All aboard for better onboarding
Conveyancing is leading the charge to adopt digital onboarding systems, but what benefits can they bring, and what do firms need to know before they take the plunge?
Sean Hargrave is the former Innovation Editor of The Sunday Times
The days of waiting for potential new clients to receive reams of paperwork in the post and then turn up to an office with their passports are not quite over – but they are certainly drawing to an end. Onboarding software is one of the hottest aspects of legal technology because, with the right systems in place, clients can sign up and be remotely onboarded in minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks.
New onboarding systems capture client details. They work alongside – and are often integrated with – the digital search facilities that allow a firm to meet their due diligence obligations. There are multiple software providers in the onboarding field, but the general principle is the same.
Clients will be invited to click a link to submit details on a web form and then go through an online identity check. They will then typically be asked to video themselves with their passport in-frame to prove their identity. Software will also check their name against lists of people who are deemed to pose a higher risk, for example, those subject to sanctions. Clients may also be asked to prove where their funds are coming from, often requiring bank statements to be digitally sent to their solicitor.
Whether they realise it or not, clients are already familiar with this type of technology. From scanning your driver’s licence to open a bank account, or using your passport at an automated border gate, digital ID verification is already in use across a range of industries.
Faster digital experiences
The main area of early adoption for these systems is conveyancing as well as private client work, although they can be used, with greater oversight, within corporate settings. Partner at Harding Evans, Jamie Beese, believes the acceptance of digital onboarding is a natural extension of people searching online for a conveyancing quote. It follows, he suggests, that they would prefer to carry on the journey online and be remotely onboarded, rather than in person. For his firm’s clients, part of the process involves signing documents digitally, with the aid of Adobe DocuSign, which is free for clients to use. ID checks are carried out by Lexis Nexis IDU Remote Check facility. Clients click a link to be guided through the verification process. This is all provided as part of a commercially available onboarding platform the business uses.
‘The previous process, using hard copies, would often take days to be completed as we were reliant on the post and clients filling out paperwork and then posting it back,’ Beese reflects. ‘We now have turnaround times often of fewer than 30 minutes, which means we can progress the file immediately, whether that be issuing contracts on a sale or reviewing contracts on a purchase.’
'We now have turnaround times often of fewer than 30 minutes, which means we can progress the file immediately'
Jamie Beese, Partner at Harding Evans
In-house integration boosts growth
While there are some free or low-cost tools that can be used as part of the process, firms can decide between:
- taking an off-the-shelf solution and using it
- personalising a platform to their own needs and integrating it with other tools
- building a bespoke product in-house.
The second and third of these options may depend on the firm’s in-house IT resources. And, while many who lack access to a team of developers will typically opt to use an off-the-shelf onboarding system, there is another option when it comes to using a commercially available system. To give the resulting service a more personal feel, firms can ‘white label’ the onboarding platform, so it bears its own name. Bell, Lamb and Joynson (BLJ) is a good example. The BLJ smartphone app is produced by Perfect Portal and yet clients can search for the BLJ name at Apple or Google to download the app that takes them from onboarding through to the completion of a house sale.
New clients can download the app and fill in their instruction forms with a link to the InfoTrack service to prove their ID. They also need to scan in and submit six months’ worth of bank statements to evidence their source of funds. This is important because, as Lily Dehnad, a residential property solicitor with the firm reveals, it can alert a solicitor to seek a second opinion on someone.
‘Our app allows us to process instruction forms remotely and then look at the source of funds as well as check IDs in minutes,’ she says. It’s very reassuring for us as solicitors but also for clients who want to know that we’re “on it” and using technology that makes the process far more streamlined.’ Other products offering a similar service to Perfect Portal are available.
'Our app allows us to process instruction forms remotely and then look at the source of funds as well as check IDs in minutes'
Lily Dehnad, Residential Property Solicitor
Questions to consider
To pick the best onboarding software vendor, firms must pose a series of questions to get on their shortlist. The most important requirement is ensuring the smooth flow of work on a client’s case from onboarding right through to invoicing, according to Lucy Feng, Senior Product Manager EMEA at legal technology platform, Clio.
‘Law firms must ensure the software they choose can seamlessly integrate with existing tools like case management systems, invoicing and payment processing,’ she advises.
‘So is the ability to customise forms and workflows to suit the firm's specific needs. It should be user-friendly for the team and clients, ensuring smooth interactions. Data security is also paramount – the software must comply with legal data protection standards to safeguard sensitive information.’
‘Law firms must ensure the software they choose can seamlessly integrate with existing tools like case management systems, invoicing and payment processing'
Lucy Feng, Senior Product Manager EMEA at legal technology platform, Clio
Working out risk
As a guiding principle, firms also need to resist the temptation to think about onboarding technology being used in isolation by just one team. Legal technology consultant Ben Johnson at 3Kites Consulting suggests all firms should instead consider how the technology could be used by different parts of the business. In private client work, this would mean perhaps employment, personal injury and wills and probate. The same advice applies to corporate clients, to think beyond property transactions. However, he warns that onboarding business clients is often more complex than individuals due to the requirement to identify and verify beneficial owners. These are defined as people or entities with more than 25 per cent shares or voting rights.
His main advice is to combine thinking more about the entire firm’s needs, not just in conveyancing, and for each firm to establish their acceptable exposure to risk, based on their typical client base.
‘Firms need to consider their risk profile because this will greatly influence their search provider for their know-your-customer and anti-money laundering requirements,’ he says.
‘If you mostly work for couples and families moving home in the UK then the risks you face will be very different from a firm that works with high-net-worth people buying property from overseas. That will greatly influence what level of search provider they need and whether they need to investigate a service that specialises in overseas territories for clients who are considered a higher risk.’
'Firms need to consider their risk profile because this will greatly influence their search provider for their know-your-customer and anti-money laundering requirements’
Ben Johnson at 3Kites Consulting
Getting your house in order
Although picking an onboarding vendor might be time intensive, there are a couple of very positive results that can emerge from the process. According to Andrew Doyle, CEO of NorthRow, a vendor of identity and anti-money laundering software, firms can use this time to improve workflows and processes.
‘Firms must map out exactly what they need to achieve their know-your-customer and onboarding objectives,’ he says. ‘This is an ideal time to re-evaluate your existing workflows and assess their efficacy. Do your current processes seem overly complex? Is there any unnecessary red tape that hampers productivity or customer experience? Digitising inefficient procedures is futile. So, use this opportunity to reinvent your current strategies and processes.’
Similarly, data should not only be viewed in terms of security and compliance. It should also be viewed as a way to make processes flow better and, crucially, to unleash new insights, according to Ben Mills, Commercial Director at onboarding platform, Minerva.
‘Data can be used to see where business is coming from, analyse win rates, sources of business, client demographics and how to grow their business,’ he advises. ‘This can often be lost in a busy marketplace, but it is key in a competitive industry.’
Picking the right onboarding partner is not solely a way to provide a faster, compliant service, then. It is also a way to rework processes so they flow better, and to capture data early on so a firm can strategize new ways to deliver growth.
Top tips when procuring onboarding tech
- Can the software you are looking at integrate with your existing tools and processes?
- Is it user-friendly?
- Does the software comply with legal protection standards?
- How does the technology work across all parts of the business?
- Have you reviewed your current systems and processes?
- Will the new technology give you a better understanding of your data?
