Carrot Insurance enhances productivity with Eclipse's Proclaim Debt Recovery Case Management system

Eclipse Legal Systems, the sole Law Society Endorsed legal software provider, is implementing its Proclaim Case Management Software solution at Cheshire-based insurance company, Carrot Insurance.

Based in Crewe, Carrot Insurance was founded in 2012 with two aims - to make the experience of car insurance more rewarding for its customers, and to make the roads a safer place for young drivers. Using the latest telematics technology, Carrot Insurance has designed a range of products, and delivers an award-winning service from its committed team of experts.

Carrot Insurance has selected Eclipse's Proclaim Debt Recovery Case Management system to automate case progression for collections against customers that haven't paid their car insurance.

Proclaim's ability to automatically produce and send emails, letters and text messages at the click of a button will significantly reduce the amount of time staff spend entering information, enabling them to instead focus on providing enhanced client service. Additionally, the flexibility of Proclaim's in-built reporting suite will mean management can not only monitor internal KPIs, but also report upon the stage of a case, and as a result, compare a range of aspects on case progression and case outcome.

To ensure high standards of effective recovery are achieved, Eclipse's Consultancy team will work in conjunction with Carrot Insurance to create bespoke documents that will react to the status of a debt, and workflows to export data to a third party debt recovery specialist when necessary.

Alex Jones, Collections Manager at Carrot Insurance, comments:

"Although we had a number of specific requirements, the off-the-shelf Proclaim Case Management system met the majority of these seamlessly, and for those minor tweaks, we're more than confident that the expertise of Eclipse's Consultancy team will enable us to hit the ground running.

"In such a competitive market, it's imperative for us that we have a system with the ability to improve operational efficiencies without our team needing to constantly make amendments. This is exactly what we'll have with Proclaim. It will be fundamental to our future success, providing an excellent fit for high volume work such as ours, and allowing us to offer even greater transparency - both internally and externally."

Scottish firm, Drummond Miller, selects Eclipse's Proclaim Practice Management system in a substantial investment

Heavyweight Scottish firm, Drummond Miller, has selected the Proclaim Practice Management system from Eclipse Legal Systems, the sole Law Society Endorsed legal software provider.

With offices in 6 locations throughout Scotland, and over 100 staff, Drummond Miller has a long-standing reputation of excellence in various areas of law. The firm recognises the level of importance its clients place on their cases, and is committed to providing a high standard of service - delivering common sense legal advice and practical solutions to all client requirements.

In the 6-figure deal, Drummond Miller will replace its incumbent legal software system with Eclipse's Proclaim Practice Management Software solution. In order to cater for the variety of work areas within the practice, preconfigured case management modules will be rolled out firm-wide for the conveyancing, private client, medical negligence, family law and probate teams, serving to provide a core centralised productivity suite throughout.

As part of the installation process, Eclipse will also conduct a complete data migration, allowing the integrated Proclaim practice accounting and financial toolset to be implemented, resulting in increased efficiency and an 'at-a-glance' view of operational effectiveness.

Ian Hartley (pictured), Chief Operations Officer at Drummond Miller, comments:

"We undertook a thorough selection process. I was impressed from the very first time I saw Eclipse's Proclaim system as it's much more intuitive than its rivals. This is an investment for the long term for us and it was the fact that is it so easy to use, as well as the future-proofing that made it a natural choice."

To accommodate the legislative requirements in Scottish law, Eclipse's experienced in-house consultancy team will work closely with Drummond Miller to ensure that workflows and documents fully cater for all bespoke requirements.

Ian continues:

"The fact that Eclipse has an experienced in-house team with the ability to truly bespoke the system - and in line with Scottish law - goes to show why it's the market-leader. Once implemented, Proclaim will provide us with a comprehensive solution to improve internal efficiencies and seamlessly enhance client service. This is an integral part of our growth strategy."

Eclipse's Sales Director, Chris Buckle, adds:

"As a leading and thoroughly reputable practice, Drummond Miller was quite rightly extremely rigorous in its selection process for a firm-wide solution. The fact that we can provide the practice with what it requires now - and what it aims for moving forward - is a testament to the strength and adaptability of our Proclaim solution and its position in the legal sector market."

Taking advantage of technologies

Eclipse spoke to Modern Law Magazine to discuss how law firms can utilise emerging technologies to cut costs. 

The last decade has witnessed an exponential growth in technology, and change in the legal sector is being driven by both clients and competition from law firms that have begun using technology to do routine work.

This technological advancement now requires strategic focus and top-level support, and has ultimately changed the way in which solicitors work, bringing with it specific technology designed to streamline efficiencies and cut costs across the legal sector.

An increasing trend within the legal profession is big data, providing firms with the ability to quickly determine whether or not it's worth taking a case, and ultimately saving hours of research sifting through years' worth of information and existing cases. For the junior staff who may be conducting this research over a period of months, it leaves them to be productive elsewhere.

