and send dictations in electronic format to their office for transcription with guidance on priorities based on client imperatives. Previously, secretarial staff were simply handed the audio tapes by client facing staff with no idea of how long the transcripts were and what the level of urgency was. Now secretaries also receive Outlook-style alerts when tasks are due. Also, because dictations are allocated to administrative staff in real-time, they are better able to organise workload and deliver more speedily.

Jon Cosson, Head of IT at JM Finn, commented, “Our advisors and fund managers are spread across the country, so from an IT strategy viewpoint, we have adopted VDI technology. We saw the business need for digital dictation, but faced the challenge of finding a solution that was compatible with our virtualised environment. We considered a number of digital dictation solutions and chose nFlow for the solution’s ability to work in our environment, but also because it is a good company to do business with. They are knowledgeable, approachable and showed a real keenness to work with us.”

Rob Lancashire, Sales and Marketing Director at nFlow, added, “Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is soon going to be a default technology, certainly within the knowledge worker-led professional services sector given the need for flexible and mobile working along with the other business benefits it delivers including cost savings, better utilisation of resources, centralised administration and improved data integrity due to centralised back-up, to name just a few. Interestingly, these are some of the benefits that digital dictation technology also offers, which is the reason it is attracting interest from other industry sectors, aside from the technology’s traditional markets.”

Lancashire added, “We recognised the potential of digital dictation technology adoption across professional services sectors and have developed our solution so that it is compatible with any IT environment, be it Fat Client, Citrix, Terminal Services or virtual desktop infrastructure. And for those businesses looking to adopt SaaS, we offer hosted Dictation-as-a-Service too.”

nFlow DDS is a work-flow based solution that includes microphone and headphone-related hardware, and offers an intuitive Microsoft Outlook-style interface. The solution also supports a wide range of mobile devices including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and iPhone.

Personal Injury Law Firm, Snipelaw, Upgrades to nFlow Digital Dictation System

nFlow’s flexible business model clinched the deal

nFlow, a leading supplier of digital dictation solutions, today announced that Snipelaw Solicitors, a Lancashire-based personal injury and accident claims law firm, has implemented nFlow’s Digital Dictation System (DDS) for its flexible business model, product quality and suitability for a thin client environment. The solution has been deployed at the firm’s Blackpool office, upgrading from the incumbent Dictaphone solution.

Snipelaw was looking for a DDS that would give the firm the flexibility to work with its choice of third party transcription provider. Whilst Snipelaw has in-house transcription facilities, it also uses a transcription agency. Contrary to common place business models in the industry, nFlow DDS uses a non-proprietary audio format allowing customers to send their dictations to any transcription provider using nFlow’s 360 degree integrated technology without the third party provider having to licence technology from nFlow.

Ian Snipe, Principal, Snipelaw Solicitors, commented, “In nFlow we have found a robust and flexible digital dictation solution that meets the day-to-day operational needs of our practice. Also, it allows us to take advantage of an agency service without nFlow restricting our choice of service provider or adding the latter’s costs of using nFlow on to our fees.”

nFlow’s suitability for a Thin Client IT environment was another reason for its selection. The nFlow DDS easily integrates with this infrastructure and is well supported by the company in this environment for the long term. This will allow Snipelaw to maximise its investment in Thin Client technology and the benefits that it offers.

Rob Lancashire, Sales and Marketing Director at nFlow, added, “A partnership-led approach for mutual benefit underpins our business philosophy, evident via our non-restrictive business model and technology offering to customers. This facilitates trust and a more productive way of working between both parties. Our policy of using non-proprietary audio formats ensures that there are no additional costs for our customers to use nFlow’s solution when working with other third party suppliers or indeed for services providers themselves wanting to work with our customers. This allows our customers to derive the best value from their investment in both nFlow and third party suppliers to maximise operational efficiency and business gains.”

To facilitate remote working in the firm, Snipelaw is also currently reviewing nFlow’s Mobile for BlackBerry application, which will deliver a professional digital dictation experience on the BlackBerry for users. The solution offers easy to use features such as pause recording, playback, rewind, forward, insert, overwrite, save as draft, title, mark as urgent or confidential, making remote working a truly efficient way of working.

Another London Firm Selects nFlow’s Second Generation Digital Dictation System Over Market Leading Solutions

Financial savings gained from increased operational efficiencies pay for investment in nFlow

nFlow, a leading supplier of digital dictation solutions, today announced that Hunters Solicitors, a London law firm, has successfully deployed nFlow Version 5, its enterprise-class second generation, Microsoft .NET platform-based Digital Dictation System (DDS) across 74 users in its London and North Hampton offices.

