Law firms worldwide work with massive amounts of time-sensitive content that arrives in many formats each day. Whether that content arrives via paper documents, email, fax, or other methods, the challenge of management often comes down to manual processing by legal staff. Manual paper processes are always a risky gamble that could result in lost documents, incomplete or incorrect content, overburdened staff, and the risks presented by “scan-to-email” processes. Legal digital mailrooms need intelligent capture technology to overcome “scan-to-email” challenges. See ILTA’s blog for more.
Wait. What’s wrong with scan-to-email for legal document processing?
So much. A best practice digital mailroom is designed as a seamless, efficient digital operation with batched workflow steps, built-in quality controls (QC), and direct-to-DMS delivery with configurable routing rules for different documents. None of that happens when attorneys and staff scan documents to reside unmanaged in clogged email servers and other random applications. Scan-to-email also puts confidential or sensitive information in a precariously easy position in terms of data breaches and cyberattacks.
Another challenge associated with scan-to-email is that your content isn’t working in your favor. Rather than utilizing easy search and retrieval capabilities, users must deal with the mess of searching through unmanaged email threads for content. There’s no protocol to ensure documents are appropriately reviewed and processed. Nothing is associated with the correct file, and when time is of the essence and client service is a top priority, your staff is wasting time hunting for content instead of focusing on billable hours.
Ok, I get it. So why does intelligent document capture matter in the legal mailroom?
Law firms remain dependent on inbound paper mail from clients, opposing counsel, courts, and research sources. Some paper mail items need a timely response or may contain sensitive client information and crucial matter content. That means inbound paper mail needs a method to ensure secure digital delivery for every attorney and staff member working in the office (or remotely).
AccuRoute unlocks the information trapped in paper documents and eliminates manual capturing, profiling, and storing of data. By automating data capture and dissemination, your firm can boost productivity and ensure the integrity of your information. In the end, this helps you remain competitive and increase billable productivity.
How does intelligent document capture work?
The volume and velocity of information that flows in and out of legal offices continue to grow. Data profiling is mission-critical to determine how to fulfill the critical task of indexing for quick reference and recall. Most firms already store their information in ECM (Enterprise Content Management) and DMS (Document Management Systems) systems such as iManage or NetDocuments.
However, many legal firms cannot easily search and retrieve those documents simply because they don’t have the right resources. When it comes to intelligent document capture, that’s why Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a crucial feature that automatically profiles information once it has been captured. In the manual process model of capturing, profiling, and storing documents, inefficiency decreases productivity. By digitizing at the point of capture—the mailroom—legal firms can easily automate processes to remain competitive, increase billable productivity, and efficiently store documents and data for fast retrieval.
The capture, processing, and delivery of time-sensitive information can happen in one step using AccuRoute’s software for the digital mailroom. Users can perform automated forms classification and data extraction to grab relevant content, ensure accuracy, and then deliver it to the correct recipient or the appropriate case file within their firm’s DMS, including iManage and NetDocuments.
Ready to learn more?
The digital mailroom is just the beginning for automating document-intensive processes at your firm. Still, it‘s a lynchpin component that unlocks the content you have to jump–start your digital transformation journey. Take stock of the hours, effort, and costs associated with your current mailroom processes and reach out to schedule a product demonstration with one of our experts to uncover a more efficient way to get work done.
Upland AccuRoute offers scalable capabilities for law firms to better manage cloud-based capture and enterprise fax solutions, with the result of making smart digital transformation strategies more realistic to put into practice farther down the line. The digital mailroom is just the tip of the iceberg. To kick off your digital transformation efforts and bring your processes into the digital era, reach out to us.
We’ve got more info! Before you reach out, look at our article, “5 Benefits of Creating a Digital Mailroom.” Or check out “Keeping Work Flowing with a Digital Mailroom” by Upland EVP and General Manager Karen Cummings.
Curious about other Upland Content Lifecycle Automation capture products? Get an introduction to Upland Intelligent Capture by downloading our overview datasheet.