Hi Debora,
We aren't asked often to enter data online. We offer this service but require an additional fee, usually $10. It is more efficient for the VM typists to enter this data from the hand written reports we fax or email to them from our mobile offices while we go on to the next search.

I think many of the VM's imagined entering directly into their site would be more efficient for both the VM staff and the field abstractors. But this conclusion was based on how they do their work sitting in front of a computer screen. Although we are able to access their web sites through our mobile offices the connection is slow unless the courthouse offers a connection. Our work is not done in front of a computer. Often we only make the online connection after we have gathered the documents, abstracted the report and scanned everything into the mobile office. A couple of clicks later and the report and documents are on the way to our clients for processing. We don't have to wait for our slow connection to access their web site or click through the screens they offer. Instead we are once again on our feet gathering the documents we need for the next search.

I agree with Kevin in that we are constrained by the time the courthouse is open and our time is better spent abstracting than typing. Once we have done the work we have always done, the mobile offices give us the capability of sending the report right away rather than waiting until we return to a landline based computer or fax machine. It only takes a couple clicks but our clients receive their reports hours before they can expect them from our competitors.

The mobile offices also give us the capability to receive the orders in the field so we can do them as they come in. We can't afford an office staff so we simply take the office with us.

In fact, I am writing this post from my mobile office. I drove 100 miles to the courthouse only to find I cannot access their computer because they are doing a backup. Maybe they are through now. I think I'll go check. I see I just received two orders for nearby counties.