About Eccles Heddon

Eccles Heddon is an established legal practice in North Yorkshire.

Their legal expertise is applied in conjunction with a pragmatic realism acquired over many years of practice in the Vale of York and against a culture of long-term commitment, not short-term self-interest gain.

Most of their practitioners have been with the firm for many years and their clients value continuity of individual service very highly.

We had a chat with Sam Freeman, a paralegal at Eccles Heddon, to discuss their journey to digital dictation.

Time For Change

Eccles Heddon is a forward-thinking firm and they decided that they needed to review their documentation processes.

“We were using old tape dictaphones!” – Sam Freeman

Analogue tapes are a outdated method for creating documentation. As I’m sure you can imagine, there are numerous issues with them:

• They are not secure and if they get into the wrong hands, they’re a breach of GDPR.
• If a member is off-site, they will have to return to the office to deliver the tape, this can be time-consuming and a disruption to their day.
• Secretaries or typists are not able to manage their workload effectively and often have a surge of transcriptions to process when multiple tapes are returned at the same time.

“Using old tapes, the audio quality isn’t great and there isn’t a great deal of flexibility.” – Sam Freeman

When you take a look at all of the above reasons, is hard to believe that people and businesses are still using analogue tapes – but they are! Even in the 21st century.

It was clear that the Eccles Heddon team needed a smoother, simpler, and more effective way of capturing their documentation.

That’s where VoicePower comes in.

Finding The Right Fit

Eccles Heddon approached speech technology experts, VoicePower Ltd, to help them with this process.

Also based in Yorkshire, VoicePower Ltd has been implementing digital dictation and speech recognition workflows for over 25 years, making them the perfect people for the job.

VoicePower Ltd took the time to understand the way the Eccles Heddon were working, they reviewed their process and also listened to what the staff wanted from a new solution.

“VoicePower are the experts when it comes to dictation. They offered us a solution that works well for our business and is cost-effective” – Sam Freeman

Sam and the rest of his team, highlighted the importance of a solution that is cost effective, offers flexibility and a good audio quality.

It was at this point, that the VoicePower team recommended the Olympus Dictation Management System.

The Olympus dictation management system, or ODMS, is a reliable system whereby authors can dictate their notes with a voice recorder. They can then send the audio file instantly via the ODMS system to their secretary or typist.

Not only are the files fully secure and encrypted, but this method eliminates the need for staff to return to the office to hand deliver tapes.

Furthermore, the audio quality of Olympus voice recorders is second to none, allowing the secretary to hear a clear and precise recording.

“The quality of audio with the ODDS app is fantastic.” – Sam Freeman

A New Way of Working

Sam discusses the firm’s workflow, expressing:

“We have one person now using cloud-based dictation, whilst working remotely from home and we have 16 authors and 14 typists using the Olympus system.” – Sam Freeman

The Olympus system is a valuable tool for various sectors but is particularly beneficial in legal sectors due to the high level of documentation that the profession entails.

“The dictation system is used by all of our fee earners for correspondence with clients, file notes and any other correspondence dealing with legal matters.” – Sam Freeman

Making The Move to Olympus Dictation

For many firms, it is the transition and change that puts them off.

At VoicePower, we pride ourselves on our change management services – we’re there every step of the way, as Eccles Heddon found out:

“We found the transition to using the cloud-based dictation portal very easy. Liam talked us through the setup and assisted at every stage.” – Sam Freeman

Furthermore, we’re always there for any teething problems with our dedicated support helpline.

Whether it’s the first week, or eight months down the line, we will be there to help.

“Whenever we have an issue, which is rarely, the whole team at VoicePower are great. I certainly think I owe Liam more than one pint for all of his hard work and assistance over the past few months.” – Sam Freeman

Eccles Heddon is just one example of how reviewing and re-evaluating your workflow processes can have excellent effects on your business.

Embracing digital technology isn’t as daunting if you have the right support behind you – in fact, it can unleash new possibilities.

“We would strongly recommend VoicePower for all your dictation needs.” – Sam Freeman