Interview with Elizabeth Jarvis, Managing Director of OneSearch Direct

Interview with Elizabeth Jarvis, Managing Director of OneSearch Direct

A month ago Elizabeth Jarvis was appointed as Managing Director of OneSearch Direct. Ronnie Park is no doubt a tough act to follow so Elizabeth told Today’s Conveyancer how she plans to do that…

What’s your background Elizabeth?

“I’ve been with OneSearch for 20 years – since the company was fairly new – starting off in a junior role in the data team. Because the company grew so quickly, it offered lots of opportunities. I moved into the search production team, where I produced the conveyancing searches and gained valuable, in-depth knowledge of the data that underpinned it all. From there, I moved into a series of management roles, and became Operations Director ten years ago. It’s safe to say I know the company inside out, and I understand the importance of being accurate and fast; of turning data around quickly by gathering it from the local authorities and getting it into our database. I’ve pretty much done every job in the company – and now I have a new one.”

What do you like about working in the search industry?

“I enjoy it because it’s always changing; there are always new developments. For instance, the Land Registry initiative has the potential to create great opportunities, and the fact that CON 29 is going to change means we are always reviewing the ways in which we collect some of our data.

“The technology in the industry makes it really interesting too – it’s evolving so rapidly. I would say I most enjoy making partnerships with other organisations. We supply data to Ordnance Survey, for example, and we now produce Landmark’s new highways searches.”

What is unique about OneSearch?

“We’re the only search company with local authority search datasets, so that makes us stand out – the fact we’re a data company as well as a search company. There’s a great culture in the company as well. We have such a low turnover of staff; many of our people have been with us for over ten years and others, like me, for over 20. And we all derive a great pride from what we do. New clients who visit us always say: ‘The staff here are so enthusiastic.’ But we never grow bored because every day is different.

“We have 100 staff all in – 60 based in our head office in Glasgow, and employees around the country who go into local authorities and collect data. We hold regional meetings throughout the year and I always attend those, so I understand what challenges our people are facing on the ground. I also sit on COPSO – I’m an executive member – so I can feed into COPSO what people are experiencing. It has always been important for me to be around and see first-hand what’s happening.”

What are the big issues in the search space at the moment?

“Aside from the Land Registry causing quite a buzz, I find the changes to CPD requirements an interesting move – it’s a good opportunity for search companies to look at new ways of assisting our customers. OneSearch are planning to host seminars and offer training tools for law firms and their staff. Having been in the industry 25 years, we are well versed flagging up good practice and potential pitfalls.

“Compliance is key in our industry, and since our solicitor clients are being increasingly pressed for perfection, so too are we. Solicitors have to be satisfied that we take compliance seriously. The search codes our industry subscribes to, enforced by the Property Codes Compliance Board, are evolving all the time – and that’s quite correct. I’ve been the compliance officer in our business for over ten years now, and we’ve also had Legal Eye in to audit how we do things and make sure we’re keeping standards high from that point of view.”

What changes might we see at OneSearch Direct now you’re in charge Elizabeth?

“My focus is on doing what we’re best at and that’s providing accurate, timely searches to our conveyancing customers. I’ll also concentrate on continuing our tradition of excellent customer service; we make a real effort to get to know our customers, ringing and introducing ourselves when they sign up and making sure everyone has a dedicated member of the OneSearch team. We have very tight SLAs for response times: all customer enquiries are responded to within 24-hours and we look to resolve matters within 48-hours. Our customers are always provided with ETAs, so they know we’re working on their enquiries. It’s all about keeping people informed. I know solicitors are often pressured in the jobs they do – their clients are constantly calling them for updates – and we completely empathise with that. The better we do our jobs, the better they can do theirs.

“I’m also enthusiastic about opportunities to provide data to other industries. We’re backed by Souter Investments, and we were delighted to welcome Sir Brian Souter to our office HQ for a recent visit. He is very committed to backing us in finding new ways of growing through partnerships and other complementary directions in which to utilise our data.”

For more information about OneSearch Direct, log on to www.onesearchdirect.co.uk

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