Early adopters of e-dealing and e-survey have found that the services do deliver gains to their business by efficiencies of time and operational process.
Here's what some of them had to say about their experiences of learning to use the services and bringing them into their businesses.
e-dealing
Guy Mortlock, Hensley Mortlock Lawyers, Christchurch
"I think e-dealing is the way of the future - it’s definitely the way conveyancing should be done. We were one of the Landonline pilot firms so we’ve been involved from the beginning. Now we use it for a number of transactions every week, without any problems at all. It’s become part of our every day practice.
It's faster, cheaper and more efficient. I’d like to see others using e-dealing far more, sooner rather than later, so we can process more two-party transactions. That way, we - and others - would really get the full benefit."
Chris Hankins, Auckland
"I found the new system frustrating at the beginning, but that was because I didn't really know what I was doing. Now I am very impressed with the new technology and a great supporter of it.
Double handling - which was hugely time consuming - largely disappears with e-dealing.
We can now achieve e-dealing registration in less than half the time it took previously which is good for us, and good for our customers. The system is very efficient, and we are able to do everything so much faster as a result."
e-survey
Jeff Irving, Clark Land Surveyors Ltd, Christchurch
"We have found it easy to pick up and we have three guys who are now doing e-surveys. We have found it cost effective and it has given us efficiencies in time, especially with e-certification.
We are not in the central city and it's great that we now don't have to take plans into the Council, back to our office and then into LINZ. We haven't been into a LINZ office for lodgements for six months.
We get everything we need via Landonline and any request for a manual product gets posted."
Tony Nikkel, Nikkel Surveying Ltd, Motueka
"My advice is that people new to Landonline get into it slowly and take it on in bite size bits, continuing to complete some manual datasets while lodging some e-survey jobs.
To start with simple two-lot subdivisions is the best advice that we were given when starting out.
We found that using the on-line help manual, saved as a PDF file and kept open on our computer desktop, was the quickest way of getting up to speed with the e-survey process. Completing the computer based training will give the new user a good overview of the workflow process. However it is the online help that gives the detail required to complete the e-survey.
We like the e-lodgement process as we don't have to use couriers and we know it is received as soon as we hit the submit button. We like the fast processing time.
With the quality assurance of the pre-validation process, it's harder for staff and the authorising surveyor to make mistakes that end up in requisitions."
Dion Mead, Truebridge Callendar Beach, Wellington
"It takes a while to get through the learning curve but when you do, it makes the job easier.
The process of getting XML files is a lot quicker. You can populate your spreadsheet with LINZ information easily.
We have just completed two plans using e-survey and appreciated the two day turn around instead of three weeks.
The waiver of the requisition fee LINZ currently has in place encourages people to get in there and try it.
e-search makes life a lot easier. You can just dial up a plan and it's right there instead of having to get in your car."
Stephen Lumb, BTW, New Plymouth
"We can see some huge benefits in using e-survey although, at the moment, we do pick and choose jobs to use it for. For example, we wouldn't use it for large scale rural jobs with super difficult definition, where there isn't a survey accurate cadastre.
It can save up to one-third of the time which is a huge saving for people who have reasonably large subdivisions on the go. We hope to be totally paperless in a couple of years.
The e-survey data is generally pretty easy to interpret for surveyors.
It has been a difficult learning curve but in the long run you have to put the time in to get the benefits. It's a good system and with more use and fine tuning, it will be the way to go in the future without a doubt."
