Outsourcing: Scott Rees ditches Indian transcribers

Language difficulties have prompted a leading personal injury and conveyancing firm to bring its outsourced legal transcription work back from India to the UK.


Skelmersdale firm Scott Rees & Co - which has spent £500,000 on IT software, hardware, implementation and training over the last three years and employs more than 200 members of staff - found that transcribers in India had difficulties understanding English dialects, nuances, names and legal terms.


Michael Lough, the firm's chief operating officer, said: 'The quality of work was OK but it was frustrating to use. The fee-earners had to dictate in a way that was unusual to them, spelling out names and places.'


Scott Rees & Co, which needs to process large volumes of work quickly and consistently, chose a provider in India when it first switched from analogue to digital dictation. It has now opted for UK-based provider Voicepath.


Mr Lough commented: 'With Voicepath we still got most of the cost savings and flexibility, but a better quality of service.'


He continued: 'We want to make the experience as easy as possible for our 50 or so fee-earners. The problem with digital dictation is that it is stand-alone. Our aim is to be able to outsource dictation from within our case management system.'


City giant Allen & Overy is the most high-profile firm so far to have transferred back-office activities to India, having outsourced half of its document production to Chennai 18 months ago.


The firm's operational services head, Steven Chernikeeff, predicted at the time that the move would lead to a 'seven-figure annual saving'.