Challenges

As a modern law firm with global influence, Cole, Scott & Kissane (CSK) needed a solution that would enable timekeepers to enter their time from anywhere at any time. Appreciating the value of contemporaneous timekeeping, CSK purchased Aderant iTimekeep in December 2019. Like most Chief Information Officers who implement a system-wide solution, CSK’s Jason Thomas had created a phased plan with goals, deadlines and benchmarks. With almost 500 attorneys in 13 offices, the original plan was an initial rollout to a pilot group, and then continue to extend the solution to larger groups, office by office, until it was firm-wide. That plan was originally slated to be completed by the end of April 2020.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic forced remote work in mid-March, now, more than ever, CSK needed their lawyers and staff to perform timekeeping from anywhere. Thomas faced a dilemma: pause the phased rollout in the middle; postpone the entire plan; or revamp the original plan and create a new, accelerated one? Ultimately, firm leadership agreed that to pause or postpone would be a waste of resources. The decision to create an accelerated plan commenced, with a clear objective that all timekeepers had to be using iTimekeep, as opposed to supporting multiple timekeeping platforms.

Accelerating a completely new software implementation plan would be unrealistic with many solutions. However, a rapid implementation of iTimekeep is realistic due to the simplicity of the software, so Thomas embraced the challenge.

Solution

The accelerated rollout was a success and all of CSK’s attorneys are live on iTimekeep. For Thomas it was easier than he expected. As iTimekeep does not require any extensive in-person or in-office training to become well-versed with the solution, CSK’s attorneys were proficient in about an hour. “Onboarding is a breeze and you don’t have to worry about training,” relayed Thomas. “It’s so easy and intuitive that you can train your team in minutes over Zoom or LoopUp, which alleviates the time and cost that is usually taken up with onsite training.”

Success was also driven by the ease of implementation of a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. Attorneys can download the app, and access iTimekeep from any browser on any device without the hassle of logging in through a VPN. “Speed and easy access are two major qualities,” said Lauren Polo, CSK’s Application Systems Administrator. “You don’t have to log into the company network or use a firm laptop. It’s fast and won’t affect any other programs you have running.”

“No one expected a global pandemic, but when we were all forced home, we wanted to make sure we got iTimekeep up and running for them as soon as we possibly could,” said managing partner Richard Cole. “Fortunately for us, everyone embraced the new software, and embraced learning how to do it on their own. What could have been a tech nightmare ended up exceeding our high expectations.”

Business Impact

At a time when some businesses are struggling with staff productivity, CSK’s attorneys are even more productive with iTimekeep. The contemporaneous timekeeping solution gives attorneys the ability to continue working and tracking time contemporaneously anywhere, anytime, on any device.

How much more productive? CFO Ed Aguero reports, “In just one month of using iTimekeep, we are seeing significant improvements. iTimekeep and help from leadership has really improved our days to post by almost 45% (five days) versus last month.”

As an interesting cultural impact, Cole relayed how many of the younger, more tech-savvy attorneys assisted others with the training. “iTimekeep is intuitive enough that there was relatively no training required. We had people of various ages and technical abilities learning new software. It’s really a credit to Lauren Polo and her team doing yeoman’s work to get our lawyers up and running. To have essentially zero complaints means the rollout was extraordinarily well done.”

In Their Words

“It makes me enter time contemporaneously because I don’t have to go through the hassle of logging into the network; I can simply pull it up on my phone and capture my time.”

— Cole, Scott & Kissane attorney