Providing business advice
on the go
The facts
The customer
MLCS Corporate, Norwood, South Australia
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Philips partner
Dataworxs
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The solution
SpeechLive Cloud Dictation Solution
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MLCS Corporate Pty Ltd was founded in 1992 by Mark Lewis, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, Registered Tax Agent and a Member of the Institute of Company Directors. With over 35 years experience working in a multitude of sectors, he and his firm now provide personalised strategic and business advice to a range of clientele located in regional areas across Australia.
Even though MLCS Corporate caters to many industry sectors, their key areas of focus are Tourism and Leisure, Native Title negotiations for Mining and Natural Resources, property investment and general business advice, especially for Indigenous groups.
What was before….
At MLCS Corporate, the accountants and advisors do a lot of consulting work that involves writing reports, agreements, advice and general correspondence. Back in the day, Mark used the analogue tape recorders to dictate and physically hand the cassettes over to the transcribers. When digital recorders came onto the scene cassette tapes were replaced by memory cards but the process remained the same. He explains, “I previously used the cassette tapes to record my dictations. When the SD card came out I switched to digital recorders which were each about $1,000 back then. It was all right to use within the office. But when you were out and about on the road most of the time, it was really hard to work with.” He further explained that despite going digital, the workflow was still constrained as he had to send back the recordings while working offsite.
The new change….
Over the recent years, Mark has gone from carrying a laptop to downsizing to an iPad and nowadays just relies mostly on his iPhone, as it is more convenient. He used to dictate with one of the pre-installed apps on his iPhone but it was hard for his personal assistant to decipher the recordings properly. “I’ve actually been using a standard voice recording program on my iPhone to dictate and send that through to my PA but she was having trouble listening to that,” Mark said. In most instances, the PA would use both the digital recorder and phone sound file to transcribe. It made the whole system clunky and cumbersome. Philips SpeechLive eliminated the entire problem altogether when Mark dictates on the road. He added, “Now when I am on the road, I love that I can use the Philips app without any issues and send off straight way for action to my PA. Since I am always on the phone, I also use my Bluetooth as well.”
Philips SpeechLive is a secure cloud solution which allows users to record and manage their dictations conveniently via their smartphone and web browser. Customers can enjoy unlimited mobility, multi-site location independency and the choice of using their own devices.
SpeechLive makes life easier!
Mark Lewis
Director MLCS Corporate
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SpeechLive, the efficient solution
At MLCS Corporate, it is imperative to have a quick document turnaround time while the advisors are travelling to various client sites majority of the time. Whether working across Australia or overseas, SpeechLive enables them to route their work to their respective assistants, enabling visibility of workflow completion dates. It is now logistically much easier to forward dictations within their workflow since the entire setup is now in the cloud.
When asked how SpeechLive has helped Mark’s workflow as compared to before, he stated, “I am not the one to type, so I dictate. What’s best is that I can dictate and do other work quickly at the same time while on the road, which I was unable to do before.” If Mark needs correction done on his documents he will obtain a printed copy of the document, mark the edited parts and dictate his changes through to his personal assistant. He also takes a picture of the marked changes and sends it along with his dictations so that it’s easier for his assistant to understand. It reduces his time spent on the corrections and dictations and speeds up his workflow process. He further added, “I also need to dictate responses back to my clients quickly and accurately. Between me writing and dictating, my dictations are more accurate.”
From a financial perspective, SpeechLive has been far more efficient for MLCS Corporate. Each director has a particular personal assistant, but the workload can be shared amongst other assistants, which makes the process more efficient. Mark said, “Delays in typing or when I type it myself, takes twice as long, which is an inefficient use of my valuable time, whether for clients or family.”
On the whole, the entire migration to SpeechLive has been seamless and made work easier for both Mark and his in-demand team of consultants on the road and the support staff back in the office. Dictations are sent off immediately which result in reports and client advices being produced promptly. He acknowledges that being able to respond back quicker to the clients ensures the client satisfaction that MLCS Corporate is renowned for.
Mark expressed his enthusiasm in recommending SpeechLive to his colleagues in the industry. With the directors and consultants constantly travelling, work can be done as quickly as required. To sum up Mark stated, “SpeechLive makes life easier!”