Ochresoft Newsletter: May 2021

Welcome to the Quarterly Edition of the new Ochresoft News & Views newsletter; designed to keep you informed on updates on the team, Intelliworks and any notable industry news.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and I can’t believe that I am already celebrating the first anniversary of being in post as Ochresoft’s Managing Director. 2020 was certainly an interesting time to start a new role; I was working from home just three weeks after joining and had to get to know my team and meet customers remotely via Microsoft Teams!

Yet while the way of working may be different, my focus on supporting the team, our customers and on continuing to evolve the Intelliworks solution has remained true. Despite the pandemic, the business continues to grow year on year and is currently enjoying record levels of transactions, we’ve released Intelliworks 8.0, and I am so impressed at the dedication and professionalism shown by the team throughout, in supporting you and your colleagues during the most unusual of times.

As we start to emerge from lockdown, I am looking forward to continuing to support our customers in what continues to be a challenging time for the legal sector; and of course to being able to take my team out for some long overdue and well-deserved drinks at the pub!

Rob Gurney

Alastair Waters, Head of Legal Product Solutions: “The response we have received from customers about the latest Intelliworks upgrade has been overwhelmingly positive. Intelliworks 8.0 has produced a high level of engagement from customers and has been a rewarding experience for the whole Ochresoft team.

Part of the aim of the release was to provide a fresh, modern interface that helps make it easier to navigate around the workflow and cases more efficiently. It was also an ideal opportunity to introduce some fresh technology which will allow us to easily add more features into the software.

Customers have provided fantastic feedback on the changes we have introduced and the things that they would like us to do in the future. We intend to build upon the work that has been done so far and further enhance the user experience and the array of content.

As well as the changes to the user interface, the software behind the scenes has also been getting a makeover. Included in the release is additional cyber security measures and an upgrade to the latest Microsoft Net platform so that the software will function seamlessly on the latest and next generation of Windows operating systems and browser technology.

As always, if you would like to share and discuss your thoughts with us, please get in touch with me or your customer relationship advisor.”

Helen Luty, Head of Customer Services: “It really has been a year like no other, and like Rob, I am very proud of how the team have adapted to working from home as they support you through your busiest times. For us, visiting you in your offices and providing classroom training was part of our business as usual, and that changed overnight last March. We have now developed our virtual training plans, and since lockdown have held fortnightly new starter webinars for your new recruits, as well as carrying out bespoke training sessions for almost half of you over the last 12 months.

During our account calls with you, we know that many of you are recruiting to help with the current demand, and bringing your people up to speed to help clear your workloads is key to your success. If you would benefit from our help with this, please speak to your Account Manager and we can make sure that one of our fantastic Legal Trainers is on hand to book some training for you. We want to work in partnership with you to ensure you succeed.

We have also strengthened our onboarding process for new customers, and have successfully reduced our project timelines from 6-8 weeks down to just 2 weeks. We are delighted to have welcomed on board several new customers over the last 12 months, many of which are as a result of Intelliworks users moving to new firms and promoting Intelliworks to their new colleagues. This makes us extremely proud. Once an Intelliworks user, always an Intelliworks user.

Our Support Team have undergone some changes too, I’m sure many of you spotted some new names on your Support Ticket responses. Our new recruits have undergone some intensive training themselves and are geared up to provide you with an excellent level of service. Don’t forget, if your issue is urgent, our phone lines are open from 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and our Helpdesk Team are on hand to help. It’s always better to call us if it’s urgent, that way we can gather as much information as possible straight away.

And finally our Account Management Team. We’d like to say a big thank you to you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to speak with your account manager. It’s really important to us to know that your Intelliworks experience is on track. Please don’t wait for our scheduled calls if there is anything else that we can help with though! We are available from 9 am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and are always happy to help. In fact we’ve recently been contacted by 2 customers to discuss the relaunch of Intelliworks across their firms, to ensure that they are getting the full benefit of the efficiencies Intelliworks provides. We provide a project team to review current practice, recommend changes and then a training programme to implement. If you think this is something that you would benefit from, please raise with your account manager.”

“Having been part of the Landmark Information Group for the past 6 years, there was an exciting opportunity to move across to Ochresoft and focus my attention on bringing on new clients via our CMS arm. My first couple of months in the role have been incredibly busy, embedding myself within the team whilst ensuring all new client enquiries are being handled promptly. And the new enquiries have been in plentiful supply! With our recent upgrade to Intelliworks 8.0 mixed with a number of brand new testimonials, there’s been a surge in inbound requests for meetings and demonstrations with myself and the Legal Trainers.

We’ve seen an uptake from firms who have noted significant efficiency gains as well as improvements to compliance lead by our task-centric software. It’s great to be inundated with interest and to see the positive impact we’re having on businesses and, as I’ve had a sneak preview of the future product roadmap, I know that we will be supporting more and more businesses with our ever-changing technology.”

Did you know that at the start of the year, we made a pledge to offset the carbon emissions produced by our business in a bid to become carbon neutral in 2021.

In partnership with Tree Nation, we intend to plant as many trees as possible during the year.  Four months in and we have already planted 240 trees, which will capture over 132 tonnes of co2 over a 20 year period.

For anyone wanting to support the Forest of Ochresoft, please visit https://tree-nation.com/profile/ochresoft.

Behind the scenes at Ochresoft we have an amazing team of people who work hard to keep continually evolving Intelliworks, who listen to your feedback, train you and your team, and are on hand to support you. Our Who’s Who introduces you to a different team member in each newsletter and in this edition, we kick-off with MD, Rob Gurney:

Q: What does your role entail?
A: As Managing Director, I am responsible for the delivery of Ochresoft’s business strategy and ultimate success.

Q: When considering your career at Ochresoft, what are you most proud of?
A: Having joined just prior to the pandemic hitting the UK, I didn’t have much face-to-face time with the team before we switched to working from home. I am so proud of how easy the team adapted into the new way of working, maintaining high productivity, professionalism and service so our customers remained fully supported throughout these challenging times.

Q: What do you most enjoy about working at Ochresoft?
A: Having spent the previous 24 years as a property lawyer, the sheer diversity of my role and the need to learn so many new things is definitely the thing I enjoy the most.

Q: Tell us an interesting fact about Intelliworks
A: In the last seven years, Intelliworks workflows have been used in over 1 million conveyancing and private client transactions in England and Wales!

In Autumn, we intend to host a customer engagement event, which will be an opportunity for Intelliworks customers – both conveyancing and private client – to discuss current trends or issues facing your firm, ask any questions about Intelliworks, and provide ideas that may help to shape the future development of Intelliworks.

We therefore invite you to send us questions or topics that you would like to see covered during the event. Please email enquiries@ochresoft.com or call 03300 366700 to register your interest in participating.