Tools4Legal Helps Legal Departments Cut Administrative Time in Half
Looking to radically change the way in which repetitive and standard legal tasks are administered and processed, Tools4Legal turned to Mendix’s application platform and partner, Emixa (formerly Appronto). Built in four weeks, the new application for legal departments requires minimal user training and has shown early signs of success. In fact, a test project with a US-based, global fashion brand led to a co-created scalable solution that has been adopted by several international brands.
Challenge
German start-up, Tools4Legal, offers high-tech yet simple solutions to help legal departments manage their portfolio in a more transparent and efficient manner.
In the last century, robotics and computers dramatically changed the first two pillars of our economy: agriculture and the traditional production industry. Now, the digital revolution has started to transform the service industry in much the same way. However, the rather conservative world of legal services in continental Europe has remained largely unchanged.
Tools4Legal wanted to get ahead of the trend and reduce the time and money that its customers spend on administrative efforts. To accomplish this, the group decided to build a simple to use, yet sophisticated application that they could roll out to clients. In addition to core functionality, Tools4Legal focused on creating an intuitive user experience that balanced users’ ability to quickly process legal work with their ability to access just enough legal information regarding the actual state of affairs.
Solution
Tools4Legal chose to bring the application to market using Mendix’s application platform due to its speed, flexibility and ability to involve business stakeholders in the development process.
Through a combination of design discussions with Tools4Legal and the agile scrum approach of Emixa, two rapid developers delivered the application in a record time of only four weeks. By building in the Mendix platform, the team can easily modify the application based on feedback from clients and evolving market demand.
Results
The Tools4Legal application streamlines four work streams related to standard legal corporate housekeeping activities for multinational companies with a large portfolio of subsidiaries. The solution combines a web-based application for in-house counsel with a back-end procurement process for all countries in scope. As the new application is rolled out to additional countries or as functionality is added, the team can also easily modify and scale the solution.
The results of the initial test project were astonishing. First, internal time spent by lawyers and legal counsel shrunk by more than 50 percent. Additionally, Tools4Legal received positive feedback from its customers, indicating a high perceived satisfaction with the application and change in processes.
After a successful pilot with a global fashion brand, Tools4Legal won a three-year outsourcing deal, encompassing operations in 17 continental European countries. Version 2.0 of the co-created solution launched in just a few months and has already been rolled out by a Fortune 50 company in three countries and a global seed production company in 10 countries.
Tools4Legal attaches great importance to the user experience and customer satisfaction levels. Filip Corveleyn, head of &D at Tools4Legal, explains: “Client satisfaction is very important to us. We don’t just want to be efficient – we want to make sure that the client experience is constantly improving. Mendix made it possible for us to quickly launch a new product and then iterate on the fly to ensure we met our clients’ expectations.”
About Tools4Legal
TOOLS4LEGAL provides novel and ingenious solutions for legal departments and law firms. Using design thinking and Lean SixSigma techniques plus a combined 50 years of experience in international legal work, Tools4Legal is able to rapidly design focused solutions.