LexisNexis® Enterprise Solutions (www.lexisnexis-es.co.uk), a leading provider of content and technology solutions, today announced that top 200 legal practice and consumer law firm Bott & Co’s recently launched flight compensation service for airline passengers, Bott Aviation, is powered by its rapid development case and matter management system, Lexis® Visualfiles®.
In a constantly changing and aggressive legal market, Bott & Co has leveraged technology to quickly diversify into a new line of business. Based on the European Union Legislation 261/2004, Bott Aviation helps airline passengers to enforce their rights for compensation on account of flight cancellations, delays of more than three hours and denied boarding.
The firm chose Visualfiles as its technology platform of choice for its stability, flexibility and ability to easily integrate with other internal and external systems. The rapid development capabilities offered by Visualfiles enabled Bott & Co to establish Bott Aviation within a very short timeframe, and eliminated the need for the creation of a major IT project. The solution was built by just three members of the IT team in six weeks from concept through to live operation.
The efficiency and productivity benefits that Visualfiles is delivering are remarkable. Within the first 100 days, Bott Aviation processed over 4000 letters of claims to airlines on behalf of passengers, issued over 100 sets of court proceedings in the small claims courts, and recovered over £250,000 in compensation for consumers. The current team comprises just four people at Bott Aviation.
“In the space of a few weeks, we created an entirely new business model; and have hit the ground running – it is down to superb technology managed by very capable staff,” said Paul Hinchliffe, Managing Partner at Bott & Co. “This is a volume business and margins are extremely thin, so efficiency is of paramount importance. We have developed business processes and workflows in Visualfiles that have brought down our claim processing time – which is an extremely complicated process given that a flight could be delayed due to anything from ash cloud to complex air traffic control problems through to technical malfunction of aeroplane parts – to eight minutes. Such is the capability that the technology offers.”
Alan Fraser, General Manager at LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions, commented, “Bott & Co is an outstanding example of how a law firm can exploit its core competency with appropriate technology to develop a new line of business that takes advantage of market changes that may not appear immediately favourable. This clearly illustrates the unique flexibility of the Visualfiles platform and we congratulate the firm on its success and look forward to a continued partnership.”
Lexis® Visualfiles® is the most widely used legal case and matter management system in the UK, with more than 25,000 registered users in firms ranging from five to over 1,000 employees. It is a proven, flexible and powerful entity-based system that allows firms to control their business processes today; and its unique rapid application development capabilities empower organisations to customise the solution to easily and quickly accommodate new market developments and changing business requirements.