AJS becomes standard for SA`s legal practices

AJS`s suite of software for the legal practice has become the de facto standard. This is the word from Matthew Spagnoletti, AJS product manager at JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology.

"We`ve developed our software over a period of more than a decade," says Spagnoletti, "and in this time we`ve seen an enormous number of changes take place, in the profession generally, among our clients specifically, and from a technology point of view. Our software has been able to adapt along with these changes, and continue providing our clients with a competitive-edge."

An example of this is incorporated law firm Cliffe Dekker, which turned to AJS Legal to provide it with the depth of management it needed, and to replace its outdated legacy system.

"We had been using the popular Glass system from Korbitek, but it was well past its sell-by date, and needed urgent replacement, not least as support was being terminated," recalls Kevin Lester, a director of Cliffe Dekker.

Implementation on Windows NT began in 2000, in the Sandton branch, with 130 licensed users. Legal went live in June of that year. AJS introduced significant customisation, which was subsequently incorporated into AJS Legal as core functionality.

"This was as smooth an implementation as could be imagined," says Lester. "The conversion of legacy data, from flatfile to post-relational data, was very impressive, and we were able to shut down our legacy early so as to force compliance with the new system."

Cliffe Dekker is enjoying multiple benefits, Lester adds:

* Enhanced back-office control for internal efficiency.

* Detailed management information systems: "Management information is crucial for the efficient running of a legal practice," comments Lester. "AJS Legal gives us this, allowing us to profile our clients, consolidate all our information, and gain a view of how we are performing with individual clients. It allows us to drill down as far as we choose."

* Time recording, billing and invoicing: "This is the most important aspect of the system as far as many of the users are concerned. The system has allowed our professionals to bill effectively on a daily basis and, more importantly, the AJS system allows us total flexibility when invoicing our clients. Every professional, along with their assistant, is responsible for producing their own invoices and AJS automates this vital piece of business administration to suit our particular needs."

Future development has been catered for, says Lester: "AJS has been incredibly responsive to our particular needs." Both the Sandton and Cape Town offices are running smoothly; between them they comprise 260 users live on the system.

Cape-based practice Buchanan Boyes Thomson Smithers has been using AJS Legal for the last decade. Its investment in the software has given it a clear competitive advantage, says Ana Borrageiro, an accountant with the practice. "In recent years, as we have merged our operations with other legal companies and we have standardised on AJS Legal on Windows NT, it has afforded us a 90% increase in productivity without additional staff," says Borrageiro.

"Notwithstanding immense growth experienced in our practice, we have not needed to change or adapt AJS Legal, as it can deal with change, including the running of remote offices. The system has good controls for administering trust funds, an important part of our business, and it has good checks and balances."

Johannesburg-based Norton Lambrianos has been using AJS Debt Management as a debt collection package for financial institutions for two years. "During this period we have enjoyed significantly enhanced productivity," says senior partner Jeff Norton, "due to the product`s batch functionality, which saves our 70 users a great deal of time."

Norton concludes: "The ability to extract management reports for our clients is of great value and enables us to evaluate the performance of our operation."

Global Technology bought AJS in 1999 with a view to providing its banking and financial customers with a comprehensive legal collections system.