Pluck Andrew Solicitors’ Interactive time-saving and compliance tips

Long-time Quill client, Pluck Andrew Solicitors, upgraded from an in-house set-up to hosted practice management and legal accounts system, Interactive, in July 2015.

The challenge:

The switchover to the cloud was done so that the practice could benefit from advanced software delivery as well as continue to enjoy Quill’s complementary back-up services which Karen Rayson, Accounts Manager at Pluck Andrew Solicitors, is quick to praise.

“The account management and technical support given by Quill is brilliant,” states Karen. “They take my calls straight away. There’s no waiting involved. It really is a consistently responsive, efficient service.”

The solution:

The move to Interactive on a hosted basis means they’re no longer reliant upon manual back-up tapes which were taken home by Karen for safekeeping. Another major advantage is remote working for the firm’s fee earners.

“The fact our data’s automatically backed up in Quill’s cloud is so reassuring and takes the responsibility away from a single person, myself in this case, remembering to do it then store tapes safely overnight, every night,” explains Karen. “This fool-proof process is also reassuring for our general insurance provider and we’ve noticed our premiums have dropped slightly, either wholly or partially attributable to Interactive’s hosted format. Our employees welcome the new levels of flexibility afforded them. They keep up-to-date with their time recordings and expenses while out-and-about.”

After just completing their first end-of-year accounts on hosted Interactive in record time with subsequent shortest-ever audit, Karen applauds the time-saving improvements: “Never before on the last working day of April have we left the office promptly at 5.30pm. Until this year, that is! Credit’s due to the Quill team for describing how to bundle nominal ledger reports together as an electronic file using the new ‘Send to month-end PDF’ feature, then save within Interactive to be accessed online by ourselves and our auditors or accountants as these external bodies can be allocated free software licences. Previously printing hard copies of each report, month-by-month, was so time consuming. There was a sizable difference in the time our auditor spent on time too, from 3½ days to 1½ day, to be exact.”

The future:

In her concluding statement, Karen commends the risk management assistance provided by Interactive: “It’s an infallible system which doesn’t let you make mistakes. The various ‘whoops’ warnings are a preventative measure against serious breaches of the Rules. These alerts are inestimably useful and play a major role in keeping us compliant.”