As the technical headquarters for 11 European branches of CMS global law firm, CMS Austria sought a document management solution and strategy that would enable them to better respond to the needs of clients in their international market and compete effectively for new business. After launching iManage Work 10 in the Cloud with other solutions on the iManage platform and executing a campaign to boost user adoption, the firm now bids confidently for certain types of legal matters and RFPs they may have been eliminated from in the past.
The challenge
Despite having much to offer clients in specialist knowledge and seamless legal services across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), CMS wasn’t eligible to compete for certain types of legal matters and — without a comprehensive document management strategy and platform — risked losing business to competitors.
“We needed to define one user experience that balances client needs with how lawyers prefer to work, and then roll it out in a smart way to maximize user adoption,” explains Thomas Kroupa, Head of IT at CMS Austria.
The solution
CMS Austria defined standard workflows for their 320 employees and worked with iManage partner IRIS Nederland to ensure they were supported. The firm nominated super users to encourage peer learning.
“Some of our legacy technology is notoriously difficult to modernize, but everything works well with iManage,” said Kroupa.
The team implemented iManage Drive and iManage Share to simplify collaboration with external partners and interns, who can work with clients without needing full access to systems and data. “Need to know” and “deny by default” policies help keep data secure and protect sensitive matters. iManage Threat Manager is used to monitor access to information.
Business outcomes
With iManage Work 10 in the Cloud, CMS lawyers have a secure, highly available platform that supports client work. Collaborating and searching for documents is quicker and easier, and the staff like the user-friendly interface and channel structure that CMS Austria has rolled out. Automation and standardization are driving greater productivity, and lawyers can increase their billable hours.
“iManage has transformed our approach to document management," said Gentscho Pavlov, co-manager and CEE partner at the Sofia office. "It enhances security, helps us comply with GDPR, and enables better governance. But it also integrates seamlessly with other systems, helps identify threats, and makes the team more productive.”
Looking ahead
CMS Austria is considering implementing iManage Security Policy Manager to simplify creating ethical walls and rolling out iManage Records Manager to simplify and standardize retention.
The broad range of iManage solutions is also making the firm think harder about issues such as data retention. Kroupa concludes, "It’s been the catalyst for company-wide transformation and helped us define best practices and higher standards around managing and protecting our knowledge assets."
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