Headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, Hand Arendall Harrison Sale has eight offices across Alabama and Florida and is one of the largest law firms in the region. Resistance to change made implementing a new document management strategy and migrating to the cloud with iManage feel like an enormous challenge – until the firm lost an office for a year due to a hurricane. The lawyers quickly found that the investment had paid off, not only in security, efficiency and increased productivity, but in freeing staff to work remotely and focus on helping their clients recover.
The Business Challenge
The firm had FileSite, a legacy iManage product that is soon to be retired, but the third-party install and lack of training negatively impacted adoption.
“Every attorney was storing documents their own way, with their own structure and their own setup,” recalls Melvin Evans, Director of Information Technology, Hand Arendall Harrison Sale. "Nothing was matter centric and people had trouble finding what they needed. They wasted more time looking for the documents than working on the documents. Secretaries had to work differently for each attorney they supported.”
Evans was maintaining data in two locations — and there was no cloud.
The Solution
The firm migrated to iManage Work 10 in the Cloud, giving attorneys an active role in developing the iManage workspace templates and structures for the different practice areas to ensure their needs were met. Now they have a collaborative, matter-centric structure so that when a new hire comes in, they know exactly where to find what they need.
“iManage was right there to support us every step of the way, to help us get ourselves transitioned,” said Evans.
Business outcomes
Among the many benefits of migrating knowledge assets to Work 10 in the Cloud, three themes prevailed: security, efficiency, and productivity. Evans said he never has to worry about security or data integrity. The efficiency of the work cycle has improved dramatically, and productivity has also visibly increased.
“iManage integrations help us complete the cycle without breaking up the process,” commented Evans. “Workflow is fluid and smooth. People are getting their work done faster.”
When Hurricane Michael hit Florida it devastated the firm’s Panama City office, making the space unusable for more than a year. iManage Share and iManage Drive became especially vital to the firm’s performance at this time, and the firm never wavered from their steadfast support of the clients who needed them.
Looking Ahead
Once they returned to the office and everyone was comfortable with Work 10, the firm began training staff on some newer iManage solutions. They've implemented iManage Security Policy Manager and iManage Threat Manager in addition to Work 10, Share, and Drive.
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