For a number of years, full-service international law firm Womble Bond Dickinson used an on-premises hosted iManage document management system (DMS) as a core element of the firm’s technology stack for legal work. The firm’s team of over 1,000 staff (including more than 649 lawyers) appreciated the system’s rich feature set for managing documents and centralising content, working with the peace of mind that iManage’s best-of-breed security features protected their sensitive client data. However, the on-premises system was costly to maintain, and required significant input from the firm’s IT team, such as for manual updates and patches.
Womble Bond Dickinson chose to transition to the iManage Cloud in order to reap the benefits of iManage’s extensive investment in cloud-native innovation. With Zero Touch and Zero Trust architecture, as well as leading ISO certifications, the iManage Cloud offered Womble Bond Dickinson the strongest possible protection for the firm’s vital information. Built with the latest technologies, the iManage Cloud also reduces workload for IT teams as upgrades and patches are delivered automatically, facilitating immediate access to the latest system advancements for end users – without the need for downtime.
After a full review of all iManage providers, Tiger Eye was chosen as the firm’s iManage Partner of choice. Tom Humberstone, IT Applications & Development Manager at Womble Bond Dickinson, commented: “Once we made the decision to move to the iManage Cloud, we carried out a full review of all UK iManage Partners, but Tiger Eye’s unmatched technical expertise and focus on customer service made them a clear winner for us.”
The migration programme began with system discovery and analysis, with workshops completed to map the firm’s set-up, in order to prioritise tasks, and identify any potential issues. Tiger Eye’s Project Management Team scoped and coordinated the multi-phase project in full, providing planning, regular communications, progress updates and insights throughout the entire project lifecycle. The experienced team were also able to use insights from previous projects to optimise the process, forecast with precision and ensure a seamless transition.
Tiger Eye then explored the firm’s platform integrations, to ensure the organisation’s cloud-enabled platform would continue to draw data from other mission-critical systems including the firm’s Practice Management System. Tiger Eye’s iManage Professional Services Team then analysed the firm’s data, with a focus on cleansing and remediation, as well as security policies. Following this, Womble Bond Dickinson chose to adopt iManage Security Policy Manager to optimise the way data was secured per department or practice area.
Further discovery meetings and workshops were hosted to explore key areas of the firm’s document and email infrastructure. This culminated in the production of a Discovery Report, which highlighted all findings for the firm, as well as recommended next steps. Following further consultancy sessions, the remaining pre-migration tasks were scoped in full, with a digital dashboard enabling both parties to track project progress as well as budgets.
The platform design phase followed, ensuring the application design was suitable for the needs of end users and the IT team alike. The platform was then built by Tiger Eye in alignment with this, ensuring metadata, user groups and more met the firm’s needs.
Once the new system was ready for migration, Tiger Eye began to move data from the firm’s on-premises set up to the iManage Cloud. The migration was carried out in one session via a ‘Big Bang’ approach, with specialists and technical engineers carefully monitoring the migration to ensure success. To ensure the new platform would be adopted effectively, Tiger Eye collaborated with Womble Bond Dickinson on change management communications, as well as a range of training sessions delivered to the firm. In total, over 83 million documents were migrated, with the process managed by Tiger Eye’s iManage Professional Services team.
Following the firm’s migration to the iManage Cloud, Womble Bond Dickinson have significantly reduced the burden on their IT team, as platform upgrades are delivered directly to end users, without manual IT input.
The firm has also gained access to a wide range of cloud-only add-ons available to iManage Cloud users, to streamline workflows and work more efficiently. With data centralised, secured and accessible, the organisation is now well-positioned to harness the value of collective intelligence with genAI and other new technologies. Commenting on this, Sam Dixon, Chief Innovation Officer, Partner and Project Sponsor at Womble Bond Dickinson, added: “We were delighted to complete the migration of our DMS to the cloud. As well as ensuring that our data continues to benefit from the best possible protection, the move unlocks a range of new applications which weren’t previously available to us. Any comment on a legal IT project at the moment would be incomplete without a mention of genAI. Our move to the cloud is giving us the opportunity to be at the forefront of exploring the use of genAI to leverage our own content.”
Since moving to the iManage Cloud, Tiger Eye continues to provide ongoing support to Womble Bond Dickinson, to ensure the firm takes full advantage of the organisation’s investment in the iManage platform. Tiger Eye’s Client Success Team also work closely with iManage’s technical specialists, customer success team, cloud engineers and product leaders to deliver user insights and guide aspects of the organisation’s iManage strategy.
“I am extremely proud to have delivered the iManage Cloud project. The project’s success was driven by the collaborative team effort of both Tiger Eye and Womble Bond Dickinson. Our close working relationship ensured a smooth project and successful go-live. We are now well-positioned to maximise the benefits of cloud technologies and a new range of innovative solutions from iManage.” – Tom Humberstone, IT Applications and Development Manager, Womble Bond Dickinson
Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) is a full-service international law firm with a point of view like no other. With a team of over 1,000 lawyers across the UK and US, WBD goes beyond traditional legal services. A diverse array of experts, including technology specialists, project managers, accountants, tax advisers and people with rich histories in business, non-profits, private client work and government all at our client’s fingertips. Deeply embedded in key UK markets, connected to the global Lex Mundi network spanning 125 countries, and advising businesses from leading FTSE 350 companies to charities and local authorities across five core business groups, clients are able to call on the local knowledge, technical skills and diverse viewpoints needed to tackle their most critical challenges at home and around the world.
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