Major insurer standardizes on Microsoft 365 for corporate legal matter management

After rolling out Microsoft 365 across the enterprise, a leading insurance company deploys Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal to deliver matter-centric document, email, and content management across the same platform, kicking off its in-house legal team’s digital transformation journey.

Matter transformation without disruption

An FTSE 100 insurer has deployed Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal across its 250-strong in-house legal department internationally, enabling more streamlined, matter-centric document, email, and content management. Its aim is to better coordinate and organize in-house legal workloads across their lifecycle — while also building a foundation for a digital transformation for the legal department, and for Legal Operations more broadly.

During the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company undertook a detailed market assessment to find the right solution. To maximize value and avoid purchasing excessive functionality, the company was keen to find something that would fit with its existing technology estate and ways of working.

“Before we implemented Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal as our document management platform of choice, our legal teams stored crucial information in a variety of places,” explained the company’s Legal IT and Training Manager. “Information and content were hard to locate as a result, and it was difficult to apply retention guidelines. Identifying the latest version was a challenge, too.”

Standardized, intuitive matter handling

In common with many in-house legal teams, the insurer’s legal department was used to working within a framework of file shares, email, and standard Microsoft document formats such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as PDF for signed contracts.

Having adopted Microsoft 365 across the business, the insurer saw an opportunity to address the inefficiencies of inconsistent filing, and to build on the collaborative capabilities now available, by harnessing the Microsoft platform to streamline legal matter management.

The company chose Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal from Intapp implementation partner Panoram Digital. Part of the solution’s appeal was the fact that it had been developed by corporate legal users for corporate legal teams. Formerly known as Repstor Custodian for Legal, it was created specifically as a modern digital solution to in-house legal matter lifecycle management. As a consequence, its take-up among corporate legal departments is high.

The timing of the international project, which took place in two phases during a period of immense disruption to the global workplace, highlighted the benefits of embracing digital practices and remote matter collaboration. Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal is fully integrated with Microsoft SharePoint, presenting opportunities for more collaborative work on documents — streamlining the storage of project emails, the standardization of working practices across groups and teams, and the ability to see the big picture via integrated management reporting and on-demand analytics and insights.

Since the introduction of Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal, our previous concerns about where to find matter-related content and emails have all been greatly reduced, enabling our lawyers to collaborate more efficiently and a number of risks to be minimized.

LEGAL IT & TRAINING MANAGER

Built-in security

Operating within a strictly regulated industry, the insurer had a strong requirement for confidentiality and data governance within project teams, so the chosen solution needed to steer users to a consistent way of working, but within strict walls for compliance purposes. Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal is ideally positioned to provide these controls and satisfy data retention requirements, including GDPR​, without compromising team productivity.

Other attractive features include Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal’s intuitive ease of use, catering to different levels of user technical savviness. As one legal user put it, “I’ve found that Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal is very intuitive and works exactly how you would want a document management system to operate. The creation of new folders is straightforward, and the Outlook interface is very simple to use. I have used other document management systems which overcomplicate the process and are subsequently very frustrating, but I’m very happy with Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal.”

Accelerated performance; more satisfied users

Active engagement from the internal Legal Operations team, coupled with experienced project management internally and a pragmatic approach to implementation across distance, ensured a successful product delivery despite the disruption of the pandemic.

The insurer reports high adoption levels of Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal. To date, more than 1,000 matters have been generated in litigation alone via the solution; usage levels are high too across General Insurance and Health and the company’s Digital and Data Privacy Team, as well as the Corporate Governance team.

Legal teams and Legal Operations now have high-level visibility into the number of matters being created and their duration, and can readily gain insights against metrics such as instances where outside advisers have been engaged.

From an IT management perspective, the company has now minimized any duplication of emails and has benefited from capabilities that include:

  • Search within and across matters
  • Improved collaboration, with individuals able to work on the same document at the same time
  • Greater understanding among team members of the capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint and the wider Microsoft 365 suite
  • A standard folder structure that makes it easier to locate documents
  • Version control
  • Generation of PDF documents of record

The ability to create matters with custom metadata has also allowed us to produce management information such as oversight of work levels within our teams currently and over time, allowing us to resource our operations accordingly.

LEGAL IT & TRAINING MANAGER

A springboard for onward innovation

Through its discussions with Panoram Digital, the insurance company understands that smarter use of Microsoft 365 also paves the way for wider digital transformation — without requiring disruption to legal users’ everyday routines or use of their preferred Microsoft Office tools.

At a more granular level, the insurer is looking forward to doing more with Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal to:

  • Allow for future enhancements, efficiencies, and automation
  • Provide a foundation for process improvements
  • Support all reporting requirements relating to data stored and to matters booked in for individuals, teams, and GCs

The company is already exploring wider opportunities for enhancing digital capabilities related to automation and the use of AI.

“Intapp and its implementation partner Panoram Digital have been incredibly helpful, working with us to ensure Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal was rolled out smoothly across all teams, meeting everyone’s needs appropriately,” the Legal IT & Training Manager concluded. “I’m certain I speak for all users when I say that the system has made such a big impact that we can’t imagine the prospect of working without it now.”

Executive Summary

An FTSE 100 insurer, with a 250-strong in-house global legal department, deployed Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal to streamline matter management and content organization across its international operations. The company wanted to harness its recent investment in Microsoft 365 and provide a foundation for broader digital transformation across its legal activities. The legal team’s use of the solution is helping them boost collaboration while ensuring data governance, security, and compliance.

Challenges

  • Legal teams were storing crucial information in a variety of places, so information and content were hard to locate as a result.
  • It was difficult to apply retention guidelines and ensure compliance with data governance and protections.
  • Ensuring version control and determining status updates were challenging.

Results with Intapp

  • A familiar, intuitive user experience for legal teams. Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal lets professionals manage matters natively within the insurer’s recently deployed Microsoft 365 environment and users’ preferred applications.
  • Improved visibility into management insights. Legal teams and Legal Operations have high-level visibility into the number of matters being created and their duration, and can readily gain insights against metrics such as instances where outside advisers have been engaged.
  • Reduced risk and fewer demands on IT. Duplicated emails have been minimized, a standard folder structure has enabled quicker document location, version control is improved, and generating PDF documents of record is simpler.
  • A foundation for a smart future. Intapp Documents for Corporate Legal provides a path to process automation and AI use.

I’m certain I speak for all users when I say that the system has made such a big impact that we can’t imagine the prospect of working without it now.

LEGAL IT & TRAINING MANAGER