Hunters Solicitors chose nFlow over other market leading solutions for its suitability in a thin client environment, comprehensive functionality, intuitive usability, easy deployment and system management, and ability to offer remote working capability.

As part of the DDS implementation, nFlow has installed a web upload portal, which allows fee-earners to remotely upload dictations via the Internet. This means that users can access the nFlow DDS from any Internet-enabled PC without the need for drivers or installed software.
Jean Newton, Office Manager, Hunters Solicitors, commented, “We have seen instantaneous operational efficiency benefits of this technology in our practice. Also, the return on investment in nFlow is exceptionally high compared to any other technology we have recently deployed. The financial savings we have made has already paid for our investment in this solution.”

From an IT management perspective, nFlow DDS Version 5 offers centralised administration of the solution. This means that the DDS does not require any client-side configuration. All user device and hardware driver configuration are served centrally from the server, further reducing operational costs. Theresa Fryer, IT Manager, Hunters Solicitors commented, “The IT department can now very easily roll out updates and upgrades centrally within minutes without the significant overhead of having to use third party technologies such as group policies or login scripts,” (typically required by users of competing DDSs).

For the future, Hunters Solicitors has the ability to integrate the nFlow DDS Version 5 with its Windows-based practice management system. This will deliver further operational efficiencies to the firm. Users will then not need to enter information into two separate systems, reducing duplication of data entry and ensuring accuracy of records in the firm. It will also help the firm automate document creation and management as well as time capture.

Rob Lancashire, Sales and Marketing Director at nFlow, added, “Since we began shipping Version 5 in October last year, we have already installed the DDS in over 20 practices and a significant percentage of our existing customers are now planning version upgrades. A key driver for this rate of adoption is that enterprises are able to realise immediate business efficiencies that positively impact the bottom line without requiring to make exceptionally large financial investments, especially in the current economic climate.”

nFlow Launches ‘nFlowLive.com’, Innovative New Dictation-as-a-Service Solution

Makes digital dictation technology more accessible; offers flexible pricing and free disaster recovery

nFlow, a leading supplier of digital dictation solutions, today announced that it is launching nFlowLive.com, a Cloud-based Dictation-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution. The company has developed this solution directly in response to demand from organisations that recognise the business need to deploy digital dictation technology, but are unable to incur capital expenditure on installing such a solution in the current economic climate. Adoption of digital dictation technology is driven by the operational efficiency and productivity gains it delivers to firms. With nFlowLive.com, this technology will be easily available to organisations with minimal investment and setup costs.

nFlowLive.com will be available from July 2009. Through this service, customers will have access to nFlow’s market leading, second generation enterprise-class Digital Dictation System (DDS) Version 5.0, based on the future-proof Microsoft .NET technology platform. With industry benchmark 99% service availability, fully supported nFlowLive.com offers a rich client install; secure data backup; disaster recovery; free online user training; and an option to entrust nFlow with the complete administration of users, drivers and updates. In addition, customers will be able to opt for automatic updates, eliminating the need to incur additional deployment costs. This will ensure that customers are able to take advantage of all new functionality added to nFlowLive.com instantaneously.

A range of flexible pricing options will be available to customers including monthly or yearly contracts for the service. Additionally, the cost of nFlowLive.com can be directly aligned with practices’ fee income, further enabling organisations to minimise their costs.

Rob Lancashire, Sales and Marketing Director at nFlow, commented, “Through nFlowLive.com, we are driving down the cost of deploying a DDS further and making the significant efficiency gains from digital dictation workflow more accessible to all firms during these difficult economic times. Also, we are adding value to our offering by enhancing the remote working and disaster recovery capabilities, for both existing customers and prospects.

“Within just eight months since the successful launch of nFlow DDS Version 5.0, the launch of nFlowLive.com is yet another demonstration of our commitment to technological leadership and customer service. nFlowLive.com leverages the Service Oriented Architecture, crucial to any modern Cloud-based application. Rather than simply writing a separate application to deliver our DDS in a browser alongside a legacy client technology, we have developed a rich client solution built on a single core of code. This allows the solution to be delivered to users anywhere via multiple channels – be it in the Cloud or through customers’ internal infrastructure.”

nFlowLive.com will support hardware from all major vendors such as Philips and Olympus. For instance, customers upgrading from other digital dictation packages to nFlowLive.com will be able to continue using their existing USB microphones, digital pocket memos, foot pedals and headsets, eliminating the need to incur additional equipment purchase costs.

