We talk to Nigel Williams, the LexisNexis Product Manager for Visualfiles about Visualfiles 2014 — the latest release.
Prior to acquisition by LexisNexis in 2006, Visualfiles was the dominant player in the conveyancing workflow market. However, some indecision on the part of the previous management regimes in defining future product direction after acquisition created doubt and uncertainty about the longevity of the platform in the market.
Recently though, many conveyancing firms are looking to move to Visualfiles 2014, the latest version of this legal workflow and case management system. Just last month, myhomemove announced its decision to upgrade from the predecessor system, SolCase, to Visualfiles 2014. And according to official HM Land Registry statistics, about half of the top 15 conveyancing firms (by volume) power their operations with Visualfiles technology. So we thought we would learn more about this change in attitude towards the solution and what this means for the market in general.
Nigel Williams, the Product Manager for Visualfiles explained that LexisNexis had, over a period of time, acquired a number of overlapping solutions resulting in an unclear market message. However, late in 2012 an in-depth review identified that Visualfiles was still the most effective solution on the market, particularly for volume case management operations such as conveyancing, debt recovery and personal injury, but that a user experience (look and feel) modernisation project was in order.
Williams added, “The previous versions of Visualfiles still perform fantastically well, but the user experience for the conveyancer or fee earner was a little tired. People are familiar with the Microsoft Office suite and want all their software to look and feel like that. So for the Visualfiles 2014 release, we have focused on improving the user experience, ensuring that the interface matches users’ Microsoft Office version.”
He went on to say, “People buy with their eyes first and until the release of the new software, we may not have been perceived as a modern system, despite the proven power of the solution under the hood.”
LexisNexis provides a range of starter packs to allow conveyancing firms to be up and running quickly, whilst at the same time benefiting from the Visualfiles toolkit to tailor the solution to suit the firm’s own specific business needs. “The unique element of Visualfiles is that it supports the firm on ‘day one’ but allows ultimate flexibility to grow and evolve as the business changes — including the ability to build completely new workflow solutions,” Williams elaborated.
According to Williams, conveyancing is one of the key focus markets for Visualfiles investment under a revitalised LexisNexis roadmap. He anticipates that many more firms will move to Visualfiles 2014 in 2015 and beyond because the solution is powerful and well suited to the business requirements of this sector.
