The Gazette 1985

GAZETTE

APRIL 1985

4. Less clutter around the general office area, it all being contained at the fee earner's desk. There are no floating trays of typing or documents for photocopying and it puts an end to the ubiquitious carbon paper which pollutes so many offices. 5. We believe it provides a better office atmosphere. This would, of course, apply whether the equipment was being used by the fee earners or by operators. It is achieved by the elimination of a lot of the drudgery involved in repetitive typing. 6. Doing ones own filing saves time and makes for more accurate filing. However, it is only efficient as long as one is able to cope with the work to be done in a day. There are also a number of disadvantages. One does tend to forget problems once they have been overcome but in general they may be summarised as follows:— 1. Choosing a system can be quite a problem. No firm should allow itself to be used as a guinea-pig for a new system. One should take advice from colleagues who have been using word processing equipment for a number of years and preferably the type of equipment which you are intending to purchase. 2. Expense. This consists of the cost of purchase, installation and maintenance costs which are normally a percentage of the purchase price. Maintenance charges can be quite exorbitant. Also, in a situation such as ours, additional costs occur each time a new fee earner joins the firm and a new keyboard, screen, etc., has to be acquired. 3. Continuity of maintenance. This can be a problem if a supplier moves out of the market. 4. The teething period. Luck can, of course, play a big part in this regard (although we were not so lucky) but apart from breakdowns, etc., there are other back-breaking jobs to be done during the teething period such as organising all those precedents which have been floating around the office for decades and getting them finally stored onto the discs. 5. Under-utilisation of equipment. When the fee earner is attending Court or out of the office for any reason this very expensive equipment is lying idle and of course depreciating and being under utilised. There is nothing one can do about this problem when operating on a do-it-yourself basis but it is something that should be considered before embarking on a project such as ours. 6. The once-off letter/document. There does not seem to be any simple solution to this problem as not all our work is standard. The problem is, of course, reduced as typing speed increases. 7. Learning to type. Many people have an aversion to typing and even more would not be prepared to embark on the necessary exercises needed to increase typing speed. Obviously the above is only a summary but time and space prevents pursuing this aspect any further. It may be that our system of work would only suit smaller offices. There is only one certain way of finding out if a Word Processor is for you and that is to purchase a

system that you think best suits your needs. You will never come to grips with the technology of word processing by just reading about it. Seeing and using the machines provides the best information of all. Rightly or wrongly I believe the prediction that the £5,000.00 work station performing as a Data Processor, Word Processor and a Computer Terminal is coming and, when this point is reached, the advantages of fee earner operation become more and more obvious. There is little to be said for adopting a wait and see policy if you have not yet taken the plunge. It may result in your being left so far behind in technology that it will be almost impossible to catch up on the offices that have adapted to word processing. • Why is ourmanager's door always open?

ANSWER: We could try to be funny and say it was to let the bank drafts in. But the truth is it's just the way we operate. Personal, attentive service at all times. Total access to the manager. Longer hours than most banks. And higher interest on deposits. They may sound like small things. But when you add up the little things we do and most banks don't, you'll understand why our

18-21 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Tel. (01) 763502 3 The Crescent, Limerick. Tel. 061-319522

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