It will also support all existing integrations with applications such as case management, practice management and document management systems.

Lancashire, concluded, “nFlowLive.com in its current form represents the first phase of our Cloud-based DaaS solution. We will be adding more functionality, flexibility and services to the solution over the coming months.”

nFlow DDS Version 5.0 is the only enterprise-class digital dictation solution of its kind on the market today. It has been completely re-designed from the ground up based on the Microsoft .NET framework, to deliver low cost of ownership, exceptional functionality and benefits to users and customers alike.

nFlow First to Offer Fully Supported Digital Dictation From iPhone in the UK

"Innovative solution to further advance mobile working; deliver enhanced efficiency and productivity gains"

nFlow, a leading developer of digital dictation software, today announced that it has developed an innovative and cost-effective solution that fully supports enterprise-class digital dictation from iPhone devices. Users of the iPhone and iPod Touch devices at nFlow’s customer organisations will now be able to send digital dictation recordings to their offices, for integration into their enterprises’ nFlow Digital Dictation System’s (DDS) Version 5.0 workflow, with the click of a button. With the growing popularity of iPhone in business, this solution will further enhance remote working in professional services firms, delivering increased productivity and efficiency gains to organisations. Integration of dictation recordings into DDSs’ workflow is crucial as it gives administrative staff full visibility of the tasks at hand and allows them to take the necessary action to deliver the best possible service to clients.

This solution is the first of its kind to be offered in the UK. No other UK digital dictation software vendor is able to offer advanced integration of dictations recorded on iPhones into their systems’ workflows. Enterprises using other DDSs on the market are only able to receive dictations from an iPhone as audio files via emails. As a result, there is no facility to capture crucial information such as title of the dictation or urgency of action as guidance for secretarial staff. This diminishes the business benefit of a DDS as a facilitator of efficient remote working.
This nFlow solution is yet another demonstration of the company’s innovative approach to software development, to meet the fast changing business requirements of the professional services sector, including legal and accountancy. nFlow already supports the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile platforms. The nFlow Version 5.0 is a next generation DDS and the only enterprise-class solution, completely based on the Microsoft .NET platform. It has been re-designed from the ground up and represents a significant technological advancement in digital dictation technology.

nFlow has closely worked with iPhone application developer, JOTOMI GmbH, to develop this solution. JOTOMI GmbH has modified its product, JMDictate (www.jotomi.com/jmdictate), a professional recording system, so that it fully integrates with the workflow in nFlow DDS Version 5.0, to deliver all the benefits of the DDS workflow to customers. For instance, irrespective of the mobile device used for the recordings, administrators and resource managers at nFlow customer organisations can have complete visibility of workloads per client, allowing them to manage and assign tasks based on their level of urgency and importance.

nFlow Sales & Marketing Director, Rob Lancashire, commented, “Similar to BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, the iPhone is fast gaining adoption as a business tool. We have developed this solution directly in response to customer demand. We are in talks with a number of organisations who are keen to give their fee-earners the ability to use their iPhone devices for digital dictation, allowing them to maximise their use as a remote working tool for business.
“In today’s web-based and geographically spread business environment, allowing remote working greatly contributes towards increasing staff productivity. We are finding that a key driver for the adoption of digital dictation in the professional services sector, particularly in the current economic climate, is its ability to facilitate effective remote working for fee-earners and administrative staff alike.”

iPhone users at customer organisations wishing to use their devices for digital dictation can very simply and cost-effectively download the professional version of JMDictate from the iTunes App Store for £5.99. Once recorded, by clicking ‘send to workflow’, the dictations are imported into the workflow of nFlow DDS Version 5.0 via an integration software deployed at their respective enterprises. nFlow DDS Version 5.0 is a Microsoft .NET work-flow based digital dictation solution that includes USB dictation and transcription hardware and provides a familiar Microsoft Outlook interface for users.

Leading UK Law Firm Improves Efficiency and Customer Service with BlackBerry Solution and Digital Dictation from nFlow

Freeth Cartwright LLP is one of the UK’s leading regional law firms, serving both commercial and private clients. Based in the East Midlands, with offices in Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Manchester and Birmingham, the firm has a wide range of clients throughout the UK, many of which have international connections. Its 500-person staff, including 260 fee earners, serve clients both regionally and nationally. The firm has a tradition of embracing technology to improve efficiency. Its Applications Development team developed an award-winning bespoke workflow system called Case Viewer, which provides a comprehensive electronic work environment for lawyers. The firm was also an early adopter of the BlackBerry® solution. It uses a BlackBerry®Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange.

