Am Law 200 Firm Saves on Costs, Improves Service Levels by Outsourcing Records and Selecting New MFD Vendor

Problem: This 350 attorney, Am Law 200 firm based in Ohio had decided to outsource their in-sourced back-office operations and multi-function devices (MFDs) on a firm-wide basis five years prior. The contract was expiring and the firm was now considering outsourcing the on-site centralized Records and Information Management functions. As a result, the firm was interested in what other outsourcing companies’ capabilities were in the records space, how they may improve current services to the firm, and whether they had a competitive contract.

Additionally, the firm had over 36 contracts/amendments/product schedules for the MFD fleet throughout their seven offices with varying expirations dates as well as several devices that were tied to various mainte- nance “pools” and sought to consolidate; as well as streamline operations, and capture savings.

Solution: Mattern was hired by the firm to complete an on-site assessment for both the current equipment and outsourced services along with the in-sourced records operation. Mattern provided current cost and workflow benchmarks for both the internally managed records operation and an outsourced operation. Mattern created a Request for Proposal for both services, with a clear understanding that the firm may not outsource the records operation and underlined enhanced flexibility options for equipment to be broken out and contracted separately if necessary.

Result: The firm elected to outsource their records operation and the already outsourced back-office operations to a new vendor, while choosing to renew an MFD contract with the existing vendor. The results included:

Firm-wide strategic plan for MFD fleet:

  • Coterminous strategy for all equipment in 5 years
  • Right-sized and standardized fleet
  • Elimination of unused scanning hardware (eCopy) and replaced with native scan functionality
  • Zero-based maintenance agreements
  • Equipment flexibility for 20% of the fleet and elimination of equipment return fees
  • Reduced costs by 26%

Outsourced Back-office Operations:

  • Workflow efficiencies, consolidation of services, reduced hours of operations, and improved service levels – resulting in a 12% reduction in staffing
  • Significantly improved contractual terms and conditions
  • Penalty-based service level agreements
  • Reduction of 16% in labor costs

Outsourced Records and Information Management:

  • Workflow efficiencies and improved service levels – resulting in 9% staffing reductions after 90 days
  • Penalty-based service level agreements
  • Back-fill for absenteeism
  • Utilization of vendor’s subject matter expertise as needed

Client Takeaway: “Mattern had extensive knowledge of the industry and trends and they were fair, fast, honest, and provide excellent follow-up.”

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2021-08-05T15:53:54+00:00