HOW CAN THE LATEST AJS HELP YOU?

After all – as always – it is all about your needs.

AJS has been a trusted partner to the legal industry for 43 years now. We have seen how law firms operate, how they try to stay on top of things – even when the odds seem against them. We have admired how lawyers tackle each matter with a certain degree of hope – knowing that despite the difficulties that may arise, they are going to tackle the obstacles anyway.

We have witnessed how caseloads mount – which is always a good thing – but have seen how even the toughest lawyer can buckle under the pressure. And we have always known that it is our duty to step in and provide a supportive hand when called upon to do so.

It’s what we do.

We serve the legal industry.

And in doing so, we provide lawyers and law firms with the tools they need to get the job done more efficiently, more effectively and hopefully in a way that helps keep law firms – like yours – afloat. Equipped to fight another day.

Just as lawyers have had to evolve over the years – with changing laws and regulations and the need to stay on top of technology to swim with their tech savvy clients – so have we. Constantly looking to bolster and improve on what we already offer. Which is all done with the sole purpose of ensuring that your needs are not only met, but your expectations are surpassed. That your requirements are taken into account when developing products that we believe will make your life that much easier.

It is therefore, with this purpose in mind, that we have upgraded some of the features in our current product offerings – after all, our sole purpose is to ensure that your needs are met, are listened to and that we perform better than our counterparts, ensuring that AJS is an obvious partner – as far as your legal tech is concerned.

So, without further ado, we would love to introduce you to some recent upgrades that we think may pique your interest.

Does it take ages to make sense of what is going on your matters?

Step in – improved account enquiries.

Having to look into an account’s history or see what the latest movement is, can sometimes be an arduous task. Simply because with multiple line items it can become overwhelming – especially for the tired eye that has been staring at a computer/laptop screen all day.

We hear you and we get it.

In fact, we are willing to bet that making your account enquiries a simple and easy task is top on your list of must-haves!

So, to help you out (because we listen to your needs and preferences) we have added information that is specific to General Ledger Accounts, Trust, and Trade Creditors Accounts, including month-to-date and year-to-date budgets. No more scrounging around trying to find this sometimes elusive information. It’s right there for you – on the quick view.

And who doesn’t love colour? We know we do!

With the addition of 11 colours to the account enquiry settings, your accounts can be made rainbow bright – allowing for the easy identification of different transaction types.

Account enquiries are a complete financial record of the matter at hand together with attaching documents, notes, emails and consultations.

Seriously, what more could you ask for? Account enquiries made easy? Done and dusted!

Do you feel as if logging a support call is a pointless exercise?

Sure, we hear you. Sometimes it is. But our solution is providing better support structures.

With other legal tech providers, it may sometimes feel like support is just a word. Where logging a support call for a simple question can take hours, if not days to get a reply on. That’s not providing help. That’s causing nuisance. And it’s not how we operate at AJS.

What’s the point of offering support if you don’t actually offer it?

We agree, which is why we ensure our support process is easy, quick and always gets you the help you need.

To not leave you hanging, we have added two support options –

1. Option 1 – log a support request directly from AJS. All you have to do is click on the link to go to the client portal. There you will be assigned a ticket number and receive an email immediately from AJS ensuring you can track the progress of your support request or add any information you think is relevant. This option not only ensures accountability on our side, but also ensures “heads roll” should there be no progress on your support ticket. And we just know that gives one a sense of satisfaction, especially when time is of the essence.
2. Option 2 – book for free online training directly from AJS. All you need to do is choose your classroom of topics and select the date and time that suits you best. You can book for as many different classes, or repeat sessions, as you need. No judgment, just support.

They may not sound like “big deals”, but these are just two more ways we are making the AJS system even simpler to use.

And that’s support we can put our stamp on.

Do payment requisitions feel like a pain?

Yip. We get it. Trust us. So, to help out, we have improved on our payment requisitions and payment release processes.

We have taken the pain out of payment requisitions and payment releases by adding a “popup” of all requisition details (including supporting documents) when authorising or releasing a payment. Making the navigation between requisitions and payments easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. And this becomes especially important if you are in a “responsible role”, such as the authoriser or releaser. Knowing exactly what you are authorising or releasing is important, so letting you know should be too. In fact, one screen will show you everything you need to know.

The bookkeeper can see the reason and name of the authoriser who rejected the payment requisition, making tracing any hold-up simple. In addition, by ensuring that changes can only be made by the firm’s bookkeeper before a payment has been fully or partially authorised, it ensures that this important process is kept in line. If any changes are made, a new requisition document is created, AND the requesting user is kept in the loop with a notification. Making something that is often thought of as a nuisance, a pretty simple task.

To further enhance security measures (and for ease of tracing payments) the bank EFT number field is now shown on the release of the payment. This can be made mandatory, if required. There is no need to make manual notes. All information can be kept in one place.

Lastly, we have added a new column to show if a requisition has already been exported (included in EFT file), thereby eliminating any duplication and allowing for easy referral.

Does locating a specific payment feel like finding a needle in a haystack?

It feels that way for us sometimes too – so we have added a payment history menu.

And what’s more – if you have access to release payments, you automatically have access to the payment history.

The new payment history menu shows both released and deleted requisitions, acting as a bit of an audit trail of requisitions, as you can see which ones were released vs deleted, and not yet released (as they will be missing). So, should any questions arise as to what was paid when, to whom and why changes were made – bam! It’s all there.

There is also an indicator to show where a payment was released with no funds when the payment was transacted – this can only be done with the relevant permissions at the time of authorising or releasing, but the indicator is an easy way to bring it to your attention.

We have also added the following –

• User interface to view requisitions per bank by date range – which makes it easy to select what you want to see or drill down to find something more specific.
• The option to download attached supporting documents – having supporting documents on a requisition keeps all the information that is relevant together and easily accessible.
• The option to view requisition details – at any time you can go back and view all the details, i.e. banking information, accounts where payments have been split.
• Popup authorisation log – the audit log shows who requested, authorised and released the payment, with a date/time stamp per step and any comments or notifications in one place.

With all the above in place, locating a specific payment becomes easy… just as we like it.

In the weeks to come we will be discussing more of our latest features. But we wanted to give you a little heads up – watch out for a rather big announcement coming soon. Exciting times ahead!

We are sure you will agree that AJS offers something that’s more than just software…. We offer the whole package.

The best legal tech software solutions that money can buy – at prices that you can afford. All according to your own individual needs and wants.

We offer outstanding customer support – always there when you need us. Don’t get ghosted by legal tech that is not quite up to scratch.

Get-in-touch with us instead and let’s see how we can take your software solution from good to phenomenal. Also, if you don’t yet have any software supporting your legal practice, fret not. We are here to help you from scratch too.

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS