Mitigating 3 risks in probate and executry work through software
Exizent Founder and Managing Director, Aleks Tomczyk shares his view on how software can mitigate three types of risk inherent in probate, executry and estate administration legal services work.
Aleks is a highly experienced and successful technology innovator and business builder. His is a Board Member of the Law Society of Scotland’s LegalTech initiative, LawscotTech, and of FinTech Scotland.
Aleks Tomczyk
Software in general, and Exizent’s software in particular for probate, executry and estate administration work, is often thought of as primarily a business efficiency tool. Obviously it is that.
Whilst good software delivers on the business efficiency front, it also plays a critical role in risk mitigation for legal professionals and firms. Particularly in safeguarding against the risk of complaints or professional indemnity (PI) insurance claims.
I want to highlight three key risk areas in particular, illustrating how risk can be mitigated with software.
I am going to focus on the risk areas of Error, Obsolescence and Interruption – using our software to illustrate risk mitigation.
Error
We all know that probate/executry cases are often complex and non-linear in nature. Information about people, assets or liabilities associated with an estate must be gathered from multiple sources – family members, financial institutions, or data providers like Estatesearch. Information is often incomplete, delayed, or subject to change. Even the most competent and diligent professionals face the risk of error as there is a lot to keep track of and get right. The possibility of error is ever present.
Exizent’s software enables any information associated with an estate to be captured once in a structured way and with appropriate detail. That data is then used throughout the platform for example in court forms, tax forms and estate accounts – eliminating re-keying errors. If information needs amending or added to, the change can be made once and the platform automatically regenerates all relevant outputs in real time. This reduces effort and stress for practitioners and allows them to focus on the key legal aspects and doing a great job for clients. It reduces effort for managers supervising work and reduces risks for the firm.
Obsolescence
Many legal firms have had poor experiences with legal software – experiences include that older software is often outdated, difficult to learn, hard to use, and slow to improve. Such legacy systems can lead to inefficiency, errors, and even impact staff recruitment and retention.
Technology should not create barriers- it should be easy to use and not become out-of-date or obsolete. Modern software, like Exizent’s, can and should be frequently updated, without disrupting users, requiring IT in-house effort or impacting work.
For example, when HMRC updates an IHT form, Exizent quickly analyses the changes, fixes any issues, (including the seemingly inevitable bugs HMRC introduce with each change), updates related fields, tests thoroughly, and deploys the update to all users – automatically and seamlessly.
New features and enhancements are released weekly, often based on user feedback. We regularly deploy minor enhancements or new features requested and prioritised by users – and not just by one firm’s users, so everyone using the software benefits from ideas and expertise of industry peers encapsulated within it.
Users don’t end up either waiting months for bug fixes or new functionality either, which is often the case with older software. Another benefit being that firms do not need to be reliant on their in-house expert to update a local tool, such as a spreadsheet
Interruption
Unexpected events outside the day-to-day can disrupt casework and business continuity, impacting firms of all sizes. Potential interruptions include holidays, power cuts, illness, resignations, new staff onboarding, remote working, cyber security threats, storms, a pandemic. The list could be longer.
Good modern software, including Exizent, is built to minimise the impact of these risks. Cloud-based and accessible via any browser, it allows secure access from anywhere – ideal for location changes or remote work.
It is designed to be easy to learn and use by anyone used to using the internet, for example for online shopping at Amazon or for groceries.
The platform is continuously security-patched and hosted in a resilient UK data centre, offering far greater protection than local PCs or servers.
Information is captured and presented in a consistent way so that that can be picked up and easily understood by any member of the team, for example when covering illness, holiday or an urgent client query.
So, whilst risk of business interruption can never be completely removed, software can reduce the risk of occurrence and the scale of impact when things do happen.
Summary
Good software helps legal firms manage key risks—enabling teams to focus on their work, run the business efficiently, and deliver excellent client service.
If you would like to see a no-obligation demo of Exizent’s software for probate, executry and estate administration professionals please click here to book a time convenient to you.
Aleks Tomczyk
Founder and Managing Director, Exizent