AJS Update June 2010

In this issue:

Reason to celebrate

In May, AJS reached the 10,000 users landmark. "It’s quite exciting that we have reached this milestone just a couple of months before we celebrate AJS’ 30th birthday (in August)," says Chris Pearson, chairman of the group. "We’re also proud of the fact that many of our clients have been with us for over 20 years. Now that’s worth celebrating!"

Jabulani!

On December 4th, Adidas and FIFA officially unveiled the Adidas "JABULANI", the Official Match Ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. The "JABULANI", which means "to celebrate" in isiZulu, features a South African inspired design and radically new technology.

The newly developed "Grip ’n Groove" profile provides the best players in the world with a ball allowing an exceptionally stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions. Comprising only eight completely new thermally bonded 3-D panels which for the first time are spherically molded, the ball is perfectly round and even more accurate than ever before.

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FIC Update

ROLL-OUT OF THE FIRST PHASE OF THE CASH THRESHOLD REPORT PROCESS - 7 MAY 2010

The Financial Intelligence Centre is pleased to inform all attorneys practising in South Africa of its intention to start implementing the Cash Threshold Report (CTR) obligation in terms of section 28 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 2001 (FIC Act). This new obligation will be rolled out in various phases starting later in this year. Attorneys fall in the first category of the roll out process. The prescribed threshold limit will be R25,000 or the equivalent foreign denomination value calculated at the time that the transaction is concluded. For more information visit the FIC website on www.fic.gov.za or forward enquiries to +27 860 342 342 or email to: servicedesk@fic.gov.za.

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Are you using the AJS Helpdesk yet?

Did you know that you can now log your support requests by emailing support@ajs.co.za? The advantage of logging your support requests through the AJS helpdesk is that nothing slips through the cracks. All tasks are numbered and allocated to a support person, which means that your support request gets resolved more quickly.

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Meet the team—Barbara Swart

Meet Barbara, another of our senior AJS support consultants, based in Johannesburg. You have probably already met Barbara—either in person or "online", since she has been with AJS forever!

While studying, Barbara used to help out in the accounts department at the attorneys where her Mom worked—and they used AJS. "That was in 1992 somewhere," says Barbara. "I have left once or twice, but somehow, I was still always involved with AJS support—even when I wasn’t working for the company. I think AJS is a lifetimers’ club—once you’re in, you never leave!" she says. Barbara has two girls—Cara (8) and Danae (6), and she spends as much time as she can with them. She loves the outdoors, and enjoys cycling—with the kids!

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Google Calculator

Ever needed to do a quick calculation but don't have a calculator at hand? No problem, since you can simply type your calculation into the Google search window, like this:

Then press Enter, and the answer will be displayed like this:

Google also includes some other really useful tools in its search window! Try these out for yourself:

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Can computers cause knee pain?

"I have a burning pain in my knee that keeps me awake at night," I told my physio. After taking a look at me he told me I had a rotated pelvis. "Hang on," I said, "it’s my knee that hurts, not my lower back."

"Do you spend long hours working on a computer?" he asked. I told him I did. "Is your screen positioned in front of you, or to one side of your desk?" he continued. "To the side," I replied.

And that was it! It turns out that the pain in my knee was referred pain from a pinched nerve brought on by my rotated pelvis, which was caused by the fact that my screen is to one side of my desk. So although I was sitting square-on at my desk, I was twisting my back to look at the screen. So I have now moved my screen to be right in front of me. Another possibility the physio raised was that I may be crossing my legs when I sit at my desk, which would exacerbate the situation. So—if you are experiencing a similar thing, moving your screen and keeping both feet firmly on the ground might just solve your problem too!

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Did you know? Quick keys in AJS

AJS includes a number of quick keys for users who don’t like using their mouse! Here are two of the most–often used:

At most fields where a date is required, pressing <Ctrl>+<D> will display a calendar to select dates.

At most fields where an account number is required <Ctrl>+<F> will display the search screen.

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Philip Serfontein

Appointed as Support Controller in Johannesburg

By now, many of you will already have spoken to Philip, since he is the gatekeeper for all helpdesk support requests. Believe it or not, Philip studied Medicine in Bloemfontein at The University of the Free State for five years, but then changed course and did a B.Sc. Psychology (Hons) degree. (Philip even delivered 27 babies while doing Medicine!)

After his studies Philip worked as Admin Manager at a property developer and in 2001 left the country and worked at Roadtrain Ltd in Dublin, Ireland as Financial Controller for 7 years. Thereafter he worked for Europcar in Ireland as Pricing & Yield Manager until the end of January 2010 before returning home to South Africa.

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AJS Update December 2009

The end of conveyancing?

