lucky), and accounts information on one
basic computer that only certain people
could access. Our marketing information
(such as it was) was stored in Partners’
brains, and if anyone wanted to know
how many Wills we were holding on
behalf of clients and whether any might
need updating, someone had to review
all of the record cards and that could be
months of work.
I’d like to say that it’s a lot different
now. Of course, in many ways it is. All
documents that we create are now held
electronically in our system and many
(most) are printed out as well. But what
about documents we receive rather than
ones we create? No electronic versions
there unless they are sent to us by
e-mail or on a disc, because we don’t
(yet) scan incoming post.
In terms of information we hold about
clients, let’s just say we are comfortably
traditional. We hold a lot of client records
– somewhere around 130,000 at the
last count. Of course we know who our
clients are and where they live (unless
they haven’t told us they have moved)
and we probably know how old they
are because that’s required for money
laundering checks, but in terms of data
that is recorded in our system, that’s
about it. Sometimes, that’s absolutely
fine, but it can lead to problems if, for
example, we have been asked to act
against a client’s business or lifelong
partner and we haven’t made the
connection.
Similarly, if as a business we don’t
systematically record that we have sent
some marketing material from one office
to a potential client that may need to
update their Will, and that person then
receives similar material from another
office (and we have six offices so this
sort of thing could happen) we begin to
look rather silly. Even more so if a third
office has in fact updated the Will in the
last two weeks.
The links between the people we are in
contact with (primarily clients, but also
people that refer work to us and others
too numerous to list) are very important
to establish where we can, but we can
take this one or two steps further if we
make sure the data works properly. For
example, if we have (as we do) various
travel business clients and we want to
let them know about some development
in travel regulations, we can do that
so much more effectively if we have a
system that draws those links for us
and prompts us to take that step. This
ensures that our clients get added value
from their relationship with us.
So, having data can bring opportunities
- for clients, in being reassured that we
are anticipating their legal needs, and
for us in making sure we are becoming
more efficient.
However, it also brings responsibilities.
It is of course a minefield in terms of
regulation and protection of privacy.
For example, it is potentially a breach
of the Data Protection Act if personal
data is not stored in the EU, unless the
person whose data it is has agreed it
can be stored outside that area. And how
long data should be stored for needs
careful consideration. In some respects
it is useful to have records of clients
and their matters for lengthy periods
of time, in case queries arise at a later
date, but the longer that data is held,
the more risk there is that it will be out
of date and inaccurate, and if it is never
destroyed the storage costs, particularly
with data held in paper form, become
astronomical.
Increasingly, we are therefore looking
at our data as one of our three biggest
assets, the other two being our people
(our partners and staff) and of course
our clients. That’s difficult to register on
the balance sheet, but intuitively, it works
for me.
By Chris Randall
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