Many firms are fast tracking collaboration-related technology projects to accommodate the new demands of hybrid working. The business applications that supported collaboration in office-only environments are not entirely suitable for the current ways of working where some people are in the office and the others are working remotely.
Lack of efficient, cost-effective online collaboration and inclusivity – in the absence of routine face-to-face meetings and informal water cooler meetings – can impact employees’ efficiency and productivity. Access to the latest data in real-time is core to a collaborative environment in a hybrid setting.
To remove data siloes and facilitate seamless data sharing internally and externally, firms routinely adopt secure file sharing and collaboration tools. Lawyers may create and save documents in one system and then copy them in one or multiple other systems. Those duplicate documents multiply the amount of disk space required which may significantly increase application data allocation costs. More importantly, multiple copies of documents need far more management and increase the risk for breach of data protection regulations.
Whilst these file sharing tools are excellent, most firms will confess that their high storage costs are extremely challenging to sustain, and for some prohibitively expensive to even afford in the first place. Over time the cost of cloud storage multiplies given the volume of data that firms generate routinely. – especially as lawyers are loathed to delete practically any document they work on from any system.
New business requirements need new tools
The legal tech sector is perhaps one of the most innovative and responsive to changing market needs. To deliver against the needs of firms in the current hybrid environments, new tools have come on the market that seamlessly integrate and connect document management and file sharing systems.
Both the lawyers/users and IT departments love this! IT departments don’t need to be involved in complex, time-consuming integrations, department admins in firms can create the sync between the document and file sharing applications within minutes. There’s no need for prior IT knowledge. Users can truly work seamlessly as the manual processes of uploading and archiving are eliminated, saving them precious time. The firm benefits too as the cost of data storage in the file sharing systems is reduced to a fraction of the typical cost.
Syncly is a new breed of synchronization tool with an innovative approach to these issues.. Firms can integrate their iManage document and email management system – an environment in which lawyers practically live in – with many different collaboration systems, such as SharePoint, Teams, and HighQ, for easy and seamless file sharing and collaboration capability.
By connecting iManage to these systems, Syncly eliminates the need for firms to use those systems for cloud storage. Syncly also enables two-way synchronization between the two systems – i.e., any changes in iManage are automatically reflected in the other system(s) and vice versa. This streamlined approach means that lawyers experience significant efficiency gains, reducing their time spent searching for documents. Collaboration and communication is easy – no version control issues, and everyone works from the most up-to-date version of the documents. From a firm-wide perspective, the highest standards of data security and compliance are applied.
The Syncly connector for iManage and Microsoft Teams integration uniquely enables collaboration for Teams’ users who aren’t iManage licensed users too, because the files can be synced from within Teams.
As a technology advisor, Ascertus is always actively evaluating new applications so that the company can meet the evolving business requirements of customers as well as enable them to optimise their tech stack and maximise the return of their overall investment in IT.
We will be demonstrating Syncly on day one of the upcoming Alternative Legal IT 2023 at 13:45 so don’t delay in reserving your place. You will be staggered to see how easily and cleanly the integration can be set up – no code needed! All attendees will be entered into a prize draw with the chance of winning a £50 amazon Voucher! Alternatively do come by our stand. to meet the team for a coffee and natter.