In his latest book "The End of Lawyers?" legal IT guru Richard Susskind speaks of the inevitable movement from bespoke work to commoditisation. Susskind cites the 5 stages as Bespoke, Standardised, Systematised, Packaged, and Commoditised. Conveyancing is a typical example of a service on its way to being commoditised. Sure, it is overseen by a conveyancer, but generally it is the paralegals that do the work. In South Africa, the rigorous process of property transfer has prevented conveyancing from being deregulated, although there were attempts to wrest conveyancing from the profession a few years ago. Of course, in the current recession law firms are less worried about deregulation than they would have been two to three years ago, when conveyancing was a major contributor of fees for many practices. But as property slowly regains momentum, it is worth assessing whether conveyancing will continue to be worthwhile for law firms, and indeed whether conveyancing will continue to be reserved for the legal profession.

As we have seen over the years, change doesn’t happen easily. Having said that, there are 7 potential factors that could drive change in Conveyancing:

  1. The first modifier will be that banks will steer almost all of their work to empowered law firms. They have certainly been speaking about this for long enough, but with the slowdown they are actively starting to implement this strategy. So for non-BEE firms, they may find bank work drying up, if it hasn’t already.
  2. Banks are also limiting their panels, whereas in the past it was near impossible to do so because property developers and originators dictated which firms would do their conveyancing. But now that the banks have the upper hand once again, they are trimming their panels substantially.
  3. Banks are also starting to take control of their own bank-critical mortgage documentation which was previously produced by conveyancing software vendors. In time, banks may take this one step further where they bring mortgage document production in-house entirely. For a long time now banks have been unhappy with their lack of control of the conveyancing documentation, and by doing this themselves, they will be better placed to manage all aspects of mortgage registration.
  4. Previously, mortgage originators and large estate agencies fought hard for deregulation so they could get into the lucrative conveyancing market. However, post recession, mortgage originators and large estate agents have lost their clout, and banks have seized back control of their destinies. But, given the reduced commissions being earned by originators, they may well renew their call for deregulation once the property market picks up.
  5. The Deeds Office has been talking about the electronic registration of Deeds for many years now, but 18 months ago it finally looked like some real progress was being made. Unfortunately, the economy faltered, and the Deeds Office found itself short of funding to develop the e-DRS system. Of course, there are many who argue that it is unlikely that we will see an electronic registration system in South Africa for many years to come, but if and when it does happen it is going to greatly simplify the registration process, since data will be registered - and not documents. This will mean that there will be substantially less for the conveyancers to do.
  6. The recession has also caused a restructure in many of the larger firms who were mainly focused on conveyancing. As a result, a number of lawyers elected (or were pushed) to go out on their own. As the property market comes back, it is likely that these new breakaways will vie strongly for a share of the transfers market. More importantly, it is also likely that they will be prepared to discount their services since they will have lower overheads than their larger counterparts, and they will also be hungrier. This competition will significantly reduce the profit margin from conveyancing, to the point where many of the established firms will think twice before chasing the conveyancing market again.
  7. The other aspect that will affect the conveyancing market is the establishment of ‘factories’ — law firms or vendors providing back office processing. In the case of law firms, they’ll need big volumes in order to survive, and will either look to win this business themselves (at a discount), or will provide a processing service for law firms who are prepared to outsource their conveyancing. Either way, this will remove some of the profitability associated with conveyancing.

Of course, having said all of this, apathy and fear of change may mean that things remain as they are for a long time to come. Electronic registration could continue to be on the back-burner, until something changes which forces the introduction of electronic registration. Banks might be content not to incur the costs of doing their own conveyancing, and perhaps conveyancers might realise that creating a price war (again) is not the way to go. But as Susskind says, there will always be a slow and inexorable move towards commoditisation. And commoditisation appears to have conveyancing firmly in its sights.

New AJS website

We have finally upgraded our website! In the near future we will add our electronic helpdesk to the website, so that you will be able to log support calls and request enhancements online. The Smart Helpdesk will also allow you to track the progress of your support log 24/7.

Helpdesk for all registered users of AJS

Did you know that as a registered client of AJS you can call our helpdesk on 0861-265-376 for assistance? If you currently use one of our certified partners for support, you can still log your call with the helpdesk, and they will refer your query to your regular support agent. The advantage of logging all support calls with the helpdesk is that the call is logged, and this means that it won’t slip through the cracks.

 

 

AJS/GhostConvey integration — new

At long last the integration between GhostConvey and AJS has been completed. This means that GhostConvey users can now open new accounts in AJS from within GhostConvey, whereas before the account needed to be opened in both GhostConvey and the AJS accounting system. In addition, selective conveyancing fees can now be posted to the accounting system, which also saves time. The AJS integration with GhostConvey is provided at R30 per user per month, excluding VAT, and setup and training is charged for at normal support rates. For more information, call the AJS Helpdesk on 0861-265-376.

