Undergoing a digital transformation isn’t easy, but the benefits of digital technology initiatives are simply too significant for corporate legal departments to pass up. As mentioned in the 2022 Trends in Legal Transformation and Technology Report — conducted by The Association of Corporate Counsel and DISCO — legal departments that prioritized new technology adoption have increased their productivity, improved mitigation of privacy and security risks, reduced costs, and enhanced their chances of favorable litigation outcomes. Unfortunately, however, the report also found that 70% of legal departments have not prioritized adopting technologies for improving key automation and data management processes.
There are several reasons behind this slow adoption of transformation initiatives and new technologies. First, the needs of legal teams are very specific, and can sometimes conflict with the needs of other departments like Finance and IT. Legal teams often want legal-specific point solutions to help them accomplish their niche tasks; however, finance departments are often hesitant to spend a significant amount of money on multiple point systems — especially since legal departments are often viewed as a cost center. Furthermore, multiple, disparate systems create silos and are difficult for IT staff to maintain, which is why IT departments prefer single, firmwide platforms like Microsoft 365.
Choosing and implementing the right system for your company can take significant time — another reason why digital transformation is often hindered. Legal department leaders should start their selection process by evaluating what capabilities they want to improve and how to align with IT and Finance.
Enhance the power of Microsoft 365 with Intapp Collaboration & Content
Currently, the most popular productivity cloud is Microsoft 365, and for good reason. Microsoft 365 is an engagement-centric tool that offers many benefits, including robust security, enterprise-grade document sharing, and real-time collaboration and coauthoring. However, because Microsoft 365 is not an industry-specific tool, it doesn’t provide more specialized features that legal teams need such as matter lifecycle management.
That’s where Intapp Collaboration & Content comes in: to give you these industry-tailored capabilities so your firm can maximize its Microsoft investment. Intapp Collaboration & Content acts as an additional layer to Microsoft 365, seamlessly integrating with the applications to sync data and streamline collaboration. The suite consists of three components:
- Intapp Documents orchestrates document and matter lifecycle management without corporate information changing custody. This includes all matters or projects, such as contracts, litigation, employment, and regulatory.
- Intapp Workspaces provides governance, automation, and matter-centric user experiences within Microsoft Teams.
- Intapp Client Collaboration boosts secure external collaboration and information sharing.
By leveraging Intapp Collaboration & Content, members of the legal department can keep using the Microsoft applications they work in daily instead of having to learn a completely different system. That means your team can implement, adopt, and get value out of your investment much more quickly with Intapp Collaboration & Content than with bespoke systems.
Improve data management, security, and governance
Lawyers can quickly become overwhelmed when managing and searching through the extensive volume of data that they store across their applications. To help improve data management, Intapp Collaboration & Content enhances search capabilities across content, metadata, and other client-specific use cases. Team members can then collaborate and find information much more quickly.
Intapp Collaboration & Content also leverages the security of Microsoft 365. Intapp doesn’t store client data; instead, all information is filed inside your existing tenant and adheres to your corporate, security, and retention policies. Intapp Collaboration & Content also follows or exceeds industry information governance best practices and standards. The software’s access controls and role-based permissions support your mandates and compliance requirements, giving you more control and mitigating data-sharing risks.
Stay ahead of the competition
Siloed legal systems are no longer an effective way to support your in-house legal teams. Not only are these multiple platforms expensive to maintain, but they make it more difficult for your legal professionals to adopt and embrace. The very tools that were meant to help law professionals increase efficiency and productivity are now only slowing them down.
“As 2025 gets closer and digitalization of legal functions continues, organizations may increasingly eschew high-cost, stand-alone technologies that serve specific legal niches,” said Eric Gorman, Principal of Forensic and Legal Operations Transformation at KPMG. “Instead, they’ll look to larger providers for solutions that mesh holistically with their broader technology ecosystem.”
Firms that have already turned to more holistic systems are benefiting from the switch. For example, one Intapp client had previously been spending an increasing amount each year on a traditional document management system. By switching to Intapp Collaboration & Content, the firm was able to abandon its legacy system and instead leverage its existing Microsoft 365 investment — saving the firm tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Make sure your firm doesn’t fall behind the competition. Schedule a demo to learn more about how Intapp Collaboration & Content and Microsoft 365 can help you implement digital transformation initiatives and support the unique needs of your legal departments.