Abacus Case Study
"Abacus has been instrumental in our firm's growth. Our office is by far more organized and functional. Every conversation with clients is noted in their file, every document, every e-mail, every phone call, every payment and all bills are kept in one organized system. We have grown by leaps and bounds."
| Firm Profile | Software Background |
|---|---|
Horizon Elder Law & Estate Planning Elder Law & Estate Planning San Ramon, California |
Were using QuickBooks for accounting, another practice management program for our client database, Excel for case balances, and Microsoft Word for documents. Used paper files for case management. Now using Abacus Law |
| Issue | Before Abacus | After Abacus |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | Client notes were disorganized and hard to find, which led to a slow response time. Managing various clients was difficult without a solid way to update the system. | Efficiency is greatly increased with Abacus. The ability to convert QuickBooks to Abacus reduces time entering information and eliminates the need for keeping separate records for each individual client trust account. The calendar system allows the whole office to access each calendar. |
| Risk | With QuickBooks and Excel spreadsheets for client balances, there were errors found with no way to go back and check the work. There was no system to record information so it was scattered and unorganized. | With more security, the firm can control who has access to what information. The receptionist only has access to calendaring and case files, and is restricted from the accounting program. The paralegal has the ability to bill in the system, which makes life easier for the manager. |
| Customer Service | Difficult to track the status of various clients. Before Abacus, post-it notes and yellow pad notes were getting misplaced or tossed. | Client service has greatly improved due to increased efficiency and billing system. The ability to retrieve docs quickly saves time from having to pull the paper files. Everything is available when a client calls, organized in a clear and orderly fashion. |
| Case Load | Inability to take on new clients hindered the growth of the firm. Spending so much time documenting in so many different ways was not effective or efficient. | Using Abacus tools have improved the firm and expanded its client base. |
| Employee Satisfaction |
The staff had a lot of trouble keeping things organized. Filing systems were all in paper, creating trouble if something was lost. They were using a white board to track who was doing what, which was a disaster. | Everyone in the office is pleased with the new system's organization. They do our regular backups, so the system is safe. There's no worrying about missing papers any more. They all have access to see what is going on for each client. |
| Growth | We literally did not have time to think about growing, we were drowning in the work we had and trying to create our own system to get organized was a nightmare. | Since purchasing Abacus, the firm's business has grown substantially. They have moved to a much larger office and are seeing more than three times the number of clients than they did before using Abacus. |
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Bottom Line: "The Abacus system is responsible for dramatically improving our professionalism and the efficiency in which our office operates. We are so thankful someone has created such an amazing program that is made specifically for law firms." |
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