File Cover labels — new in AJS

Another really useful new feature in version 5.7.4 of AJS is the file cover label. Three standard designs are available, and if these don’t meet your needs, custom designs can be done for you. The file labels feature is free to all licensed clients with the new version of AJS, and setup and customisation of the label is charged at normal support rates. For more information, call the AJS Helpdesk on 0861-265-376.

AJS turns 30 in 2010

This is already "old" news, but we thought we’d mention it again in our last newsletter for 2009. Did you know that 2010 will be AJS’ 30th birthday? Originally released in 1980, AJS continues to lead the legal accounting and practice management landscape today. Of course, AJS is a very different product nowadays, and in addition to the rock-solid legal accounting platform, it has been enhanced to include a number of other productivity tools such as document management, electronic communication, contact management and FICA, and a host of other features designed to make law firms more profitable. Today, AJS is trusted by more than five hundred law firms in South Africa, from small single-practitioner firms to many of the largest law firms in the country.

Fransisca Keyser joins AJS

You may already have come across Fransisca Keyser who fronts our support helpdesk. Fransisca has a long history with AJS and we are pleased to announce that she has returned to the fold!

Charl Dreyer partners with O2Smart

We are also pleased to announce that Charl Dreyer has partnered with us in our XpressDox business to promote international sales. Charl was formerly the Head of Product Development at Korbitec. "We’re very fortunate to have Charl on board, and he has already made a tremendous difference to our organisation," said Chris Pearson, Chairman of the O2Smart Group.

 

How good are your backups?

If you’re like many other law firms out there, you probably aren’t too worried about losing your information. But, according to DataPreserve, an online backup vendor overseas, "Nineteen out of twenty firms that lose their data due to a hard drive crash, tape malfunction, fire or other data disaster, will file for bankruptcy."

They’re just being alarmist, right? Maybe not. In the past 6 months AJS staff have come across three law firms that suffered data loss.

The first had a fire, which destroyed their file server, and along with it all their accounting information. Fortunately for them, they had good off-site backups, and they were limping along again after about a week.

The second firm had a hard disk crash, and ten days later, despite having reasonable backups, they were still battling to get up and running again.

The third firm to lose their hard drive had no backups. They had entrusted their backups to their hardware vendor, but the vendor hadn’t done them. Their only option was to start capturing their information again - from scratch. While that may not sound like a disaster, bear in mind that in addition to the disruption, they also lost much of their debtor information.

So, here is our advice:

  1. Take your backups seriously.
  2. Appoint a single senior person at the firm to take responsibility for ensuring your backups are sound.
  3. Keep a copy of your backup off-site.
  4. Lastly, ensure that your backup will actually restore if you need it to.

And don’t gamble that it won’t happen to you.

New version of AJS

A few months ago we released version 5.7 of AJS, which includes a number of improvements over previous versions. The client-search has been simplified, and we have added a conflict of interest search. SMS communication has been enhanced to facilitate two-way communication, and there are also a number of new billing options in the fee book. Tariffs have been updated to incorporate the recent tariff increase, and there are also a number of enhancements in the document management and attachments module. We have already started to roll-out the new version to clients, and we hope to have all of our clients on version 5.7 before the end of the year.

That’s the news for this month. If you have any questions, compliments, or complaints, please feel free to email us on sales@ajs.co.za.

We’d also like to take this opportunity of wishing all of our clients well over the holiday season. May you return in the new year invigorated and ready for the challenges of 2010!

AJS Update November 2009

Good news! Free AJS training

As an AJS client, you'll be pleased to hear that we have embarked on a campaign to offer free training to our clients around the country. Generally, we find that law firms shy away from training, yet they sometimes complain when they aren’t getting full use out of the system.

That’s why we have decided to offer this training to help our clients to get more out of our product, and in so doing, to increase their profitability. So keep an eye out for the training dates for your region.

New version of AJS is released

In June 2009 we released version 5.7 of AJS, which includes a number of improvements over previous versions. The client-search has been simplified, and we've added a conflict of interest search. SMS communication has been enhanced to facilitate two-way communication, and there are also a number of new billing options in the fee book.

Tariffs have been updated to incorporate the recent tariff increase, and there are also a number of enhancements in the document management and attachments module. We have already started to roll-out the new version to clients, and we hope to have all of our clients on version 5.7 before the end of the year.

New people at AJS

Over the past few months there have been a number of appointments at AJS: Corné Maritz joins us as Account Manager in Bloemfontein, while Lazell Sprague joins us as Account Manager for the Western and Southern Cape. We also welcome Robyn de Klerk as a Support Consultant in our Johannesburg office. Lastly, Chris Pearson has joined the AJS group as Chairman after spending the past 21 years with Korbitec.