4 new technologies which help speed up the approval process

Matter management is a complex affair.  As a team member working with your colleagues and manager to compile matter folders, you may have experienced the frustration of making last minute amendments to documents or spent unnecessary time searching for a document that has simply disappeared or been saved elsewhere.
…And that’s only the beginning! Next comes the challenge of getting that long awaited stamp of approval from the person in charge of the case. This may take some time. Gone are the days where you could find your managers at the end of the corridor and receive an immediate answer. At best, they are out of the office, too busy dealing with an influx of emails from your peers or other urgent priorities.  Even when you get an answer, it is likely that there will be some toing and froing between you and your manager before you receive that final approval. 
Technology is there to help you. Although it will not support your case in any way and will not work out the psychological path to selling an idea to your boss, you still can use some of it to optimise this approval process and bridge some of the gaps between you and your manager.

Here are 4 new technologies which help speed up the approval process.

1. Scan to Share – makes your documents easy to share and manage
Scanning technology quickly converts paper documents into an electronic format for easy storage and sharing. It is an obvious one, and a must have. Working with paper documents during the approval process is inefficient, especially if more than one manager is involved in the sign-off process.  Hard copies are not easy to share and while sending files by post or delivering them by hand are viable alternatives, they are costly and inconvenient.  

Aside from the widespread optical character recognition (OCR) technology, today’s scanners route your documents automatically to your email inbox, a LAN repository folder or a DMS. You then have to retrieve the document and proceed to sharing it yourself. The latest scanning technologies take this a little further by automating steps between scanning, storing and sharing. In one push of the scanner button, you can now send your document on a sharing platform, in the cloud or on an in-house server, and dispatch to your co-workers. This is a huge time saver, and it greatly reduces the risk of error, inherent to any human manipulation.   


2. File sharing – makes your documents mobile
With almost 20% of the EU workforce spending more than 10 working hours per week out of the office and 57% using their own devices*, making documents accessible at any time and from anywhere is a must. The time it takes to get an approval is partly due to the lack of availability of the persons involved. If there’s only one approver it is easier to manage but with several people involved, the process can quickly turn into a nightmare.  
File sharing tools, in-house or ‘Cloud’ based, are now fairly common and are great for providing quick, easy and secure access to documents from any device (iPads, tablets or smartphones) and at any time – perfect for your managers who can view documents at their convenience.  
When considering such solution, make sure it can synchronise documents in order to clearly identify the latest version of a file and that it automatically notifies your manager of its availability.


3. Document discussion threads – facilitates communication and interaction
The process of getting approval is a lot like selling a product. So if you are not in front of your manager to provide the pitch, how do you actually support your opinion? 
Solutions do exists, which allows you to annotate or comment the matter and conversely which allows the manager and other people involved to review, mark up, amend and add notes and comments. Some file sharing tools also allow opening discussions between all participants on documents. Not only does that greatly enhance the flow of communication, it also enables you to track changes, link these back to their explanation and understand the rationale behind certain decisions. It also provides you with a history that you could analyse and learn from in the future.


4. Document / folder organiser – gives immediate access to all relevant files 
As part of the sign-off process, your manager may have further questions associated with the documents they are approving.  It is important to provide the answers quickly.  Your efficiency will be heavily linked to your ability to find the original documents which answers the question, and therefore in the way you store and organise all the files which contributed in the building of your final case.  

New technology can now collate multiple documents in different formats (office document, videos, emails, pdfs…) within a single file. In other words, all your documents (including the final version and the associated previous drafts, briefs...) are in one location and easy to find. The technology replicates the familiar paper-based binders so you can organise different sections and flick through them quickly to find the exact page required just as you would within a physical ring binder. A must-have keyword search function can help locate the relevant files quickly to help find the right document to answer your manager’s questions. Also document mark-up and annotation capabilities can be used to respond directly within the document. 
All in all, these organisers are huge time savers and fairly convenient in such context.

Matter management, and more specifically the approval process, involves juggling many different elements. To achieve this, technology helps. Among other things, it puts the correct documents in front of the approvers at the right time. It empowers managers to access and view documents remotely, at their convenience and when it comes to communicating thoughts and opinions, it facillitates interaction between all parties. However one thing technology can’t do is understand and establish relationship. By engaging with and learning how your managers work, you are better positioned to approach them at the best time and to pitch your piece. Once you get to know their personalities, technology can give you that extra edge and make the approval process more efficient.
    
Nila Hirani [   ]

Nikec Solutions [ www.nikecsolutions.com ]

* Source: *Ovum - Global BYOD Survey, N = 3796 

Copitrak Scan is a software solution widely used within law firms to associate printing and scanning activities with specific client matters, to track and manage associated costs and boost recovery rates. It can be seamlessly integrated with most existing DMS systems including iManage, eDocs, SharePoint and the file sharing platform, Nikec Docstore. Copitrak Scan is also available for Copitrak embedded products. Visit nikecsolutions.com for more information

Nikec Binder is a virtual ring-binder to view, review, mark up and present your documents in the office or on the move. Nikec Binder is designed to provide the busy fee earner with the tools to allow them to view their matter in a format as similar to paper as possible. Whether it's to present pitch document, create matter bibles, know-how documents or internal training or HR documents, Nikec Binder helps you deliver a slick, flashy and user friendly electronic binder. Visit Nikec Binder page

Nikec Docstore is an application designed for professionals which allows storing any type of file, accessing them remotely from a computer or an iPad and sharing them with authorised colleagues or clients. By combining ease of use and the level of security required in the exchange of working and sensitive documents Nikec Docstore is ideal for mobile professionals and collaborative work. Plus the application is available on premise or in cloud (SAAS), so you always keep full control of your documents.

For more information, please visit: www.docstorepro.com.