Hillview Technologies

The challenge

Addressing data management challenges of a law firm

Hillview Technologies provides IT services, recommendations, and implementations for clients across various industries, including the legal sector. Its client, Sea Green Law, is a UK-based law firm providing legal advice to companies involved in international trade, shipping, and energy.

Sea Green Law had many internal process challenges, with the biggest being the lack of classification of emails and case data. The firm was struggling to centralise and share information, emails, and case data among teams.

Previously, teams had created folders inside individual email accounts and siloed critical case-related information away. This meant that, when team members were brought in on cases, there was no quick, easy way to share all of the information.

This had the potential to impact on the firm when lodging documents with the courts. If case files were incomplete or important emails were not saved properly to be used in an official capacity during court proceedings, this could present a challenge for the firm. Therefore, it was essential to avoid this type of issue with centralised information management.

Tom Windle, senior IT support analyst, Hillview Technologies, said, “Sea Green Law had seen immense growth in staff and clients over the space of three years. However, its internal collaboration and information-sharing processes hadn’t evolved with that growth. Without a proper information management solution, the business faced challenges as it grew.”

Sea Green Law needed a solution that could facilitate seamless document sharing, improve team collaboration, deliver efficient data storing, and let staff members proficiently manage multiple client cases at once.

The solution

An automated data management system to improve processes

Hillview knew from experience that a data management system (DMS) would address Sea Green Law’s challenges. However, Hillview struggled to find a solution that was flexible enough to meet Sea Green Law’s needs.

On further investigation, Hillview discovered Ideagen Mail Manager and found that the fundamental tools of Ideagen Mail Manager could achieve the same results as a DMS platform but with greater flexibility.

Hillview partnered with Ideagen Mail Manager for Sea Green Law because it offered: affordable costs; flexibility in the number of users; powerful core features; and the ability to classify, copy, attach, and monitor upload status. Ideagen Mail Manager is essentially an all-encompassing solution for email management and classifying raw data. The level of engagement and implementation support from Ideagen Mail Manager clinched the deal.

Hillview helped Sea Green Law leverage its existing Microsoft 365 licencing with Ideagen Mail Manager. Using existing technology and licences made the implementation easy for all parties.

Automation streamlined processes

Hillview used Microsoft Power Automate to automate the creation of new case folders, saving time and increasing accuracy. Hillview worked closely with Ideagen Mail Manager to map this process step-by-step and troubleshoot each element. The result was an automated, simplified system through Microsoft 365, with no external servers or onsite requirements.

The automated system uses metadata to manage documents relating to the case, creating a SharePoint site based on a template with emails and a document library. Through the Solution Profiles created with Ideagen Mail Manager, cases that are provisioned are automatically delivered to users in Outlook.

Tom Windle said, “Setting up the automation in Sea Green Law’s system was a significant milestone during the implementation. Hillview worked closely with Ideagen Mail Manager to create a system similar to that of Ideagen Mail Manager’s Modern Legal Matter Management solution.

“Implementing this type of solution in Sea Green Law’s system required a personalised approach. Hillview and Ideagen Mail Manager built out the underlying meta elements and lists manually, troubleshooting challenges together along the way.”

The results

Benefits help meet growth demands

With the Ideagen Mail Manager technology from Hillview, Sea Green Law has the tools to self-manage, creating new case jobs in its system through the automated process created by Hillview and Ideagen Mail Manager. This process lets the firm maintain and manage new cases seamlessly, without needing to rely on IT. It also lets the firm begin work on new cases straight away with the new document folder appearing immediately in Microsoft Outlook.

The solution has solved inefficiencies within the firm, which has increased collaboration between teams, improved file and document management, and streamlined business functions to meet the company’s surge in growth.

To ensure that Sea Green Law’s employees were confident in using the new solution, Hillview and Ideagen Mail Manager provided training sessions and demonstrations for the firm.

Tom Windle said, “The team at Ideagen Mail Manager has been amazing, collaborating with Hillview for customer-facing demonstrations, problems and questions. Following this partnership and successful implementation, Hillview is putting Ideagen Mail Manager at the forefront for clients looking to maximise their investment in SharePoint or Microsoft 365 through better information management.”