Legal and Financial Advisor are Raising the Bar: Online Documents = Better Client Service

Jun 29, 2009 - by Joel Lessem

Being organized ultimately means less mistakes, getting the work done faster and providing superior service.  Whether it is completing a transaction,  structuring a businesses or managing a clinical trial are volumes of documents.   Having documents highly organized, accessible and online access reduces the voicemails, "lost" e-mail attachments and miscommunication that frustrates any collaborative process.  As one attorney commented

“My important clients use the internet for convenience with their other service providers. They bank online, they book travel online, they file taxes online - and I want to be able to provide them with a convenient way to work with me, online!  Either I proactively set up online access to key documents for my clients; or wait until they demand it because everyone else is doing it. And since there is virtually no material impact to my practice – why should I wait?”

“This is not simply about doing deals, but servicing clients”, says Joel Lessem, Firmex CEO.  If a client needs a document, they should be able to find it in a secure and organized environment.  While some attorneys will say they prefer that their client phones if they need to find a document - this is neither efficient nor convenient for the client who interested in getting a document immediately – and not voicemail or a conversation. M&A advisors are also finding added utility in getting their clients “deal ready” ahead of time.  It’s no longer just about posting due diligence online – but versioning offering memorandums, NDA agreements and performing financial reviews and valuations.  “We are not just a virtual data room to them, we modeled their entire document workflow, from soup to nuts” says Robert Wilder Firmex COO.  This level of ongoing of organization is meaningful to the advisor and their clients.