Over past few months we’ve updated you on our vision for FilePro 2020 and our ongoing client feedback survey.
We’re happy to say we’re now 40% through the roll out of the survey, and there have already been a number of meaningful suggestions.
For the first time, we are asking firms to distribute the survey to multiple staff across multiple roles in the practice which has given us a much more diverse series of responses.
To those who have replied, thank you. And to those who are yet to take the survey, rest assured, you will have an opportunity to contribute.
This article is a small update on some key takeaways and how we are responding to them. We will cover trends and more importantly, some consistent feedback that we are receiving.
Key Learnings
1. Breadth and depth of communication
We have heard, consistently, that we haven’t been communicating with a sufficient number of people in your practice. Traditionally, we have only communicated with our key contact, usually the practice manager.
The responses show that people clearly want to be better informed, particularly in terms of new features and how we are updating the user experience and interface.
This includes everything from simple ‘how-to’ and ‘where-can-I-get’ information, to more complex features like workflow, document assembly and document management.
As a first step, we want to encourage all staff members to subscribe to our eNewsletter, which we will continue to use as our key communication vehicle. Every month we give information on our complete re-write/upgrade, as well as best practice for using FilePro.
Over the last few years we have also included ‘Help Desk’ support in our file price. We want to encourage all users to call our National Resource Centre (NRC) team with any query – no matter how seemingly small.
We want to re-engage with our 4000 plus users and take your calls. It will be great if all staff are given our 1800 049 790 number. It is not a logging system, the phone will be answered by a real person who will welcome your call.
2. Erosion of knowledge
We are clearly seeing an erosion in knowledge of FilePro’s capabilities, across broad functionalities, features and reports. This is in part a result of the above, but also due to staff turnover.
When onboarding a new firm, almost all users undertake our various training courses. However, over time there is a reduction in hand-me-down knowledge due to fading memories and staff not acknowledging new features, especially as more new staff join.
This learning is best demonstrated in the following quote from a client who has been using FilePro for 15 years.
“Garth – I’d like to introduce you to Emma … who is FilePro’s biggest advocate … and who has been instrumental in (helping us) … recognise the true glory of the system.
Over the last month or so Emma has given us group CPD and other focussed training on various underutilised elements of FilePro which we can use to benefit the practice.”
We appreciate users like Emma who become FilePro’s internal champion. However, we would also encourage our clients to ask us for training support rather than feel like they are on their own.
3. Training and preferably face to face
The clearest and by far the biggest trend is a request for more training – the preference is almost unanimously for face-to-face training. This feedback came from nearly 80% of responders.
This is probably the most telling and relates strongly to the first two learnings.
Unlimited training
Based on this feedback, we would like to deliver unlimited training to all clients and staff. We have already had a number of meetings around this subject and are fully committed to providing what our clients are asking for.
We will work towards providing this service with a variety of options, including:
- Training videos and articles through our eNewsletter, such as our video on document review
- Webinars
- Face-to-face training, both in our training rooms and off site ‘pop-ups’ (coming soon to Perth CBD).
- Training for groups with refreshers and updates
- Onboarding of new staff
Both demographically (practice size) and geographically, this presents us with a challenge. Providing this service professionally and comprehensively comes at a cost, including additional training staff.
We will explore this further, along with pricing options. As no firm likes to receive additional invoices for training, particularly if they get in the way of these new training resources, we are considering a “support” style levy included in the file price.
We need to be confident that we can gear up with both training product and personnel to provide this unlimited training service within your file price.
If you would like to have direct input into this evaluation process please do not hesitate to contact myself directly on 0419 902 624 or Todd Keeler on 0438 170 781.
Summary
I trust this article has provided some real-time feedback to your responses and our initiatives to react positively to them.
As mentioned, these are just the key takeaways. There are a number of firm specific responses that our state managers and support staff will address directly.
We reaffirm our commitment to this feedback process and encourage future recipients to engage as many staff as possible in the survey.
David Keeler
CEO