Corporate legal departments have a complex mission. Achieving desired outcomes and operating efficiently may sometimes feel like opposing goals. The technology stack in the typical corporate legal department includes an enterprise legal management (ELM) solution that supports workflows and centralizes matter-related data. However, learning to integrate an additional application into their day-to-day workflows is not always ideal for busy professionals.
Wolters Kluwer's ELM Solutions recognizes that clients need holistic, intuitive experiences that reflect both their preferences and their familiarity with established software tools. In an environment where busy professionals have far more work than time, tools that streamline their day-to-day activities are not just more convenient, they are absolutely necessary.
Office Companion for TyMetrix 360° does this for users by providing access to their critical matter management tasks directly within the Microsoft Office applications they are already comfortable with. With Office Companion, common matter management workflows are easier and more efficient, allowing legal operations staff to work where they want, how they want. The intuitive interface enables efficiencies such as email drag-and-drop from Outlook and one-click quick-filing of documents directly into matters. Finding vital information is also simplified with customizable tabs and a powerful search capability.
Some of the highlights of Office Companion for TyMetrix 360° include:
Email management
A great deal of the information legal professionals need to record on a matter arrives via email. Office Companion makes it easy to save all email correspondence and document attachments to their corresponding matters. While working within Outlook, users can add email messages to matters (with or without attachments) using Office Companion’s simple drag-and-drop capability. And for added security, every email attachment is virus scanned before being saved to Office Companion.
Document management
TyMetrix 360° Office Companion is a real-time window into TyMetrix 360°, so all updates and additions are immediately available to all users. This ensures that all users with the proper permissions have access to the most up-to-date information at all times.
While working in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel or PowerPoint, users can easily make edits and save their work to a matter-related file directly from the Office application. This saves the step of switching applications and uploading a new file to TyMetrix 360°. Check in and check out functionality is available from native Microsoft Office Applications to ensure version control.
Easy access to key matter information
Sometimes, a user working on a matter-related document in an Office application needs to reference information about that matter. With Office Companion, they can do so with the click of a mouse in the Office Companion panel on their screen. Folders and tabs with matter-related emails, documents, and notes are available directly from the Office applications where they edit files.
And if they need to access additional functionality within TyMetrix 360°, a simple click opens the TyMetrix 360° web interface directly to the matter summary page, where any edits or updates they have made are immediately available to all users. This page provides access to details such as the matter name and number, its status, the date it was opened, who the responsible professional is, and which work area or org unit it belongs to.
The simplicity of using TyMetrix 360° Office Companion helps organizations overcome the natural resistance that many professionals have to changes in technology while also making legal operations workflows more efficient. This, in turn, helps legal departments realize an increased return on their technology investment sooner.
For further details on how Office Companion can help you streamline your legal operations processes, download our eBook TyMetrix® 360° Office Companion: Work Where and How You Want.
