Advanced Legal case study: UK law firm integrates new dictation software into thin client environment on-time and on-budget
With the help of Advanced, Bridge McFarland Solicitors upgraded to a flexible, scalable, more easily managed dictation and transcription system — while moving to a thin client environment.
With more than 40 years in the business, Bridge McFarland Solicitors has an exceptional local, national and international reputation, operating across eight offices. Our legal team offers a comprehensive depth of expertise for our clients across many legal disciplines. This success has been built on our four core values of confidentiality, commitment, courtesy and communication.
Upgrading dictation software while moving to a new thin client environment
We recently moved away from PCs to a thin client solution in order to centralize. As part of this transition we needed to better manage
the elements typically run by PCs, including software applications, sensitive data and security programs. One of these applications was for dictation and transcription, an essential tool in our trade. We knew that our standalone dictation package would not work within the planned environment as it required a local install for each user. So, we took the bold decision to upgrade to a new dictation system at the same time as moving to a thin client environment.
A tried-and-tested solution
As Helen Powers, Head of IT, explains, “We looked at several dictation options. One of our partners mentioned that he had used Advanced’s Digital Dictation and he thought that it was very good. We decided to investigate that option further and found that the Advanced package offered all of the functionality that we wanted or required. We were also offered the option of a free, no obligation trial period. That was a huge benefit as it allowed us the time and space required to test the product in our own environment before having to make a firm commitment. Once the decision to go with Advanced was made, implementation began almost immediately.”
Flexible, scalable, on-time and on-budget
The process was much more straightforward than we anticipated. Some fine tuning was required but that was to be expected with managing two large projects at the same time. As Helen explains, “The ready assistance I’ve had from Advanced’s install and support teams has been fantastic, and we resolved any issues by working together. In the end, our objective was achieved and everything was delivered on schedule.”
All the functionality at a reasonable cost
We have no hesitation in recommending Advanced for a project like this. As well as the support and free trial period , their service included free, automatic updates for 170-plus users across eight offices.
The benefits for our firm include:
- Much easier-to-manage system administration
- More time and space to test the product before committing
- Integration of a scalable solution which will grow with our firm
- On-time and on-budget implementation
Helen Powers, Head of IT, Bridge McFarland said: “For a reasonable cost, we were able to source a dictation system that works well within our environment, and our 170-plus users have a flexible, easily managed dictation and transcription system.”
Helen adds, “For a reasonable cost, we were able to source a dictation system that works well within our environment and our 170-plus users have a flexible, easily managed dictation and transcription system.”
In future, we plan to further expand our dictation capabilities with the addition of speech recognition. We’re excited about the advantages this can offer us. We have spoken to Advanced about the options we would require, and the collaborative approach they have taken with the first project assures us that they will deliver a solution which is right for us.
