Smiths Accountants in Wantage
is just one IRIS Practice Management user that has made significant
strides in achieving a 'paperless' working
environment.
Mark Smith, Proprietor, explained "It made sense.
When I first started as a sole practitioner working from home, I
would always be saying 'if only I could get rid of all this
paper.'" When the new version of IRIS AutoMail was introduced, the
firm knew then that it could confidently store all of our client
correspondence, e-mails, reports and returns centrally on the
network.
The process works by scanning all incoming post each morning.
A copy goes in the centralised 'incoming post' folder and it also
goes to the appropriate team member's in-box. One of the main
benefits the firm has found is that they can save between 4 and 5
hours a week of filing time.
Mark said "Now, I can be confident that if I take a call
from a client mid-morning that the IRIS client folder on screen is
bang up to date and includes any correspondence that may have
arrived that morning."
Initially, there was some resistance from staff in the
office, primarily to do with concerns that it may be difficult to
find a certain document but these soon disappeared once everyone
appreciated how much easier it is to work without paper. Training
also helped to alleviate any fears regarding change.
Becoming 'paperless' has many advantages: one of which was
getting rid of message pads and instead using the 'Communication
Tracking' facility in IRIS Practice Management to log both outgoing
and incoming calls. Anyone in the team can confidently take
incoming calls knowing that the client screen can be pulled up
within seconds and will provide all the information they need to
answer queries. Clients are extremely impressed with this
approach.
Communication Tracking within IRIS Practice Management has
given every member of the team the confidence to produce their own
letters using AutoMail. A comprehensive set of templates has been
devised and team members are usually able to find one that suits
their purpose.
Streamlining all the processes has made the firm more
efficient and the extensive use of document management is helping
to save time. Already the firm can see gaps appearing on the
shelves, and eventually the filing room will be redundant. A lot of
accountants are concerned about the cost of space and removing
paper will help to reduce overheads.
Mark Smith has no qualms about recommending the 'paperless'
route to other accountants. He said "It is the way forward and
firms should think about it. The document management facility
within IRIS Practice Management made it possible for us to take the
step, giving us the confidence that nothing would be lost and we
would be able to retrieve information quickly and easily. We are
already planning to get rid of hard copies of working papers and
then we will look at implementing a managed workflow
process."
