“WTAF”.

This was a journalist’s reaction to my describing how a law firm was using a single Word document to store the details of every case they were running.

Yes – all their business data in just one big file.

The combination of the risk of data loss, with only one person able to update it and the inability to extract any useful information, made this digitisation strategy all the more shocking.

Especially given the media bombardment we have been subject to about how technology will change the house buying and selling process.

Because let’s face it, if you believe these online experts, whether you are a lawyer, estate agent, surveyor or mortgage broker, the message is clear.

Digitise or die.

Digitise or digitalise?

Before we get too carried away, it’s safe to assume most business owners understand that “going digital” is the future.  Indeed, most lawyers I interview tell me their previous law firms, were “moving towards a paperless environment”.

However, for many, the reason for doing this was to “reduce the money spent on paper.”

A colleague of mine came from a firm that claimed to be fully digitised.   Their solution was a huge Word document for every case, into which they copied and pasted PDFs of letters that had been emailed to them.  They spent a lot of time searching through those Word documents.

You couldn’t make it up.

Given this evidence, it appears business owners are failing to grasp the difference between digitisation and its grown up cousin, digitalisation.

Digitisation is the process of converting information from a physical format into a digital one – like those individuals who scanned letters as PDFs and pasted them into a Word document.

Digitalisation on the other hand is where the information is actually leveraged; for example, storing enquiries electronically that can be marked as outstanding or complete, or having live checklists that change depending on the type of case.

Digitisation for the sake of it helps no-one.

Especially when an intern who doesn’t need paying, mistakenly deletes that massive Word document with all the case details in it.

The government’s not really a role model here

I genuinely think they wanted to help.

They created the Home Buying and Selling Group (HBSG) whose aim was to investigate how to improve the home buying and selling process.

Intriguingly, most of the members of HBSG appear to be groups of their own rather than individuals, which certainly helps when it comes to ensuring anonymity.

Which is probably just as well, given that despite technology being the number one issue right now, the only tangible output of this group’s lengthy investigations is somewhat underwhelming.

Because, according to this elusive group of groups, there is a simple and cheap solution to the chronic underperformance in the house selling and buying process.

It’s a new form.

It’s called the Buyers and Sellers Property Information Form – or BASPI for short.  Unlike the form, which at 16 pages long, really isn’t short.

It asks lots of questions like, “Number of years remaining on the lease” and “is your property a listed building”.

Frankly, I’m amazed no-one has thought of it before.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before they make a Word version so people can copy and paste it into their own Word-based case trackers.

Why bother talking about this?

When I write about the inefficiencies I see first-hand in the legal industry today, it normally gets the response of “yeah, yeah – lawyers are inefficient – this is not news”.

But this is missing the point.

This broad-brush criticism of lawyers does not address the problem nor identify the flaws in the thinking of decision makers or technology providers who offer the wrong solutions to the wrong problems.

Let’s face it – lawyers need to adopt the correct solutions but for that, they need to ask the right questions.   It’s a little like when we discuss conveyancing with agents – we give them the information to ask the right questions of lawyers, not just the answers.

Conclusion

Just because it is possible to store all the details about a case in a single Word document, doesn’t mean you should.

Digitisation by itself does not solve the problem of improving the house buying and selling process – it’s storing data in a way that it can be used, digitalisation, which is the key.

Otherwise, to quote my journalist friend, “WTAF” do business owners think digitisation will do for them?

Peter Ambrose is the owner and managing director of The Partnership specialising in the delivery of conveyancing service.