Rawlinson & Hunter are a firm of Chartered Accountants headquartered in Hanover Square, London. Established in 1933, they have built a reputation for providing excellent international taxation and financial advice to individuals and companies. With nine overseas offices Rawlinson & Hunter are a truly international firm offering unique levels of service to their clients.

With the UK Head Office in central London and a satellite office in Ewell, Surrey, key staff are often moving between the two locations. Rawlinson and HunterÆs networked computer system is therefore essential. The sharing of information and a high level of communication across the two sites is crucial to Rawlinson & HunterÆs business, where their quality service is relied upon by their clients. It was decided that a Workgroup Information Manager was required throughout the organisation. This software would enable workgroups to share information and communicate with ease, so enabling staff to operate in the most effective manner.

Accounting for Change...
Rawlinson & Hunter had a number of key requirements, IT Manager Nick Gaines explained: "It was essential that we adopt an efficient and easily accessible group and individual diarying system in order to keep track of each otherÆs day-to-day movements so making the process of scheduling much less time consuming. Furthermore, we had a creaky old client database with a poor DOS interface and decided that we should adopt something far more user friendly that would allow users to access private contacts on the same interface. Amongst other things there was also a serious need for better time management and basic project management. The changing nature of business and the tax return system means that we are increasingly involved in one-off taxation work. Keeping close track of such projects and tasks is therefore essential for efficient time management."

The existing system at Rawlinson & Hunter was piecemeal, with many staff using various Personal Information Managers (PIMs), such as Lotus Organiser. With this arrangement, networking was poor and potential productivity gains were not being realised - Rawlinson & Hunter needed a uniform system.

"We realised that the group diarying and project monitoring systems that we had in place were simply not flexible enough for our needs and so we began the search for a product that would provide us with greater functionality and yet was balanced by ease of use," commented Gaines. Corporate Partner, James Kelly echoed this; "It was crucial that even the most senior people, who may not be computer literate, would feel able to use any system that was adopted. Ease of use, but not at the expense of good features was therefore of paramount importance."

Functionality With Added Value...
Gaines and his staff examined the variety of Workgroup Information Managers (WIMs) on the market, but were most impressed when they evaluated Sareen SoftwareÆs OfficeTalk. "OfficeTalk encompassed all of the features that we were looking for in a software solution such as group and personal diarying, a central rather than replicated database and project management. However, with its user friendly interface and strong visual element, OfficeTalk added value by allowing non technical users to rapidly become familiar with the system," commented Gaines. In a business where important decisions need to be made it is critical that information can be accessed quickly and without confusion. OfficeTalkÆs visual clarity, and therefore easy access to data, ensures that users are able to make the most of the information that is at their fingertips.

Making the Most of OfficeTalk...
Following the decision to implement OfficeTalk at Rawlinson & Hunter, the IT department set about writing their own specific guidelines for use of the product. The guidelines would encourage a uniform use of the system, allowing partners and managers to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of the day-to-day business across both sites when required - a key goal of Rawlinson & Hunter.

Rawlinson & HunterÆs guidelines gave instructions on how to set up workgroups in the most efficient fashion, and furthermore suggested a common set of abbreviations for making it quick and easy to understand diary and other entries. "We want our staff to gain maximum benefit from OfficeTalk. For instance, when using the group diary function they will easily understand what their colleagues are doing as we will all, ideally, be using a common method for making entries," explained Gaines.

Roll-out of OfficeTalk was accompanied by training sessions given by Sareen SoftwareÆs Jill Pearson, who would instruct groups of eight at a time. This training gave the users of OfficeTalk a framework and a grounding, helping them to make the most productive use of OfficeTalk in their everyday work.

"The response of our staff was staggering," commented Gaines. "There was literally an explosion in demand for OfficeTalk within the company as word spread about how easy to use the system is. We have been careful however, to stick to our plans for a controlled roll-out as we see this as an opportunity to tidy up our databases and we want to ensure that everyone is given appropriate training. We aim to have the majority of our 120 UK staff, on both sites, using OfficeTalk within the next few weeks," Gaines added.

Productivity Gains Prove Popular...
Favourable reactions have come from all levels within Rawlinson & Hunter - from administrative staff to partners, and there have been significant productivity gains as a result. Where once a secretary could spend an entire day scheduling monthly meetings, this now takes a fraction of the time because with OfficeTalkÆs meeting function one need only highlight who is required at the meeting, and a first available date is given.

James Kelly also finds that his time is used more effectively: "With our split site it used to be a lengthy process trying to keep track of where other partners and managers were, but with the group diary feature I can swiftly and painlessly see where anyone is working during the course of a day." He added; "This added visibility also enables myself and my colleagues to monitor what meetings are taking place, allowing us to offer some input should we have relevant information. In this way OfficeTalk is really feeding into the effective running of the business, helping meet our aim of constantly improving the service we offer our clients."

Rawlinson & Hunter have not looked back since they adopted OfficeTalk. "At a glance we are now able to get a far better view of what is going on within the company at any time. Furthermore, through the notify function, which allows you to send messages to large numbers of people at the same time, and the central planners and diary system we are able to utilise each otherÆs time in the most beneficial manner," commented Kelly. "Yet for all these productivity gains we havenÆt had to invest vast amounts of time in learning to use the software - itÆs hard to imagine being without it," he added.