Remember the first time when you encountered that big red company register book? All the hand-written notes, carefully filled out between the lines for director appointments, share allotments and special resolutions. They still exist, and are still used by many secretarial practices and compliance officers around the globe. But with the dawn of the technological age, the arrival of the electronic register has made its mark, leaving its big red counterpart somewhat redundant.

This post will discuss the benefits of a fully integrated statutory compliance system and is designed to help company secretarial practitioners break free from cumbersome administrative tasks and streamline their business.

The Problem

Your client wants a copy of his company register and he wants it NOW. You open your safe and dive into your archive of files. Finally you find the relevant registers and run your eyes over them to make sure they are up to date. Frantically you fill in the last few share transfers and plunk it on the scanner to make copies. By now you have taken half an hour to locate the registers and another half an hour to update and scan them in. Your client only pays you once a year, not for the time you have taken to send him his register.

When it comes to performing secretarial tasks, many productive hours are often wasted by the need to locate and check the relevant information, and the integrity can easily be compromised. Client files and documents are stored in multiple locations, making it difficult to track the status of transactions and secretarial work in progress.

The problem with most electronic registers is that they are still maintained separately from the central customer relationship management system (CRM) and invoicing system, sitting on a local PC somewhere in somebody’s office. The risk of losing all of that information in one theft or crash is almost immitigable, and can be detrimental.

Furthermore, the compilation of electronic board packs and convenience of digital signatures are becoming increasingly essential, but are not always practically possible. Thousands of Rands are spent on printing out board packs and signed copies still need to be manually scanned in and submitted.

For both large and smaller firms, an integrated solution has become mission critical. Processes like timesheets (to manage the profitability of these important tasks), billing and event tracking need to be linked, and high-level analysis and reporting need to be done on these functions across different partners and service lines.

Background

A simple diagram of the traditional secretarial cycle can be illustrated as follows:

The above illustration shows just how notoriously drudging this process can be. The solution below suggests how one can greatly improve on each of these steps.

The Solution

To implement a fully integrated statutory compliance system that will allow you to manage all these processes in one central place – all client information, registers, supporting documentation (digital and scanned documents) and flexible reports at your fingertips. Such an implementation will connect all the loose ends, helping you to cut down on administration time and free up time to focus on growing your business.

The Benefits

Secretarial practices and compliance officers who take the leap to implement an integrated CRM and electronic register system will enjoy the following benefits:

• When capturing client details and contact information, the client profile is already linked to the Secretarial module and relevant details are populated when creating a register.
• All various secretarial functions are combined on a single user interface, allowing the user to easily navigate through the relevant sections as they capture the information.
• Client documents can be uploaded and saved in a central documents folder, eliminating the need for a paper file and allowing you to go paperless.
• Built-in workflow for secretarial transactions – workflow tasks are automatically created and documents are generated and pre-populated with relevant information.
• The status of all open workflow items can easily be tracked and followed up.
• Automated alerts are sent to users for annual returns that are due or tasks to be completed.
• Documents can be sent to the client for digital signature through a secure document portal, instead of emailing sensitive information.
• Executive-quality reports can be compiled and distributed online for board and general meetings.
• Produce and distribute client letters with notice of annual returns or secretarial fees payable.
• Integration with other business-essential modules like CRM, Timesheets and Billing.
• Required levels of security can be assigned to users with rights to view, edit and delete information.
• The risk of data-loss is significantly reduced with automated backups, stored off-premise.
• Web-based technology provides the convenience to work from anywhere on any device.

The benefits of implementing an all-in-one secretarial solution outweighs the investment cost, and will pay for itself over time. As a software vendor, GreatSoft is able to provide such a best-practice solution, and can be implemented on premise in your private cloud or via a hosted server. This white paper underpins the importance of migrating to a centralised online system, in order for your practice to maximise profits on statutory compliance services.

Your client wants a copy of his company registers. You type the client’s name in the search bar of your secretarial software solution and call up his electronic register. You quickly review the information by tabbing through the various sections. You click the print button and the complete register is generated on-screen and exported to PDF. The client receives his register within 10 minutes in a professional and clear format.