In ContactsLaw, the term communications is used to describe a contact's various methods of communication, their preferences and whether they inherit any such details from related contacts.
ContactsLaw captures the following communication details:
- Telephone
ContactsLaw uses information about the practice's location to automatically format, simplify or expand telephone numbers you enter.
You can also assign a particular label to any telephone number, either selecting from a predefined type or providing your own description. Some of these labels have a special meaning within the system; for example, a contact will automatically inherit its associated entity's 'Business switch' number during contact creation.
Clicking on a telephone number hyperlink will start a new outgoing call (if telephone integration is configured). You can right-click the link for additional options, such as explicitly controlling whether the call is journalled.
- Facsimile
Fax numbers benefit from the same features as ordinary telephone numbers. Clicking on a fax number will start the document creation activity and select the practice's default fax template.
- E-mail
Communicating with contacts via e-mail provides access to the widest number of features in ContactsLaw, and is the most convenient and streamlined method. Clicking on an e-mail address will start the document creation activity and select the practice's default e-mail template.
Two distinct advantages of composing e-mails in ContactsLaw are the ability to automatically attach enclosures, as well as on-the-fly conversion to PDF (for selected document formats).
- Website
ContactsLaw also captures the web addresses of your contacts. This is particularly useful for banks, creditors and other organisations your practice does business with.
- Preferred telephone number
Often, several telephone numbers will be stored against a contact. You can mark the number which is preferred. When calling the contact, ContactsLaw will suggest this number first.
- Preferred method of written communication
ContactsLaw allows you to specify whether a contact prefers to receive correspondence by fax, e-mail or post. For the former two methods, you can nominate a preferred number/address.
Additionally, you can inherit the communication details from any related contact. The inherited details will remain stored against the contact until the relationship is changed or removed. Any changes to the related contact's details will be reflected in the inherited details. |