Intelligent Office: Meet… Alison Bilgin, COO

Alison Bilgin is Intelligent Office’s (IO) Chief Operating Officer. Having joined IO just over two years ago, much of Alison’s time at IO has been spent supporting law firm and other clients and colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic. Here she talks about swapping in-house for IO, enabling fee earners to maximise their productivity, and lessons learned over a varied career.

Tell us a bit about your role at Intelligent Office

As COO, I am part of IO’s leadership team and am responsible for delivery of the operational support delivered to our law firm and other clients. This includes on-site services like PAs, administrative support, front of house, reprographics, and post room. Different clients have different arrangements comprising on and off-site services, the latter primarily being document production and client matter inception work.

Have you worked with law firms before?

I have spent more than 25 years in professional services, mainly in law firms including Slaughter and May, Osborne Clarke, Burges Salmon and, most recently, as COO at Wiggin. I’ll always remember a colleague at Slaughter and May saying that if you last six months in a law firm, you will work in one for life. That has turned out to be true and at IO, I am now working with over 50!

What brought you to Intelligent Office?

Having been an IO client, I fully believe in what the business delivers. I know IO as a high-quality partner who delivers on its promises in terms of caring about the service they provide and about their people. I bring my in-house perspective to Intelligent Office and, vice versa, I know what law firms need from the sorts of services IO provides and how to position us accordingly.

How do you ensure that outsourcing works for all involved?

How we work together is fundamental, with early engagement, listening and open communication essential for building trust and strong relationships. People are often nervous about change but, having done it many times before, we have an approach that minimises disruption and anticipates potential concerns. The law firms we work with are outsourcing to help fee earners and to give the support staff who move across to us greater focus on their development and progression. We work with those people to standardise the service, making it more efficient, and also helping them to develop their skills and careers.

Describe your ideal client

Successful outsourcing is about service, partnership and then the cost advantages that arise from working with us.  It works best when the clients see us a partner and we are shoulder to shoulder in the communications and delivery of the firm’s objectives.

Which businesses do you work with?

We have a broad client base ranging from global law firms to those with annual revenue of around £20 million. With the former, we slot smoothly into their infrastructure and they are often very clear about what they want. In smaller firms, where they don’t have a COO or equivalent, we can provide operational leadership as well as service delivery. They benefit from the skills and experience we bring as both a service provider and as people with many years’ experience of the legal sector.

What are your rules for great client service?

Shared objectives, focusing on the outcome and forming a genuine partnership to help achieve that outcome. We have some brilliant account directors who are critical to client relationships but, ultimately, great client service is a shared responsibility.

What is the IO ‘secret sauce’?

I’d say there are a few ingredients. One is attitude. Everyone here wants to do the best for their clients, knowing and understanding the client, and taking responsibility for the work. Being part of a team because it is never just down to one individual but how we all work together. Finally, one of the advantages of working with so many different types of firm is that it gives us knowledge of different cultures and approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing today’s law firms.

How has Intelligent Office dealt with the uncertainty of the past couple of years?

We felt a huge responsibility to our staff and to make sure that they had jobs, so we worked with our clients to be part of their solutions to the pandemic. Building scalability and resilience in our teams through cross-training enabled staff to turn their hands to a wider range of tasks. For example, First Impression team members moved into more of a multi-service role than one focused on front of house. We had to adapt, making sure that our operating processes allowed fee earners to concentrate on doing their job, wherever they happened to be working. I don’t see that changing after the pandemic is over. Some form of hybrid working will remain and the lessons learned over the past two years will be invaluable.

What else is likely to change in the legal sector?

I think digital transformation is hitting law firms at pace, whether that is to support different ways of working or to deliver a better client experience. In terms of operations, PA salaries are a relatively high support cost for law firms and much of their traditional work has already become disaggregated, with things like travel booking managed elsewhere. Whether that disaggregation continues is an interesting question, along with the appetite for document production and switchboard being delivered off-site. With our blended solution, Intelligent Office is in a good position to demonstrate its value as part of a hybrid operating model.

What are the most important lessons you have learned?

Something I have learned, and I remind myself about, are circles of control and influence and being able to let go of what I can neither control nor influence. One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was to ask questions even if you think asking them will make you look silly. As I have moved into leadership roles, I make space for those questions and will ask them myself if I think someone else may not have the confidence to do so.