Attorney Bruce Block spent the middle part of the 1980s watching his collections practice grow out of control. Processing each file by hand had become cumbersome, creating volumes of paperwork and capping employee productivity.
“It was inevitable,” recalls Block, now a partner at Cleveland’s Javitch, Block, Eisen & Rathbone. “If I was to keep up with business, I had to automate.”
Before he searched for a software package to help remove the mounds of paperwork from his office, Block contacted fellow attorney and avid computer programmer Joel Rathbone for advice. The pair ultimately found a software provider who could help, but the vendor went out of business 12 months later. Once again, Block was left without the crucial software he needed.
It was then that Rathbone was putting the finishing touches on a program he had written, and one he believed just might be the solution to Block’s problem.
“One thing led to another and we ended up forming a partnership using this software as a platform for running a collections operation,” recalls Block. “We just rolled on from there.”
Rathbone’s custom software — installed in 1989 — was a boon for JBER, which ultimately attracted heavy-hitting clients including Bank One and Nationwide Insurance. It grew from a meager staff of five to today’s count of 115 employees.
When it comes to cutting edge technology, law firms don’t usually come to mind as the businesses that set the pace. For collections firms like JBER, though, the pressure to integrate new technology is heavy. Most high-volume national clients, Block explains, have their own lists of technological demands.
“If you want to do collection work in the year 2000 on a volume basis, and work with the type of national clients we represent, you have no choice to not only be fully automated, but almost be state-of-the-art fully automated,” he says. “Every client has a different requirement for how they do business with us.”
The core strength of Rathbone’s computer program is the sheer speed and efficiency with which JBER is able to do business and keep in contact with its clients. Customers receive electronically generated daily status reports via e-mail, which recount any activity — no matter how small — on each account.
“Every time we touch a file, every time one of our collectors makes a phone call, the essence of that phone call is transmitted back to the clients to keep them up-to-date with what’s happening with that file,” Block explains.
Instead of unwieldy and time-consuming hard copies, information is delivered to JBER by e-mail, tape or disk. JBER, in turn, loads that information into the firm’s computer system. For the end user at JBER, a special interface program, which displays file information in a familiar format, is used to check for accuracy.
Many times, one employee can review 1,000 files during a single workday, Rathbone says.
“You’re eliminating the key punch part. That’s a significant time savings.”
Even if he wanted to, Block says it would be impossible to go back to handling files manually because of the sheer volume of work the firm handles from a client base that includes insurance companies, banks and government taxing authorities.
“If a client wants to send you 1,000 files, how can you deal with it but electronically?” says Block. “We’ll have clients sending us 4,000 or 5,000 files at a time and they expect us to actively pursue that many files that quickly.”
Even with daily status reports, Rathbone wanted to develop a way for clients to check on the files via the law firm’s Web site. That, however, creates a new problem.
Although the Internet has revolutionized modern business relationships, financial institutions — like the ones JBER routinely deals with — are a little apprehensive about possible security risks.
“We wanted to go slow with Internet access because many of our clients are financial institutions and they are trying to be very cautious about privacy issues,” explains Rathbone. “It really wasn’t until a few months ago that they came out with 128-bit encryption code, which is secure enough that you don’t worry about eavesdroppers.”
Accessing files via the ’Net has its advantages, though. Clients can look up files and search for specific information with just a few keystrokes instead of wading through the daily status reports JBER delivers. All that’s needed is a personal computer and an Internet connection.
So far, customers seem to be warming to the idea.
“We probably have 10 or 15 clients at this point,” says Block. “And the list expands every day.”
Developing proprietary software has helped JBER, but Rathbone warns it is a job that is never really finished. The average program needs modifications every 12 to 24 months, while a complete rewrite is often necessary after five years.
JBER’s program has already lasted 10 years. But the speed with which technology changes has set the stage for its three full-time computer programmers to update Rathbone’s original program, a process that will likely take a full year from start to finish. It is a process that also requires Rathbone to become a fortuneteller of sorts when it comes to determining how the update should be designed.
“We’re rewriting past what the current database platforms can do, and we are hoping the database platforms can catch up with what we’re writing,” he says. “That’s kind of a scary thought. But if you have the vision of what you want the system to do, that’s what you have to do.”
It is always better to look for commercial products on the market before building a program from scratch, Rathbone says, especially if it means hiring someone from outside the company to do the job. For business owners who decide a program simply must be custom-built for the application they need, Rathbone suggests finding a design crew that will stay with the company until the job is complete.
“I have to make sure that the same people I start with are the same people I’m going to finish with,” explains Rathbone. “Bringing someone up to speed halfway through costs a lot of money. There’s a huge learning curve.
“If I was starting a proprietary system and doing it with an in-house staff, I’d make sure I keep that staff the entire length of the project.”
How to reach: Javitch, Block, Eisen & Rathbone, (216) 623-0000
Jim Vickers (jvickers @sbnnet.com) is an associate editor at SBN.