2012 Team RB Conference report

Ubiquitous Transcripts

New options introduced at Team RB conference

Paper transcripts, even CD-ROM transcripts, are fading fast. PDFs have revolutionized this word-heavy industry, but new technologies like the web and mobile computing are threatening PDFs’ superiority.

Yong Lee, President & CEO, OMTI Inc., introduced new RB transcript options at the 2012 online Team RB user conference, Nov. 13 & 14, along with demos of the fall/winter 2012 RB & RB Web updates. Over 200 users attended the conference.

Lawyers can work with transcripts on more devices natively

While this RB8 update includes improvements to RB-PDF Transcripts, PDFs are not ideal for all devices, especially smartphones. Yong demo-ed RB’s new Transcript Package function that combines transcripts, exhibits, videos and other related files into a package readable in RB Web and RB Web Mobile.

With RB’s “mobilized” transcripts, called Mobil-Elite Transcripts™ or meTranscripts™ for short, attorneys can easily read, highlight and comment on transcripts on their smartphones, then share their comments and transcripts with others. With the web browser version on their laptops or office computers, they can view linked exhibits and video, plus export files for printing.

Attendees learned how they can prepare their traditional ASCII transcripts for this brave new world.

RB’s Transcript Packages work in RB Web (subscription only). meTranscripts are included in RB Web Mobile for iPhone and Android.

Goodies for RB8 users

Yong also demo-ed new features and improvements in the next RB8 update. Job scheduling, PDF transcript production, and order preparation will be more efficient. RB notes logs will track more actions automatically. And users can now set up RB8 to work with their online fax service.

Using online (internet) fax services

Technology has evolved from needing a fax machine and phone line to sending faxes via third-party online services, similar to online video streaming services. Yong discussed the leading online fax solutions and how attendees can easily switch from traditional fax systems to using online services and how RB integrates with these solutions.

Keeping logs of reporter assignments and more

It is important to keep a complete paper trail of all work performed in case of later questions or disputes, so that a court reporting agency can always provide documentation of what happened when. Automated log notes that are recorded internally is the only way to efficiently create the myriad paper trails that will stand up legally. Yong presented new ways the RB system provides information and legal cover in handling reporters and providing client statements.

Searching more efficiently in RB

With the ever-more-common situation of multi-office law firms, it can be hard for court reporting agencies to deal with these entities efficiently. Yong discussed and demonstrated how by searching data using the concept of parent firms, court reporting agencies can service these clients better and also analyze their importance to the agency’s bottom line. On the other side – handling reporters, Yong discussed new ways to search the agency’s data to compare and analyze reporters’ contributions.

Customizing your job calendar and other efficiencies

While best practices will always be helpful; with day-to-day repetitive tasks, different people prefer different methods to get the job done. This is actually more efficient than requiring everyone to start from the same place and make adjustments every day of things like managing their job calendar. Yong discussed new ways court reporting managers can give that kind of control to their staff with customizable job calendars. He also discussed more efficient ways to manage clients’ standing orders and other management housekeeping duties like segregating clients in their database by tags and merging clients’ full financial histories when law firms merge.

Missed the conference or need more info?

If you missed the event or want to review its contents, view the sessions online.