In recent years, many of the most successful law firms have embraced cloud-based technology, reaping the benefits that come with migrating their data to the cloud. This new wave of technology-led change is transforming the way law firms do business. For example, cloud-enabled firms can onboard new clients more quickly and modernize their conflicts management processes — optimizing their lawyers’ time and increasing firm revenue. Other benefits of cloud migration include improved information security, scalability, and lower operational costs. Migrating to the cloud also helps firms adopt emerging technologies more quickly and easily, keeping them competitive in today’s tough market.
However, many law firms still rely on outdated on-premises software, email, or even pen and paper to keep track of the work they’re doing to meet their clients’ expectations. Even when firm leaders understand the benefits of moving to cloud-based solutions, the technological shifts that come with cloud migration can be daunting.
To help professional services firms take this vital first step toward modernization, Intapp offers deep expertise and industry-specific, purpose-built cloud software solutions that let firms leave their outdated process behind.
At Intapp, we’ve listened — and learned — from professional and financial services firms for more than 20 years. The result is that with Intapp Risk & Compliance, you’ll get industry-specific solutions that combine domain expertise with modern technology.
Learn how one Am Law 200 firm’s investment in Intapp Risk & Compliance helped it migrate to the cloud and drive technology-led change.
Hidden costs of legacy technology
In 2020, the team at Goulston & Storrs realized that many of their internal processes had become too time-consuming and arduous. For example, the organization was receiving nearly 270 client audit inquiry letters every year, slowing down the firm’s productivity on an annual basis.
At the time, the firm had an onerous process of responding to audit inquiries that required manually tracking data with an aging, inflexible system. Built and maintained by an employee who was no longer at the organization, the proprietary technology became unreliable, often going offline at the most inconvenient moments.
But, most importantly, every audit inquiry took time away from dozens or even hundreds of lawyers’ other, more pressing work.
It was clear that it was time for the law firm to invest in new technology. As detailed in a case study, a group of key stakeholders at Goulston & Storrs started looking for a solution to modernize the workflow for audit inquiries.
It turned out that Intapp Risk & Compliance was already in place at the firm, but it was used exclusively for new business intake and conflicts management, leaving many of its capabilities untapped. Because the Goulston & Storrs IT department was already familiar with the software’s expansive capabilities for tailored workflow and reporting, they were able to expand their use of their existing investment and use it to solve a pain point in another area of its business. By partnering with InOutsource, they extended their cloud-first strategy to help automate the laborious client audit inquiry process.
As Director of IT Solutions Andrew Mulcahy explained, “Our vision is to migrate infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud and decommission obsolete servers and applications. Adopting Intapp as a cloud-based solution falls in line with that vision. With confidence in the Intapp platform, and partnering with InOutsource, the project was an instant success.”
Leveraging an existing cloud-based solution
The two organizations collaborated on the design phase of the cloud-based solution, figuring out a way to extract timekeeping data from a local software system and get it into the cloud. Together, they were able to configure a customized solution that enabled the data to move across systems.
The new workflow was an unmitigated success, and it was pushed into production following a rigorous integration phase and subsequent quality assurance testing.
Within six months of implementing their new workflow, the firm’s IT team was able to eliminate several steps from their manual audit inquiry process. Not only that, but the Intapp solution was extremely stable, unlike their old system, which often failed.
Mulcahy was thrilled with the results. “What was a painful manual process for our coordinators has been streamlined, all while modernizing our technology, providing mobility, and creating efficiency,” he says. Mulcahy also shared that firm lawyers had gained the ability to respond to audit response letter requests from their smartphones — an unexpected boon.
After cloud migration, Goulston & Storrs was able to deliver audit letters to its clients more quickly, helping to protect its interests while also maximizing staff time. The law firm’s IT team has confidence in the new cloud-based system and expects it to be able to adapt to workflows as they evolve.
With streamlined processes and improved performance, cloud migration can transform your firm’s business, as it did for Goulston & Storrs. Schedule a demo to learn more about Intapp Risk & Compliance and how Intapp can help your firm with cloud migration.