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Investing in an entity management platform is the best way to ensure that your team has the features and functionality you need. In-house legal departments that have upgraded to cloud-based entity management platforms such as Athennian have been able to demonstrate value to their organizations and ensure productivity throughout the day.
The main pitfall of several entity management systems on the market is that they are fragmented and outdated, and don’t consider the paralegals who dedicate countless hours in those systems every day. With our “new normal” of remote work and the requirement to connect offices across the nation, the best entity management platforms are the ones that understand unique paralegal challenges, and integrate user feedback into the technology.
Best practices in entity management include a holistic approach of not only best-in-class technology, but a deep knowledge and understanding of the users. Ask the vendors you speak with how they commit to their users, and assess their expertise in ensuring their solution can adapt to your legal team’s needs over time.
Here are 5 elements to consider when deciding on an entity management platform to support your in-house legal department.
The importance of scalability cannot be overlooked when deciding on an entity management platform. If you choose the right entity management platform, you will only have to go through one data migration process, which can be complex. Ensure that the entity management platforms you consider are committed to growth, and have processes in place to adapt to new technology and modern improvements. Another good indicator of scalability is the ability to allow an unlimited number of users.
Though data migration can be a time consuming process, when you upgrade to Athennian, the burden is not on your organization. Our team of data specialists have done over 100 migrations in the last year alone, and will migrate your data with minimal disruption.
Ultimately, your in-house legal department’s roadmap and any solutions therein, are aimed at cutting costs and ensuring the productivity of your department. Many cloud-based entity management solutions provide cost and time savings which contribute to ROI, however, it’s important to see the social proof. Ask for and read any case studies that relate to your unique situation in order to ensure the platform demonstrates the return on investment you expect.
Athennian’s cloud-based platform is proven to save time and streamline processes, allowing your in-house legal team to focus on more value-added tasks. Athennian’s in-house legal department solution helps to reduce outside counsel costs, providing a boost to your bottom line.
The systems you consider should be specifically designed for corporate governance and compliance. The entity management platform you choose must have a proven portfolio of supporting teams through formations, mergers and acquisitions, withdrawals and dissolutions, and other corporate actions.
These features will optimize your time and costs savings: entity overviews, customizable document templates such as corporate information sheets, visual org charts, virtual minute books, custom reports and other data insights. Ask the vendors you speak with if these features are already established in the platform.
Security is fundamental for all legal departments. The information that you manage every day is a valuable and sensitive business asset. Data breaches have significant business and reputational costs, and it is therefore critical to ensure the entity management platforms you consider are held to the highest data standards.
Cloud platforms offer the most rigorous security protocols with servers and failsafes tested and certified to the highest standards. Athennian is SOC 2 Type II certified to give General Counsel and other internal clients peace of mind.
A comprehensive entity management solution should include consultative support from a team of specialists. In-house legal departments have gotten used to the weekly (or even monthly) response times from outdated systems on the market, but you deserve better. Ask the vendors you speak with about their support team, their average response time to requests, and if the specialists that make up the team can understand and support your specific legal requests.
The Athennian Customer Success and Support team is staffed with certified paralegals and legal professionals who understand your business challenges. Our unique in-app live chat has an average response time of under 30 minutes.
Wrapping Up…
This blog post covers the basic areas to consider before you upgrade to a new entity management platform. You may also want to think about whether the platform you choose can integrate with other technologies such as DocuSign, whether it’s cloud-based, or what other functionality is important to your team.
Keep in mind that the best entity management platforms on the market today are the ones that understand unique paralegal challenges, and integrate the voice of the paralegal into the technology.
Read our In-House Legal Department Use Case to understand why Athennian is the leading choice for modern in-house legal teams across the country.
"Very easy to use, modern interface, excellent support. Athennian has an amazing conversion team. They helped us migrate all of our data and the training was very good."
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“When we were reviewing other entity management systems on the market, in some cases, we were not comparing apples to apples. But with Athennian, there was really no comparison. The paralegals were so excited to come on board.”
"There are so many things I like about this program, but the one thing that really stands out is the user friendly interface. The program is fast and allows me to enter corporate information very quickly and efficiently. I would also like to note that Athennian provides the most the fantastic customer service."
