Crescendo and Voicepath join forces to facilitate transcription outsourcing for UK law firms

Sunbury-on-Thames, 24 July, 2007 - Law firms wishing to take advantage of the cost savings and efficiency benefits of outsourcing support work now have another option within the UK, as transcription specialist Voicepath and digital dictation provider Crescendo complete a 360º integration of their systems at a customer's request.

The integration was prompted by Dodd Lewis, a South London-based Crescendo user which was keen to begin outsourcing work through Voicepath as part of a post-merger efficiency drive.  Having received a number of outsourcing-related enquiries from new and existing customers, Crescendo began work with Voicepath on creating a ‘module' for its digital dictation software which would allow transcriptions to be completed externally and tracked through its systems.

John Bendall, Crescendo technical sales manager, comments: "As Crescendo is a flexible, modular solution which already links to many other service providers and systems we had the right architecture in place to create a customised ‘connection' between it and Voicepath very rapidly.  The integration module was written and in testing within two weeks of Dodd Lewis's request."

The integration works when, on starting a dictation, a fee earner elects to send it to Voicepath rather than an internal secretary. This can also be initiated by the secretary or administrator or fully automated based on various criteria. This instructs Crescendo's workflow management system to send a copy of the digital dictation file and its corresponding data to a secure upload folder.  Voicepath regularly polls this folder and, when files are present, these are sent to its systems via a secure (SSL) link.

From here, Voicepath manages the automatic distribution of dictations to its network of home-based transcriptionists.  Once a dictation has securely uploaded, an acknowledgment receipt is issued by Voicepath allowing Crescendo to update the status of the job as "transcription in progress". Completed, quality checked documents are retrieved from Voicepath's secure web sever and sent to a secure download folder on Dodd Lewis's server.  The Crescendo workflow management system and the status of the job are automatically updated upon completion of the document retrieval.

John continues: "We are finding that an increasing number of law firms are interested in principle in making savings through outsourcing, but often find the process lengthy and complex.  The beauty of integrations like this is that they make the process simple, secure and intuitive, meaning the customer gets all of the benefits with none of the worry."

Dodd Lewis partner, Graham Dodd, comments: "We are very pleased with the way Voicepath and Crescendo have worked on this project.  When we came to use the service we were delighted with how easy it was."

Richard Bate, general manager of Voicepath, concludes: "At Voicepath we pride ourselves on making outsourcing easy, and are committed to working with leading digital dictation providers to put this principle into action.  We are delighted to have been able to work with Crescendo to get such rapid results and look forward to bringing the advantages of integration to more firms throughout the UK."

About Voicepath
Voicepath has developed and manages a UK-based onshore transcription service that enables UK law firms to outsource document transcription work.  It is also working in partnership with leading IT suppliers to provide the Voicepath Inside solution. Voicepath software is built into a number of key digital dictation systems (DDS) and gives firms automatic access to outsourced document transcription at the point of dictation.  With its secure, high capacity workflow systems and by partnering with major legal IT providers, Voicepath ensures seamless and secure integration with a firm's internal digital dictation and case management software, and enables firms to realise a faster return on their IT investment. The company is headquartered in Leamington Spa, and uses only UK-based trained legal secretaries for transcription purposes. Please visit www.voicepath.com or call: 01926 821904

About Crescendo
Crescendo develops digital dictation, speech recognition, transcription and workflow management systems for the legal sector. Since 1990, the Crescendo technology has allowed over 2,000 installations to streamline and cost-efficiently manage the most complex documentation workflows. Crescendo Systems Ltd., the UK subsidiary, was formed in 2003 and after 4 years, 100 law firms - including a selection of the top 200 - have opted for the unique workflow management and customisation features of the Crescendo digital dictation software. Partners with some of the most respected companies in the world, Crescendo incorporates technology from Philips SpeechMagic, Citrix, Olympus and Grundig and has a worldwide presence. Please visit http://www.crescendosystems.co.uk/ or call: 0870 770 1717

Issued by Native Instinct on behalf of Voicepath.

For further information please contact:

Chris McCrudden/ Maha Hamer t: 0845 345 5606
e: chris.mccrudden@nativemarketing.com
e: maha.hamer@nativemarketing.com  

John Bendall: 0870 770 1717
e: johnb@crescendosystems.co.uk