the anubis award
We are very proud to have been awarded a prize in a recent competition run by the East Midlands Development Agency. The Anubis project, which was sponsored by the European Union, is intended to highlight the business applications and advantages of broadband internet access, and carried with it a fund of up to £10,000 to be spent on new information technology. The project invited applications from Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire as well as Nottingham, and we were one of the ten winners from the hundreds of applications submitted.
Our IT systems were already highly-developed. Both of our offices run on a terminal services platform, which integrates all of our office software systems on a single broadband network. It also means that we can gain access to the full IT system wherever we are in the world, even in Staffordshire. The fund allowed us to upgrade our equipment to add state of the art technology to fully exploit the power of our IT to the benefit of our clients. The hardware and software include:
- Networked Digital dictation
- Personal Digital Assistants and laptop computers
- Networked colour and high-speed monochrome scanners
- An integrated motorcycle communications system
You might wonder what motorcycles have got to do with anything. David Vaughan-Birch, the Director who leads our litigation department, travels to and from his home in Staffordshire by bike-mostly because it's more fun than going by car, but also because whenever possible he travels to see his clients at the factory or their home. He has found that he gets a much better idea of the practical issues that a client is facing by meeting them there rather than at the office-after all, its far easier to understand what's wrong with a faulty machine tool when you see it. David is an engineer by training, so he takes a practical view of a legal issue concentrating on solving the problem at minimum cost to the client, rather than as an theoretical legal point. This means that he spends a lot of time on his bike, and usually would be out of touch with both the office and with his clients. The system that we have installed on his bike connects his mobile phone to a set of speakers and a microphone in his helmet, so that he is always available (unless he's at court or in a meeting of course). You can also park a bike for free in the centre of Nottingham-handy when you are at court at lot!
The phones we use also connect over the internet to our internal office messaging network. As a result, David and the other Directors and heads of department can pick up their emails even when they are out of the office. The digital dictation system as well as the rest of the office network can also be accessed from outside the office-so we can work on a file, produce letters and so on wherever we are located.
All of this technology will benefit our clients by allowing us to deal with matters more efficiently, more quickly and more cheaply-but our commitment to old-fashioned customer service will remain unchanged. Despite all this technology, we still prefer to meet you face-to-face or talk to you on the phone. We promise you that, when you call us, you will never be asked to "press 1 for customer services!"