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Canotec in running for UK legal technology provider of the year

Canotec is celebrating today after being selected as the only print and imaging provider in the UK to have made the shortlist of one the country’s top business awards.

The company will find out in December whether it will be crowned Legal Technology Provider of The Year at The British Legal Awards 2010 in London.

Judges shortlisted Canotec after a submission showing how the company deploys green IT in the legal sector to substantially reduce paper volumes, enhance business production needs and cut print management costs. Partnering with South Coast firm Lester Aldridge, for instance, Canotec’s solutions saw total output volumes drop by 160,000 pages a month or, in green terms, 19 trees at month, saving £45,000 instantly in running costs, let alone associated energy savings.

Meanwhile, nearly 200,000 pages at Bond Pearce, which has 700 staff in five offices, have been saved within the first month alone this summer after Canotec implemented its ‘less-paper’ legal technology solutions, saving up to £50,000 a year. Bond Pearce’s annual paper consumption was twice the height of the world’s tallest building.

In both cases, time wasted chasing paper is now invested in meaningful work that contributes to bottom-line profitability and client satisfaction.

Recognising the impact of the recurring document challenge in the legal sector, Canotec set up a dedicated legal team to help advise and deliver a more efficient and cost-effective answer for a ‘less paper law firm’.

They integrate best-of-breed legal systems with cutting-edge document printing and management platforms.

At Bond Pearce, Canotec ‘lived’ in the account to understand the challenges - cultural and technical - and hand-held the client whilst implementing a simplified and more powerful answer to the firm’s document output and capture needs. A bespoke website portal was even created to reassure device users.

A 60-strong fleet of new Canon multi-function printers (MFPs), which are enabled with eCopy, leveraged Bond Pearce’s existing investment in key legal systems, including cost recovery (Copitrak) and information and client management (Interwoven).

Canotec, the legal solutions provider to , also simplifies scanning, document capture and matter-centric document filing through customising and integrating eCopy-enabled MFPs.

Talking of eCopy, it is used by 45% of the Legal Top 200. With 400 installations in Canotec’s own client portfolio, this best-of-breed legal scanning portal converts paper to digital workflows into the key legal case, practice, CRM and EDM system, as well as Equitrac and Billback. Steve Weir, the Managing Director of Canotec, said: “We’re up against some British heavyweights, who are seasoned veterans, in the Legal Technology Provider of the Year shortlist.

“The fact that we are stands testament to the service we are providing customers as the specialist in legal document management and legal printing solutions. At the same time we’re driving down related costs for them, which will contribute to each customer’s bottom line.

“As with all our clients, there was a lot of effort, work and attention to detail applied in the design and implementation of the Bond Pearce project. Even if we don’t win, to be recognised on the national stage for what we do is fantastic.”

The British Legal Awards 2010, which takes place at Billingsgate Market on December 2, is run by Legal Week – a leading national publication for the legal sector.

Other contenders in Canotec’s category are Autonomy, FWBS, LexisNexis, Recommind and Rekoop.

Did you know? In document output alone a typical law firm with 100 staff will consume two million sheets of paper or 238 paper-generating pine trees per annum. An unnecessary proportion of that volume will be a waste of time and money.

View the Legal Week shortlist!