Conveyancing is almost as old as private property itself, but it certainly doesn’t sit still.
Over the years, various internal and market factors have changed the conventions of conveyancing and set new standards that conveyancers have needed to adopt to meet client expectations.
There have been a number of technological advancements in recent years that have helped conveyancers deliver more efficient and effective services. In this post, we’ll look at four of these innovations and how you can use them to streamline your conveyancing operations.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been disrupting a wide range of industries in recent years, and the property market is no exception. There’s a wide range of applications that AI can have that will streamline and optimise the process at your firm, including:
- Creating document summaries: Many popular AI tools are well-suited to reading through complex legal documents, extracting the salient information, and using this to create document summaries that are comprehensive and accurate. This can be used to save time that would be spent manually reviewing documents and reduce the chances of human error leading to inaccurate communications.
- Easier communication: AI-powered live portal tools can be used to analyse shared sheets, documents, and other digital resources to update a shared portal for clients to check on the progress of their transaction, ensuring seamless and accurate communication that always keeps customers in the loop.
- Cost savings: By using AI tools that can automate some of the routine tasks that typically require human input or slower, legacy tools, conveyancers can reduce their overheads and avoid unforeseen outsourcing costs that might be needed to deal with admin overflow.
Integrated Case Management Systems
Adopting and customising a reputable case management system at your firm can be a fantastic way to streamline a range of conveyancing processes.
Integrating the features and capabilities of a case management system can automate away routine processes such as returning disbursements to your ledger, or populating documents with data from your matter, saving you time to invest in more complex tasks that demand your full attention.
What’s more, a good case management system will give you a single source of checked and verifiable information to be accessed by all necessary parties, minimising the risk of re-keying errors, ensuring transparency, and preventing you or your assistants from having to rush around looking for a particular resource to keep the process moving along.
Though a case management system can take some time to adapt to your existing ways of working, once you’ve got the platform aligned to your standards it will become an indispensable part of your conveyancing toolbox.
Digitised Client Onboarding
While countless other industries have moved towards a digital-first way of operating, property has held onto its traditions as a very “in-person” business.
However, as the demographic of first-time property buyers changes, conveyancers are increasingly expected to provide a more convenient and accessible standard of service that can be carried out remotely through digital channels.
There are many tools and resources conveyancers can use to take their processes out of the physical office and onto digital channels, including digital ID verification, portals for online payments, onboarding questionnaires and source of funds checks. While any new client will still expect a high level of customer care and a personal approach to their transaction, balancing this with modern, digital solutions can expedite the conveyancing process across several different variables.
Aside from making your internal processes more efficient, digitising your client onboarding will also create a client-side process that’s more accessible and appealing to millennial and Gen-Z first-time buyers, giving you a foundation for stronger marketing as we see a shift in first-time buyer demographics.
E-Signatures
E-signatures are one particular aspect of digitising client onboarding that should be applied to every relevant use case when you’re looking to streamline conveyancing operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought e-signature tools into the spotlight as various businesses worked to adapt traditionally in-person processes to a format where they could be carried out without any person-to-person contact. Since the health crisis has calmed down, this technology has stuck around, offering a higher degree of convenience and efficiency for a range of administrative tasks.
When you begin using an e-signature tool as your primary means of finalising documents, you’ll be able to take advantage of:
- Higher efficiency: By sharing documentation instantly through digital channels without having to worry about physical meetings or postage.
- Enhanced security: Many e-signature platforms come with robust security layers like encryption and authentication requirements, helping you ensure that clients’ personal details and other sensitive information is kept confidential throughout the process.
- Easy document tracking: When using traditional document signing methods, it’s usually up to conveyancers to manually update shared resources and confirm the progress of certain pieces of documentation. With e-signatures, these records will be automatically updated by the platform to show who’s signed what agreements and any outstanding actions that need to be taken care of.
- Cost savings: Adopting e-signatures eliminates expenses related to postage, printing, and physical file storage, another way that digitising processes can reduce your overheads and allow you to pass these savings into other areas of your business.
Forward-Thinking Conveyancing
Embracing technologies that haven’t been a part of your conveyancing business processes beforehand can promise great new efficiencies and help you streamline operations.
We hope the introduction to these tech innovations has given you a better understanding of the current state of conveyancing, and helped you deliver a higher standard of service for your clients.
