Intelligent Office: Meet… Rachel McCorry, CEO

Few people in the legal world have as much hands-on experience of delivering successful and sustainable outsourcing partnerships than Rachel McCorry. Having honed her skills with Bowne (now part of Fortune 500 company R. R. Donnelly) in the US and the UK, Rachel joined Intelligent Office in its infancy. Since then, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as Chief Executive Officer, she has been instrumental in driving Intelligent Office’s development as one of the leading providers of support services in the legal sector. With her sights set firmly on future opportunities, Rachel talks about building and maintaining a strong culture, the benefits of outsourcing, and performing at Carnegie Hall.

You are Intelligent Office’s CEO, what does that entail?

I have a responsibility to shareholders, clients, and employees to ensure the business is successful. My role is strategy, it’s growth, it’s development, it’s innovation, it’s constantly striving forward but more than this, it’s about promoting and encouraging an environment where differences are not only welcomed but nurtured and valued. Coming out of the pandemic, the legal market is particularly dynamic, and I feel like there are so many ways we can continue to develop. That is hugely exciting.

You have been working with law firms for more than 20 years, what changes have you seen?

When we first started the business, initial meetings with potential clients would be spent explaining what outsourcing is, as it was so alien. People would be interested but they didn’t see how it could work for them. Today, that is now history. I have seen firms become increasingly confident in what they will trust us with, from back office and reception to document production, legal admin and PA services.

Secretarial outsourcing used to be a no-go area; what’s changed?

In the last few years, firms have been moving to a disaggregated model, recognising document production, legal administration, and PA services as individual areas of expertise. Even before the pandemic, we were demonstrating that good legal support didn’t have to be based in the office, but for many firms their preference was for an onsite service delivery.  Now, old orthodoxies – like the legal secretary or PA must sit next to their partner – have been thrown out of the window, opening a world of flexibility for firms.  A new firm now would not start with the traditional law firm support model. They would do things in a much more agile way.

And what part have you played in that?

After the financial crisis in 2008, there was a demand from law firms to review their secretarial function as it was a significant cost to the business and, for many firms, had never been comprehensively reviewed.  Intelligent Office led the way in helping our clients to disaggregate the traditional secretary role into more specialist teams which match skills to tasks.  Since 2008, we have been involved in secretarial restructures at more than 20 law firms, large and small, across the whole of the Top 200. As a result, we manage hybrid secretarial services for multiple client sites. We are completely unique in this regard and our experience and insight is unrivalled.

What is special about Intelligent Office?

When Mags and I designed Intelligent Office 20-plus years ago, we wanted to bring the best of our US experiences back to the UK. At that time, few people talked about employee engagement, culture, and treating people fairly, but we wanted them to be at the heart of our business, and they still are. Last year, we retained our IIP (Investors in People) Platinum Accreditation – we are one of the only companies in the world to have received this accreditation for a second time. Our IIP auditor said she had never come across a business that is so kind to one another. I love that!

As Intelligent Office grows, how do you maintain and strengthen its culture?

It is important that the leaders in the business – and we have people who step up and show leadership at all levels – are aligned in terms of looking after staff. When I ask myself how we achieve this when the business is growing and with more dispersed working, I think it comes down to a shared responsibility, understanding and belief in our vision. We are actioned-oriented and entrepreneurial, and I don’t think that spirit will ever leave us. It will never leave me, I know that!

Why the legal sector?

They’re a tough crowd, no doubt, and they have exacting standards, but I love working with law firms. They have very similar values to ours. However, a lot of their attention – understandably so – goes on the fee earners. I think, historically, support staff have been viewed as a cost of doing business. We would see it very differently: if you get the right support in place, that investment is a great platform for pushing your business forward.

What are law firm leaders thinking about?

Right now there are lots of conversations about being a responsible business – how to be both ethical and profitable, and I believe it is possible to be both.  At IO we have a real focus on the internal scorecard; this is what your heart looks after, it’s about the value that you build, what gets you out of bed in the morning and the difference you want to make.  Our priority is to ensure that every employee comes to work being themselves and can feel happy, safe and respected, this translates to motivated people who are more committed and willing to support one another, they will deliver a better service and a desire to be part of our clients’ success.

If a firm is going to outsource more than one service, is it better to do that one at a time or in one go?

We have examples of both approaches, but in my experience, everything is interdependent. If you don’t have a functioning Docucentre, the legal administrators can’t rely on it, and so on. Sometimes, everybody in scope will transfer to us at once but we focus on improvements in one area at a time. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Transferring staff via the TUPE regulations, especially en masse, takes empathy and hard work. But approached the right way, you’ll be richer for it.

How do you switch off?

I don’t think I really switch off, but I do switch channels. Whatever spare time I have is nearly all given to music. I run a community choir and when I’m not working or looking after my daughters, I am usually pulling some music together for a rehearsal or performance. Mixing fun with concentration, we were once described as a drinking club, where occasionally song would break out, but in more recent years we’ve upped our game and toured Europe, and just before the pandemic hit, we performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.