Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm

Mohammed Bahelmi, general manager at Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm, explained the challenge in more detail. “We had just two months to select, design, implement, test and go live with a new, enterprise-wide document management solution. Many in the firm had previous experience working with OpenText™ Document Management, eDOCS Edition and had confidence that it would meet the needs of the new firm. We made the strategic decision to implement eDOCS DM in the cloud, thereby minimizing the cost of on-premises infrastructure, while maximizing stability and without compromising security.”

Working with a local OpenText partner, MGS, the eDOCS solution was customized to meet the access control needs specified by AS&H clients—developing a security model that complied with specific requirements. The migration phase also involved accurately profiling documents with the correct taxonomy. As part of system testing, AS&H also simulated a server failure followed by a complete restoration of the solution.

“We had to place our trust in both OpenText and MGS to ensure eDOCS was implemented on time, on budget and would fully meet our needs. In the end, every one of our goals was met, including the disaster recovery capabilities, which when tested, passed with no issues whatsoever,” said Bahelmi.

The implementation and go live were smooth, with no issues reported. eDOCS was delivered out of the box with only minor changes. In addition, user acceptance was extremely high, with little or no training required.

“We’re seeing a new generation of lawyers and other legal professionals who expect to handle their own documents and to do so in ways that are secure, yet streamlined and intuitive. eDOCS provides everything they need, with version control, document check-in, encryption, audit, excellent search capabilities and more. eDOCS works seamlessly regardless of where our personnel are in the world via our virtual private network (VPN), using laptops and tablet devices,” said Bahelmi.

The powerful search capabilities in eDOCS allow AS&H staff to quickly access and reuse the firm’s collective knowledge. AS&H lawyers often work long hours and should they need to locate a document, they can pinpoint it quickly and effortlessly. To date, about 40,000 documents are securely managed and fully searchable within eDOCS, and with the flexible storage provided by the cloud, the solution can easily scale and grow with AS&H.

“Not only does eDOCS in the cloud provide the security and scalability we require, it is more economical. We only pay for the storage space we use, rather than having to allow for growth up front, as would be the case with on-premises infrastructure,” said Bahelmi. “The cloud provides better continuity. We have no server hardware to maintain on-site and this helps us to reduce our risk and costs.”

AS&H is using eDOCS across the entire enterprise. Not only are client-matter documents managed, but internal business functions, such as finance and HR, also use eDOCS to ensure the security and confidentiality of sensitive documents. eDOCS is delivering company-wide efficiencies that are crucial not just for the bottom line, but for providing good client service.

“We selected eDOCS for a purpose, to provide secure, stable and efficient document management and it fulfils it very well,” said Bahelmi. “It’s not just the product, but also the support, services and the people that came together to deliver a very successful project in a tight timetable.”