Darren Gower represents Eclipse Legal Systems
Eclipse’s new TouchPoint solution provides your clients, customers, partners and stakeholders with true self-service control. Providing a device-independent, interactive experience, TouchPoint utilises data (real-time) from Eclipse’s core Proclaim Case and Practice Management system.
TouchPoint is an “always on, always visible” solution. From contact management and targeted cross-selling, through to visual KPI presentation and dynamic report commissioning, TouchPoint sets you apart from the competition.
Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios where TouchPoint can provide the competitive edge.
Scenario 1: The Conveyancing Journey, using TouchPoint
For most people, buying a house is one of the most daunting and stressful experiences in life – especially for those not used to dealing with the legal profession. But for those using Touchpoint, the whole experience changes for the better. TouchPoint means they are involved, in touch and in control.
Client capture
Meet Sarah – she’s buying her first house and she’s looking for a conveyancing quote. One conveyancer she visits is a TouchPoint user, so rather than phoning or visiting them, an active tile on the firm’s site takes her to a quote calculator. Sarah gets her quote using her iPhone – and once happy with it, her information is pushed automatically into the firm’s Proclaim Case Management system. From here, all sorts of workflows can be triggered that get things moving for Sarah. A welcome SMS and an email give her secure access to her new TouchPoint self-service area.
Personalised
Because this is Sarah’s TouchPoint, and it’s personal to her, she can create a personalised map and snapshot of the house she has fallen in love with. Further information tiles can include plain-English explanations of the process, and useful FAQs – all helping to build Sarah’s confidence in the journey.
Keeping in touch
At any point, Sarah can contact and chat with her lawyer, and behind the scenes all queries and questions can be sucked into Proclaim, to trigger workflow or be rerouted to relevant personnel. For Sarah this means no more leaving messages, wondering if and when someone will call back.
Using TouchPoint’s ‘FileView’ tool, Sarah stays informed and in control. She can check on her file and its documentation any time and from anywhere. It’s a transparent view which gives Sarah the full conveyancing picture and a greater understanding of the process. The data she sees is secure, and in real-time – her law firm decides how much (or how little) is shown – whatever is right and appropriate for them.
Marketing
Through marketing features in TouchPoint, Sarah receives tailored communications, news feeds, blogs and even special offers that are relevant to her. She is free to just pull information, so she won’t get irritated by blanket ‘junk mailers’ – but she appreciates taking a look at a relevant news feed while at work on her PC or catching up with a blog on her smartphone.
TouchPoint helps to build a closer, more positive relationship between Sarah and her law firm. Once her house is bought and all the paperwork is complete, Sarah can then take part in a Client Satisfaction survey embedded in TouchPoint. The results are automatically captured in Proclaim, triggering relevant workflow tasks inside the firm.
And of course, subsequent data analysis helps the law firm continually improve customer service – which Sarah, or the friends she recommends to the firm, will appreciate when they want to buy or sell their homes.
Scenario 2: Profitable relationships, using TouchPoint
The second scenario isn’t about conveyancing, it’s about how a major client (a commercial one) of a law firm can utilise TouchPoint. It shows variety – TouchPoint is not just utilised by ‘man on the street’ customers – it’s used by large commercial clients of law firms too
Let’s look at how TouchPoint could be used by a business partner. Let’s call our individual user ‘James’. James is a senior director at an insurance company and his job involves liaising with an external service provider who manages large quantities of litigated injury cases.
Interactive reporting
TouchPoint changes his interaction with this law firm partner – and how he tracks progress – immeasurably. The interactive hub behind TouchPoint gives him visibility of all current and historical claims, visual statistics, and reporting tools. This means he can track work at a time and in a place convenient to him – be that in the office, or on an evening at home via iPad. He can keep an eye on costs and progress at the touch of a tile, ultimately helping James do his job more easily and deliver a better service to his clients and stakeholders.
Tracking progress
By accessing TouchPoint’s FileView system, James can track each and every claim. This opens up a transparent view of progress – he can see top-level information, like who is working on each claim, right through to detailed individual histories. Instead of making chase-up phone calls, which are time-consuming and tricky to handle quickly for James and his busy lawyers, he can now get the information himself. Whenever he wants. Instantly.
Document authorisation
TouchPoint also gives him online access to documents that need authorising. Before TouchPoint, he received these via standard email – and he wasn’t very comfortable with the security of that. Or worse, they arrived interminably slowly through the post. TouchPoint has put an end to all that – he now receives alerts reminding him to attend to a document or issue, and he can review and action anything that needs attention in a secure environment, in real-time. That means really quick turnaround.
Self-service analytics
The self-service Analytics section in TouchPoint really helps James with his work. Insurance is a competitive market, and he needs to stay on top of his game – for that, he needs data. In TouchPoint Analytics he can draw from a plethora of parameters, KPIs and management information, and he gets all of this live, on-screen, at the touch of a tile. He can even choose the graph style and make his own as and when he needs to.
And with TouchPoint, instead of numerous emails, faxes and calls to his lawyers he has instant access to data, just the way he wants it. He runs all reports himself and monitors costs, speed of service, and financial trends from his desk – or his sofa.
Measure relationships
Now, instead of waiting to receive a letter or phone call, James can tell his firm what he thinks of the service he receives using TouchPoint’s Satisfaction Survey tool. He always has plenty of feedback, which is all imported into the law firm’s Proclaim Case Management system. This helps law firm partners follow up with him on areas that need attention, and analyse the data with him to learn lessons and improve their service – something else he likes.
Working together collaboratively at last? For James, that time has arrived.
TouchPoint going live at Fentons Solicitors LLP
Leading UK personal injury specialist, Fentons Solicitors LLP is amongst the first to adopt Eclipse’s new TouchPoint solution.
Fentons, which recently gained its Alternative Business Structure licence, employs 300 staff at offices in Manchester and London. The firm specialises in matters ranging from road traffic accidents and industrial disease claims through to complex, multi-million pound medical negligence cases. Fentons utilises Eclipse’s Proclaim Practice Management Software solution for all staff and is now bringing onboard TouchPoint functionality.
As already described above, TouchPoint can be delivered via any device (eg iPad, smartphone), operating on any platform (iOS, Android, Windows).
Paul Medcalfe, Partner and Head of IT at Fentons Solicitors, comments:
One of the main advantages of TouchPoint is the fact that it is not dependent on any one operating system, enabling users – our business partners or clients – to benefit. As a firm we are proud of our reputation, secured by delivering the best in client service and support, and we always want our clients to have the best possible experience. Initially we will be introducing TouchPoint to our business partners – such as our costs draftsmen – but then we plan to roll this out to those clients who want to track progression and communicate with us from the solution.
Darren Gower is Head of Marketing at Eclipse Legal Systems.
Eclipse is the UK’s leading provider of Case Management Software and the legal IT sector’s largest independently-owned vendor. The company’s Proclaim system is in use by over 18,000 professionals in a vast range of sectors, incorporating legal, ABS, commercial and charitable.
Eclipse employs over 140 staff at its West Yorkshire HQ and provides a “full service” offering, from initial needs analysis right through to implementation and aftercare support.
The company’s ethos is a concise and unambiguous one – to provide software solutions which enable its clients to be more effective. Clients range from household name commercial organisations and heavyweight law firms, through to niche market operators and sole practitioners.
