Ascertus blog

A couple of weeks ago we interviewed the Ascertus CEO and Founder Roy Russell to understand more about how they came to be and how they stay current in an ever-changing technical landscape and the interest we’ve received has been mind blowing. 

Ascertus launched their business in June 2000 with only two employees in a small office in Dock Street, London, E1. a long way both technologically and personally from where they are now. This was a time when there were no smartphones, no Alexa, no Gmail, no Netflix and no free shipping on anything. (Amazon didn’t introduce free shipping on orders until 2002 and only on orders over $99!). 

It’s not surprising that most firms are now actively pursuing an all-out, cloud-first IT strategy. Whilst firms had already had a taste of cloud technology, pre-pandemic – Office 365 is one example – the benefits the technology has offered to businesses over the last two years are irrefutable.

As a new team member at Ascertus, I’ve spent the last couple of months meeting corporate clients to see how we can support their most current commercial and operational requirements – be that through the services the company offers or indeed via some of the other business applications in our portfolio. After all, a lot has changed in the last two years and today we are all working and operating differently compared to pre-pandemic times. I have been heartened by clients’ generosity with their time, as well as their willingness to constructively talk about their technology issues.

The role that technology has played in enabling organisations to continue operation at near-business as usual levels over the last two years, the question that every firm must therefore ask itself is: “Can we afford not to have the best tech, and more specifically, the best document and email management system (DMS) available?”

Recently, Linklaters announced that, following a rigorous review process, undertaken over a couple of years, that the firm is adopting the iManage Work cloud-based document and email management system (DMS). Significantly, they are the final one of the Magic Circle law firms to have made the decision to go with the iManage solution. This now brings the total to 115 of top 200 UK law firms that are utilising iManage Work. Clearly, iManage Work has become the de facto choice for a DMS amongst the larger law firms.

The European Commission’s resolution to adopt the ‘adequacy’ decision for the UK under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), allowing the continued free flow of personal data from the European Union to the UK, has been greeted with much relief by the business community. It means that – at least for the next four years – personal data can continue to flow freely, and firms don’t need to adopt other bespoke and potentially costly measures to comply with data protection rules. Should the UK decide to exit the GDPR, then of course the European Commission will reassess its position.

In the last year, Ascertus has seen a growing emphasis on best practice document management among specialist, mid-sized Intellectual Property (IP) law firms, suggesting that 2020 may have potentially accelerated digital transformation-led approaches in these organisations.

2020 will go down in history for (among other things) as the year when cloud adoption truly came into its own. Metaphorically speaking, with a ‘flick of a switch’, longstanding cyber security, business risk and user-led concerns more or less disappeared, making cloud application adoption a necessity.

In light of Brexit, it’s good news indeed that the EU has acknowledged the UK’s adequacy for data transfers to the nation as a third country, both under the GDPR and the Law Enforcement Directive. Whilst we remain optimistic that this adequacy will be ratified within the coming weeks there are two further hurdles to jump – a non-binding EDPB (European Data Protection Board) advisory and all Member States to agree with the EU’s decision.