Meeting management
for law firms

AskCody differentiates from other vendors by providing a comprehensive platform for meeting management and workspace management that is build native to Microsoft Exchange. Other vendors offer a solution that is SQL-based and require a "middle layer" where all the meeting data and reservations reside which has to synchronize with Exchange. This result in duplicate system of records and can cause synchronization errors between the vendor's solution and Exchange. Instead, AskCody leverages Exchange as the backbone for all meeting data and reservations which means a "single source of truth" for all meeting data and no synchronization errors.

In this way, AskCody also support "one-click" setup and join for video meetings in Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc. without any custom integrations. Additionally, AskCody provides modern add-ins for Outlook/M365 that is easy to deploy centrally, always updated and doesn't degrade Outlook performance.

Other vendors offer older VSTO plugins for Outlook which are cumbersome to deploy and update/maintain and can degrade Outlook performance.

AskCody is in line with law firms’ most innovative IT strategies by delivering a solution with the most modern architecture (cloud-based platform + modern add-ins for Outlook/M365) built on existing infrastructure (your MS Exchange) that delivers a comprehensive set of features to meet industry standard, business requirements within legal services such as client matter numbers, GL, easy booking across multiple locations, settlements/cost recovery, etc.

There is a distinction between solutions like AskCody and legacy solutions built in SQL. Faster time to value and less effort for deployment, 100% SaaS, and you don’t need all the expensive services. These statistics are all indicative of a fundamentally different approach in how these technologies are built. Firms are recognizing the inherent consequences of relying on this legacy approach as business continuity is more critical than ever due to a dynamic workforce and increasing amount of technology endpoints that users are leveraging to work smarter. Trying to manage meetings with users’ calendars in Exchange and room calendars in a separate SQL solution has become an increasing source of frustration, especially for firms who continue to introduce more collaboration technologies.   

AskCody not only introduces a solution with the most modern architecture, but also delivers the comprehensive features to meet industry standard business requirements.

Law firms appreciate that AskCody is not just another tool in their tech stack, but an integrated part of their Microsoft suite and existing IT infrastructure. We are built native to Exchange and Azure. Providing insights and analytics gathered with Power BI. Delivered with Modern Add-ins for Outlook. Our aim is to be the best Microsoft solution on the market. 

The American Law Firm Shook, Hardy, and Bacon LLP became an AskCody customer in 2019 as their business had grown to a size where they needed to standardize their meeting processes and wanted a solution integrated natively with Microsoft 365 and Outlook. 

"We shouldn't have to go to a different solution than Outlook to book a conference room, and the two systems never talked to each other. So that was kind of one of the drivers for us saying: Let us find a new tool!"

- Luke Schnoebelen, Director of Professional Development.

Read the full Shook, Hardy, and Bacon LLP case study

AskCody is natively integrated with Microsoft 365. This means you can use the Teams or Skype app in Outlook to quickly add video conference to your meeting along with other services. For modern law firms having easy and efficient access to video conferencing rooms and the ability to efficiently add AV equipment and setup is vital to the success of the business.

This was also the case with Eversheds Sutherland, who added 200+ different rooms (and desks) with video conferencing equipment in portion of those. Another law firm that enjoyed the easy setup has been Shook, Hardy, and Bacon as they became a customer just before Covid in 2019. The flexibility of the Platform during an uncertain time was very important in our continued partnership. 

Unfortunately, one of the reasons law and legal choose AskCody is because they have had negative experiences with unstable or non-integrated workplace management software. 

The reason companies experience synchronization issues and double bookings is because of how most platforms are built. Most products on the market are created as SQL-based solutions. In short this means the company created a database outside the Microsoft environment making server calls for every action between the database and Exchange. Because the database is located outside of the Microsoft environment it makes it more vulnerable to issues, if there is an outage on either Microsoft or the database.

Because AskCody is built on Azure and Exchange we leverage the data in Microsoft. This means we can significantly reduce the risk of synchronization issues or double bookings creating software law and legal can trust. 

One frequent issue we hear from client businesses is the lack of a standard way to book workspaces. The issue with having multiple ways to reserve meeting rooms or desks, order services and manage visitors is, that you might lack control when managing important meetings.

This was a massive issue for the Chicago-based law firm Burke, Warran, Mackay, & Serritella and it became one of the main drivers for them to get a workplace management solution. 

"10 different people booking a meeting, resulted in 10 different ways of creating a meeting, and everything that goes with it. Meeting management can be a convoluted process, so we really needed a standardized system that was easy for our people to use and that could automate the current processes in place. With AskCody employees can now book rooms and request services themselves, and it gives them a kind of self-service aspect where they can take control of their own meetings."

- Anthony Moore, IT Director at Burke, Warran, Mackay, & Serritella.

Read the full case study with Burke, Warran, Mackay, & Serritella.

In general, law firms are increasingly competing for the next generation of attorneys and legal professionals. Right now, it’s a particularly challenging time because law firms are transitioning. Firms have to meet the needs of their veteran attorneys while introducing the right technologies to attract talented digital natives (i.e. younger attorneys) who will carry the firm in the future.

Here are a few expectations that our customers are delivering on: 

1. Empowering end-users with an intuitive, self-service experience 
   • Increasingly, legal professionals expect to have the right technology to accomplish basic tasks in order to spend more time delivering value for clients – it’s becoming less acceptable to rely on multiple phone calls and manual emails to accomplish these non-revenue driving tasks.  
2. One-click interaction Video conferencing out of the box with Zoom, Teams, WebEx, etc. 
   • No additional integrations required.
3. Hosted solutions – outsourced IT
   • In order to stay competitive in today’s market, law firms are focusing everything on being better law firms and looking for ways to free up resources internally by outsourcing. 
4. Single source of truth with expanding collaboration tech stack.
   • With firms introducing more technology end-points and collaboration tools for end users, it’s becoming an increasing burden for firms to manage meetings trying to synchronize a legacy SQL solution with people’s calendars in Exchange. As these trends continue and the workforce becomes increasingly dynamic, it will only become more important for firms to maintain continuity by relying on one source of truth for meetings. A solution like AskCody allows your Exchange to truly be the backbone for meetings. 

ISO (International Standards Organization) is a globally recognized certification that demonstrates a company's commitment in maintaining high-quality standards. Some of the AM Law 100, Global 200, and NLJ 500 companies who choose to collaborate with AskCody - have done so because it helps them achieve an ISO certification. This certification helps boost the firms' credibility which can give a significant competitive advantage especially for international collaboration. 

One of the largest law firms Eversheds Sutherland LLP specifically chose the AskCody Platform because the Visitor Management solution helped them improve security, confidentiality, and access control when managing visitors. Visitor management is an out-of-the-box solution giving the guests a great first impression while documenting, tracking, and reporting in accordance with the ISO standards.

Read the full Eversheds Sutherland LLP case study