About Dacre, Son & Hartley

As one of the longest-established firms of property consultants in Yorkshire, Dacre, Son & Hartley are experts at assisting their clients through all aspects of property transactions – be it buying, selling or entering into a tenancy.

With an office in the VoicePower neighbourhood of Harrogate, as well as Ilkley, Burley, Keighley, and Skipton, it’s fair to say these guys know their stuff.

We caught up with Patrick McCutcheon – Head of Residential at Dacre, Son & Hartley to discuss how they ditched the pre-historic analogue tapes for brand-new Philips dictation software and why.

The Problem

Patrick identified that the inefficiencies of their previous analogue tape system were the prime drivers that led them to switch solutions. He explained: “Our company’s administrative support operates from several disconnected locations and offices.”

“The handover of work would not happen until authors returned from out-of-office visits. This meant that all of the dictation tapes were returned at once, equalling quiet periods followed by extremely busy periods. Patrick depicted this as “a lack of full-time workflow”.

Similarly, the team confessed that this restricted staff members who needed to work from home.

The Solution

VoicePower Ltd met with Dacre, Son & Hartley for an assessment of their current workflow and the requirements of the business.

Both companies agreed that Philips SpeechLive dictation software was the best workflow solution for their requirements, given consideration of their existing dictation and IT infrastructures.

Most noteworthy, it allows you to upload, play and download dictation files and send them to your assistant. Alternatively, users can have them transcribed using speech recognition software or transcription services.

Find Out More About Philips SpeechLive.

An Advantage Over Their Competitors

The versatility of SpeechLive is evident. Patrick states the company uses it to:

• Prepare reports
• Create marketing material
• General letters

Most noteworthy, Patrick expressed that he and his team can “Complete these tasks whilst users are either working within office environments or our operation field areas.”

Hence, Patrick identifies the speed of documentation as the key benefit of their new product, stating “We can submit dictation and confirmatory reports and letters to potential clients very quickly.”

Ultimately, the previous issue of the lack of a full-time workflow is no longer.

“Admin staff now have a constant flow of work. They no longer have to wait for others to return from activities away from the office.” – Patrick McCutcheon

As a result of the above benefits, the company as a whole can spend more time “Making the most of other opportunities such as selling our services.”

When asked about the effect that Philips SpeechLive dictation software has had on their customer care, Patrick revealed: “We have reduced waiting times by 50%”

Expert Training

Dacre, Son & Hartley decided to opt-in for our specialist product training. To that end, Patrick explained that…

“The training secures ‘buy-in’ and investment of the system across the group and ensures we can maximise efficiencies.” – Patrick McCutcheon

As demonstrated by Patrick and his team, digital dictation users are saving vast amounts of time and resources.

Thanks to sending dictations virtually via an internet connection, the physical delivery of tapes is spared. Furthermore, admin staff can prioritise jobs and avoid a ‘feast or famine’ scenario – When many jobs come through at once.