Barnetts launches iPhone application
Conveyancing firm Barnetts has launched an iPhone application that allows clients to get an instant quote and follow the progress of their case via their phone.
The in-house IT team at Barnetts developed the software, which other firms will be able to licence and use.
The iClick app is available for free on iTunes by searching using the keyword ‘conveyancing’.
Potential clients can click ‘quote’, enter the price of the property and select whether they are buying or selling. The application then connects to the firm’s live quote system and downloads the latest fee information direct to their phones in seconds.
If a client is happy with the fee and wants to instruct the firm, they enter some basic contact details and will be contacted by Barnetts.
To track their case, clients enter their case reference and a password. Key transaction milestones information will then be displayed, in addition to the text messaging which is sent out at key milestones.
Richard Barnett, senior partner at the firm, said: ‘In the past few years, conveyancers have been challenged to provide the best possible service at the most competitive price. To succeed with this goal, the use of the latest techniques and technologies has to be embraced.’
Comments
iPhone application
To be honest, I would be more impressed if some of these factory firms announced they were taking steps to improve the service they give to clients vis-a-vis the knowledge of their employees, and how difficult they are to deal with when on the other side of a transaction. Maybe by actually training their employees to do the job properly?
It is all very well keeping up with the latest technology, but no matter how savvy one may be in such terms, if the end product is poor then it is still going to reflect badly on the profession as a whole.
I had the misfortune to work for a "factory firm" for three years before I could take it no more. They were very hot on having all the technology necessary to reduce the work their staff would need to do to complete a transaction. And all the time their IT department were working to bring in even more processes. But that was all pointless, since the actual professional service they were supposed to be providing to clients, i.e. a smooth conveyancing transaction, was non-existent, since the staff overseeing the files had no experience and minimal knowledge.
I am not saying for one minute that the Firm referred to here operate in that manner, but we can all mention many that probably do, before we even get on to out-sourcing work to India, another ridiculous innovation that puts cheapness before quality.
Technology is only a benefit if the real hands on people dealing with a conveyancing transaction are competent professionals, otherwise all the gadgets in the world are a waste of time.
Wills by I-Phone
I wonder if Wills can be sold with an App?
It would be marvelous, don't you think old chap?
If men were mice, the ultimate trap,
Picking them off, zap, zap, ZAP.
Or perhaps we should try something less crap
A free Will with every I-Phone App?