Ever heard the old adage “you get what you pay for”? There is certainly some truth in that. However, with the company formations and property searches company, 7side, you only pay for excellent customer service, flexible access and the documents you need.

It is a pleasure to review this product. I am sorry to say that I was ignorant of this company and its services until I moved to Cardiff, just over a year ago in 2007. I really wish I had known about them in my previous posts. Without any previous knowledge of 7side, I assumed they were a new operation, but discovered that they have been in business since 1981, notching up some 27 years of experience! Imagine my surprise when they won the client nominated BIALL award for Outstanding Customer Relations Initiative at the Sheffield Conference in 2007.

7side can provide company information, both national and international. I am particularly impressed by the 7side portal to Companies House Direct that enables the painless “charging out” of our Companies House searches and document orders, which can be recovered in fees. In my previous post in a US law firm, I was limited to the Companies House “one password system” which made charging out a difficult business when users entered imaginative charge codes. I always hoped that Companies House would be able to develop a way of inputting client and matter details to allow recovery of costs, but had not found anything until I met 7side at Hugh James. It is possible to work with 7side to produce a customised front end for the portal. This provides the firm with easy and branded access to Companies House. It also means that only the services the firm subscribes to are shown. References for charging out can be inputted in a mandatory field in a pre-agreed format. 7side says that 50% of the top listed law firms use their portal to access the official Companies House Direct site. The current cost for this service is £20.00 per month with a one off joining fee of £50.00, which is waived if you are an existing Companies House Direct customer.

7side can also provide foreign/international information, offering corporate credit reports and other available documents on foreign companies via a “pay as you go” service. They can provide information on the filing restrictions for most jurisdictions, which can save the customer unnecessary searches. The same customer service ethos exists in this part of the 7side customer operation. This is an important element in choosing a service. With previous suppliers, I found that I was viewed as a nuisance in my role as a customer and that customer service was low on their list of priorities. I also encountered suppliers with a lack of detailed product knowledge, which left me, the customer, forced to become an expert myself! In contrast, I have found 7side helpful and willing to take extra steps to make sure their customers are satisfied with their services. They keep me informed and take on board requests and suggestions. It is a joy to work with such a customer-focused operation and they certainly win “my award” for customer service. I hope that some of my colleagues out there who are looking for the type of services 7side can offer to help them in their day to day work will be tempted to find out more.