An irresistible roll-out of Rubus for Clarke Willmott LLP.

10 June 2016

The Organisation

Clarke Willmott LLP is a national firm of solicitors providing a broad spectrum of legal services for businesses and individuals across seven offices.

The Challenge

Clarke Willmott needed a replacement for the iManage Work integration within BES 5. Having ruled out creating a custom app, the firm adopted Rubus, the iManage Work connector for BlackBerry 10/12 devices from Appurity Connect.

Following detailed technical planning and consultancy with users, the initial trial was an immediate success. Functions such as send-and-file and syncing of key matters have helped lawyers and solicitors working on the move to make much more productive use of their time. Collaboration is easier, matters can be progressed more quickly, and client expectations can be met and exceeded.

“The app has been a big step forward for our mobility strategy. The close integration with the document management system means that our teams can get much more done on the move.”
Jonathan Whiteman, IT Services and Infrastructure Manager, Clarke Willmott LLP.

“Time that was previously less productive, such as train journeys or waiting at clients’ premises, can now be used to complete or progress matters, using the BlackBerry device.”
Nick Long, IT Business Manager, Clarke Willmott LLP.

The Solution

The ultimate measure of any IT project is the rate at which users adopt the new technology.

For Clarke Willmott, a UK law firm with offices across the country, the introduction of the Rubus app from Appurity Connect was about as painless as it gets. Jonathan Whiteman, IT Services and Infrastructure Manager, explains that the project was driven by demand from the firm’s 500 legal professionals and support staff.

“When BES 5 went end-of-life, our users really missed the ability to file to our document management system from iManage Work,” he says.

“At first, we considered writing our own app, but the cost-benefit analysis did not look agreeable. We were also in the process of changing the supplier for our outsourced IT and required a solution that was simple to implement within our current infrastructure framework. We consulted Appurity Connect about the problem as part of those discussions and they showed us Rubus, and it gave us everything we needed, and more.”

Rubus is an iManage Work connector, built as a native BlackBerry 10 application. Users have integration into the native email client, giving them an experience similar to that offered by the old BlackBerry Java OS product from iManage.

The Result

With Rubus, send-and-file, file from inbox, search matters, syncing of key matters and other features are all available on BlackBerry 10 devices.

“The Rubus app has been a big step forward for our mobility strategy” says Jonathan . “The close integration with the document management system means that our teams can get much more done on the move.”

“Time that was previously less productive, such as train journeys or waiting at clients’ premises, can now be used to complete or progress matters, using the BlackBerry device.” added Nick Long, IT Business Manager.

Users on the move and Solicitors back at the office have full access to the document management system, helping to improve collaboration and reduce duplicated effort.

Previously, links within emails to the system would not open on the BlackBerry device. Now, users can click through to check a document and then forward it on, all within the Rubus app.

The send-and-file function means that users have all the benefits of the BlackBerry email interface, while still working fully within the document management system. If they’ve been working with files on the move, they haven’t lost time making sure everything is filed correctly when they return.

“We rolled out Rubus to 12 users for the initial trial,” says Nick. “It’s highly intuitive, so there was almost no training involved. Everyone was up to speed in about 15 minutes.

“The Appurity Connect technical team had a lot to do with that, due to their understanding of the pre-requisites of the project. They took the time to understand how our users worked, and to make sure the spec was aligned with their needs.”

With the trial successfully completed, Rubus has been rolled out to a further 100 users. Clarke Willmott has also used Appurity’s Technical Consultancy to upgrade to BES 12 from BES 10.

“Mobility is now a vital part of any legal practice” concludes Nick. “Clients expect easy access to the team working on their matters, and prompt resolution.

“Rubus allows our lawyers to keep their portfolios up-to-date and progressing rapidly to successful outcomes, because it gives them back so much time when they’re working on the move.”