Unite and conquer
How a virtual workspace brings together a worldwide firm
Updated: July 28, 2006
Like many professional services firms, the international law firm of Hunton & Williams must work diligently to create an environment where its attorneys and partners collaborate effectively.
"We have 850 attorneys in 17 offices, working across five time zones," says Jamie Booth, the Richmond, Va.-based firm’s director of information technology. "It's difficult to give them a way to work where all the information is accessible, and where that information is the center of things—not the technology providing it."
For example, attorneys at Hunton & Williams must sometimes go through a half-dozen or more online and offline sources to find information relevant to a case or deal. And then there is e-mail to consider.
Helping lawyers navigate administrative and practice information more efficiently is the goal. So how is Hunton & Williams planning to deliver on that goal? Through an "integrated workspace"—a virtual workplace where attorneys from across the firm can easily access all the information they need in order to review cases, update documents, check schedules, and manage billing. The first phase of Hunton & Williams' integrated workspace was being rolled out across the company in the first part of 2006.
An integrated workspace can help address the information challenges of all professional services firms, including accountants, consultants, and auditors, as well as lawyers. For all, developing client-centric workspaces—where the documents, records, and correspondence for a particular project can be stored and accessed—can boost efficiency, improve security, and help a firm better leverage its intellectual capital.
Create a central information storehouse
Integrated workspaces enable professional services firms to quickly get a grip on the information and knowledge they need to deliver the best possible service to their clients.
At Hunton & Williams, for instance, when a new client or matter is initiated, a workspace built around Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies can automatically pull together the firm's relevant documents. These may include attorney biographies, summary and detailed financial statistics, documents relevant to the current case or deal, and court dockets.
An attorney or partner simply logs on to the firm's company-wide extranet to work. "Whether they're in Beijing or Houston, they will see the same types of client and matter information," Booth says.
The integrated workspace, designed with software from Microsoft partner Handshake Software, is helping Hunton & Williams in other ways too.
| • | It generates a calendar that tracks key meetings and deadlines, and automatically alerts participants of upcoming events so they can be well prepared. |
| • | It defines a standard, shared path for launching, managing, and completing projects, giving everyone the same view of a case or project and a client's needs. |
| • | Employees use familiar programs such as Microsoft Office Word or Outlook on the workspace, thereby reducing the training time for using it. |
The firm’s extranet, the Hunton & Williams LLP Client Workroom, is planned to become an extension of the firm’s integrated workspace during the latter half of 2006. Once completed, clients will benefit by having timely access to matter status, updates on billing, and more. That translates into a competitive advantage for the firm, Booth says. "It reassures our clients that we're using technology to be as efficient as possible. And part of that efficiency is that they have instant access to the information they want, so there's no administrative lag time getting it to them."
Make it easy to use, even remotely
Professional services firms have a key asset: knowledge. But putting it to work can be problematic. A firm may have key principals or associates scattered between remote locations, on extended traveling assignments, or telecommuting.
That's the situation with Hunton & Williams. But that is also the challenge that an integrated workspace is designed to overcome. With it, the firm is able to:
| • | Unite all relevant client information in one centralized virtual location, so partners and associates—and new associates, in particular—can get up to speed on past work for the client and fully understand how it might affect the current case. |
| • | Research a client matter quickly and easily, drawing on files, documents, and e-mails embedded in the integrated workspace and then, with just a few mouse clicks, extend their information search to the Internet. |
| • | Design templates so that different types of legal matters—such as civil, regulatory, or commercial—have specialized integrated workspaces tailored for that particular field of law. |
These features help the Hunton & Williams' workspace adapt to and accommodate those who use it. Says Booth: "We've built intelligence into the system, so that the right matter is presented to an attorney when they use the system, rather than every matter they've ever worked on, which could number in the thousands. The goal is to provide intuitive views of information that accommodate the unique needs of lawyers working within different practices."
Integrated workspaces also enable a firm to share in its professionals' specialized knowledge. At Hunton & Williams, a partner or associate can use the workspace to search the company directory, locating other partners or associates with particular expertise that may be useful for a client matter. "One can find, for instance, Spanish-speaking lawyers with experience in leveraged lease transactions, or all partners who have worked within the coal industry," Booth says. Clients also can query the firm's extranet to search for lawyers with expertise relevant to their needs.
With an integrated workspace, employees at any professional services firm can leverage the knowledge of others, launching e-mail discussions, instant-messaging queries, or even live video meetings, all within minutes. That reduces the time required to meet milestones and helps ensure that a project is completed using the best possible information.
Establish controls and levels of access
Hunton & Williams' workspace also enables the firm to manage access to its key information. Information-access rights are defined by roles within the organization, and are respected by the integrated workspace. For example, associates and partners working within the same matter are presented with considerably different views of the relevant financial information. Ultimately, how a firm wishes to set up internal access controls can be easily adapted to how that firm wishes to work.
At the same time, Hunton & Williams' partners are able to see the full context of a project—whether deliverables are met, how a client's needs are fulfilled, and how profitable a project might be.
Integrated workspaces can help a professional services firm mitigate risks and improve security in several ways:
| • | Consistent, uniform document views highlight exceptions to procedures, so a firm can take note of nonstandard practices. |
| • | With consistent document access controls, employees can make better use of their time and talents, knowing that they won‘t be distracted by materials not germane to their role in a given project. |
| • | Security is improved because an integrated workspace enables role-based access to key documents and helps a firm better manage end-of-project document-retention guidelines. At Hunton & Williams, for instance, associates, partners, and clients all are assigned specific access levels for key information. |
Hunton & Williams' new integrated workspace replaces a second-generation solution built with a combination of Microsoft products and third-party portal software. It includes a link from Hunton & Williams data sources into a SharePoint-based framework that serves as the entry point for the extranet browser. Microsoft Office applications provide the document authoring, e-mail, and database structure, and offer a familiar interface to daily users of the virtual workspace.
With Microsoft software and the skills of Microsoft's wide array of certified partners, professional services firms can implement technology that will effectively leverage their employees' skills and knowledge. An integrated workspace can help provide the "pros" in professional services firms with the information they need, at their fingertips, to serve clients confidently and effectively.
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