ADR online – an international first

IMAGINE booking a mediation from the comfort of your office or home. You would have full control over scheduling dates and selecting a professional, qualified panellist. The process would be quick, cost effective and convenient. Tokiso has made this possible.

Earlier this year, Tokiso launched an online booking service on its website, www.tokiso.com. Parties can now easily access information and availability for its panel of mediators and arbitrators and make a booking.

“This is the first of its kind in the world” says the CEO of Tokiso, Tanya Venter. “Tokiso searched internationally for an online booking system for professional services such as the ADR services it offers. Only rudimentary systems that were not interactive were available. We have therefore developed the online service ground up. The online service has been so positively welcomed by Tokiso users that all bookings are now received online.”

The success of the online system is because it puts the power in the hands of the parties to decide who to use and the cost of the process – this is because information is in ‘real time’.

A party can go online, access the list of panellists, their profiles, the costs, and their availably and finalise the booking within a couple of minutes. This can now be done at any time of the day or night. The system works similarly to booking a flight online – it is intuitive, yet has all the internationally recognised security required to ensure information remains confidential.

Tokiso has also introduced online services for niche paper-based arbitrations, where all submissions are made online and an award follows. Not only is this significantly cheaper, but saves on parties’ time as well.

Tokiso intends to extend its online service offering further. No doubt, the huge advantage of accessible justice will promote and grow the use of arbitration and mediation in South Africa.