It's also a great method of obtaining visibility of a practice as a whole, and therefore the amount of revenue fee earners and cases are bringing in. By understanding staff productivity, it can enable firms to change operational methods to ensure they are maintaining the optimum level of efficiency.

Stemming from this notion, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also becoming a significant focus for law firms, particularly over the next few years. By using AI to automate tasks traditionally undertaken by junior staff, such as research, it allows them to instead focus on complex and higher-value work.

An example is Linklaters' Verifi program, which can sift through 14 UK and European regulatory registers to check client names for banks and processes thousands of names overnight. A junior solicitor would take an average of 12 minutes to search each name.

For document management processes, online document delivery and acceptance tools, such as Eclipse's SecureDocs, are enabling firms to migrate towards paperless working, serving to reduce turnaround times and therefore costs. E-signatures eliminate expenditure on printing, paper, ink, postage and couriers, instead providing a quick, efficient and convenient solution aimed at saving considerably on operational costs.

And finally, remote working within the legal profession is becoming an increasingly popular method of reducing costs. It's now making less commercial sense to maintain offices, and online client portals and case tracking systems mean solicitors can stay connected to their clients 24/7 from anywhere in the world, ultimately serving to offer excellent service at an affordable price, whilst streamlining staffing costs.

Eclipse's Proclaim Practice Management system will prove key to longevity at HEDS Law

New start-up, HEDS Law, has selected the Proclaim Practice Management system from Eclipse Legal Systems, the sole Law Society Endorsed legal software provider.

Based in Liverpool, HEDS Law specialises in providing Personal Injury services to an already rapidly expanding client base. With a vast range of knowledge and expertise, the firm aims to develop an enviable reputation for excellent client focus and a tailored service, provided by its dedicated team of friendly and knowledgeable solicitors.

Eclipse is implementing its Proclaim Practice Management Software solution to aid case handling and reduce the time spent processing each matter, whilst maintaining a high level of client service. Furthermore, Proclaim will enable the firm to take full advantage of new processes and efficiency gains - ideal for a new practice.

In addition, Proclaim's in-built workflow will ensure that cases are dealt with consistently and in keeping with HEDS Law's standards. Fast and effortless document production will enable staff to generate all relevant documentation automatically at case creation, whilst the integration with the MoJ's Claims Portal will provide a seamless Application-to-Application (A2A) method of submitting claims.

Jon Evans, Director of HEDS Law, comments:

"The Personal Injury sector is highly competitive and as a new start-up, it's vital we have the correct technology in place to remain ahead of the competition.

"With previous experience of Proclaim, we found it to be a fantastic solution - for a centralised practice management system, but also for the additional products available to truly enhance our overall service. With Eclipse and Proclaim, we can now offer further flexibility and efficiency to our clients, which is key to longevity in the legal sector."

Whiplash reforms: the future of RTA claims

We spoke to Modern Claims Magazine to discuss the potential benefits or pitfalls to a fixed tariff system for whiplash compensation, and what this could mean for the legal sector. 

The MoJ's whiplash claims reforms, although significantly challenged by many in the industry, are due to take effect towards the end of 2018.

According to the MoJ, the reforms firstly will crack down on the compensation culture epidemic we are experiencing. Most will be in agreement that those who make fraudulent claims do need to be exposed and prosecuted as such, however introducing a fixed tariff system may not be a guaranteed method of eliminating these claims entirely. There could still be plenty of potential for exaggeration so as to tip the into a higher level of compensation, in theory meaning insurers will still need to identify fraudulent claims, contrary to the Government's proposals.

Many insurance companies are concerned at the amount of fraudulent claims and state this is the reason for increased premiums, however claimant solicitors do not believe that this has been sufficiently evidenced by independent figures. Many are arguing that the number of whiplash claims registered by the Government's Compensation Recovery Unit suggest a decrease in figures. Upon analysis of these statistics, the MoJ believes the differences in the labelling of claims may be responsible, as when soft-tissue injury claims labelled 'back' and 'neck' are combined with 'whiplash' claims, the number increases significantly.

Another benefit to the proposal, as per the MoJ, is a means to end the cycle of honest motorists paying out higher premiums to cover false claims. It's believed that the current 'substantial financial incentives' encourage exaggeration of the severity of injuries sustained, and introducing a fixed tariff system will tackle the issue. Agreeably, banning claims without medical evidence is sure to actively discourage many, and it's expected as a result it will cut car insurance premiums by £40 a year.

These savings can then be passed directly onto insurance companies' customers. However, this has been met with scrutiny from some, as the Government is on record saying they will not force insurance companies to forward the savings, leading to the belief by many that premiums will realistically continue to rise.

Ultimately it remains to be seen how significantly these changes will affect the legal sector as a whole, and more specifically how PI claims will be managed under the new reforms. The next year or so will no doubt provide an interesting insight into the future of RTA claims, and how the legal service market is going to adapt.