THE CHALLENGE
Freeth Cartwright’s fee earners are frequently away from the office visiting clients, and rely heavily on dictation to get work moving and instructions actioned. The cassette tape recorders being used were impractically heavy and it was difficult to edit recordings. Critically, the tapes had to be physically delivered back to the support team in the office which led to delays in workflow and billing. Moreover, if the tapes were lost, anyone could listen to the recordings, which was a security concern for the firm. The success of the BlackBerry solution for email inspired the firm to see if it could be used for mobile dictation. Chris Nicholson, IT Manager at Freeth Carthwright, knew what he was looking for: a system that would allow fee earners to dictate on case matters from their BlackBerry® smartphones when working from locations where it was not possible or convenient to use their laptops.

THE SOLUTION
After market investigation, Chris Nicholson decided to test the nFlow Mobile for BlackBerry digital dictation solution. His research also showed that it would be straightforward for his team to integrate the application into Case Viewer. In addition, the solution was licensed on a per-device basis, instead of being monthly or subscription-based, and didn’t require costly consultancy fees or additional infrastructure costs.“Using nFlow Mobile on the BlackBerry smartphone, the fee earner can record multiple dictations when they are travelling and out of the office. When they’re finished, they simply hit the send button. The dictation is instantly sent to the nFlow Gateway installed on the Exchange server where it is routed to the desired recipient, most often a secretary for transcription and filing in Case Viewer,”says Nicholson.
The BlackBerry application provides features such as pause recording, playback,rewind, forward, insert, overwrite, save as draft, title and mark as urgent. Nicholson organised a pilot of the solution with a handful of the firm’s fee earners. The pilot began in September 2008 and was a resounding success. “The feedback from the pilot was very good. It met the needs of the fee earners in what they expected from a digital dictation system.”Based on these results, Nicholson began rolling out the solution across the firm’s five sites. Each user receives a short training session that explains the key functionality of the solution.“ As we’d already made the original investment in the BlackBerry solution, the addition of nFlow was a small incremental cost compared to the time it would save the fee earners.”Chris Nicholson, IT Manager at Freeth Cartwright

THE BENEFITS
Freeth Cartwright is committed to excellence in client service and efficient business processes that optimise productivity. Dictation is a key function within the firm. nFlow Mobile for BlackBerry smartphones has sped up and secured the dictation workflow. “Within a minute of a fee earner completing a transcription, say, on the train, the secretary can have it on the screen, ready to transcribe. It’s just as immediate as if the fee earner was sitting next to them in the office.”With analogue cassettes, it would take 24 hours on average for a dictation to arrive back in the office and be transcribed. The new solution also “means better service for our clients because we’re turning these dictations around much faster,” says Nicholson. This in turn also leads to timelier billing. According to Nicholson’s calculations, the nFlow Mobile for BlackBerry pays for itself with the first dictation. The one-time fee for nFlow is the equivalent of a few minutes of a fee earner’s time.

“One hour of a standard associate’s charge-out rate buys at least five one-time licences.” He goes on to add that, “as we’d already made the original investment in the BlackBerry solution, the addition of nFlow was a small incremental cost compared to the time it would save the fee earners.”

The sound quality on the nFlow solution is good, the feedback from the secretaries who do the transcription has been excellent. In addition, the sound files are compressed, so they don’t put pressure on the Exchange server. “The average file size is around 2MB, which is very manageable,”says Nicholson. In addition, if a BlackBerry smartphone goes missing, there’s no risk that someone will be able to listen to the recordings. Like the rest of the data stored on the smartphones, draft dictations are protected by the smartphone’s built-in password authentication and encryption. Completed dictations are encrypted during transmission between the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the BlackBerry smartphone before being erased from the smartphone’s memory. Finally, the BlackBerry solution with nFlow Mobile has improved time recording.

“Effectively, a digital dictation is time captured as a file. So if the recording is 20 minutes long, that can be apportioned against the fee earners charge-out rate. Whereas when you’ve got an analogue tape, you can’t really make a good judgement about how long that recording is, unless you sit there with a stopwatch,” explains Nicholson.Within just a few months of the pilot, the nFlow Mobile for BlackBerry solution has proved to be a simple-to-implement solution with a rapid ROI, that provides value-added functionality and increases the productivity of Freeth Cartwright’s fee earners.