As a centerpiece of the modern law firm, corporate paralegals are versatile problem solvers who are frequently tasked with putting out fires and promptly resolving threats to business continuity.
Every paralegal that has a few years of experience under their belt has encountered at least one major business disaster, usually more. These critical incidents include:
1. Misplaced Minute Books
In many settings, corporate paralegals serve as the gatekeepers of important documents and files, including minute books. As any paralegal that has ever taken on this responsibility will tell you, few things will send them into a panic as quickly as a misplaced minute book.
Whether a lawyer took home a minute book without signing it out or the instrument was placed in the wrong filing cabinet, losing track of one of these record-keeping logs is a major compliance issue.
Unfortunately, misplacing minute books is a real danger when firms rely on physical record-keeping practices and refuse to transition to digital alternatives.
2. Natural Disasters
Natural disasters like floods, fires, or hurricanes can ruin thousands of vital corporate documents. For instance, water could flood a law firm’s basement and destroy minute books, case files, or other records.
Just because a firm has gone digital does not mean that natural disasters will not threaten business operations. Many law firms still rely on on-premises data storage, which is equally susceptible to storm damage like flooding or electrical fires.
Even if paralegals are able to recover the majority of the affected files, doing so will take weeks or months. In the meantime, the firm’s ability to serve its clients will be substantially diminished.
3. Data Entry Errors
While a single data entry error may not be considered to be a “disaster," a pattern of these mistakes should be. Each time a data entry error is discovered, such as a misspelled client name, paralegals must painstakingly comb through every spreadsheet and document to correct this mistake.
This correction is an incredibly time-consuming process that prevents the paralegal from performing billable tasks.
Over time, data entry errors can have a significant impact on a legal team’s productivity. This issue is particularly concerning in the modern corporate environment, as legal teams are working with increasingly thin margins and must do all they can to preserve strong revenue streams.
How Entity Management Software Mitigates Business Continuity Threats
Regardless of which type of disaster a corporate paralegal has navigated in the past, they all have one thing in common; they never want to endure such an incident again. While there are many tactics that can mitigate the danger of business continuity threats like those outlined above, few options are as effective as cloud-based entity management software.
These technologies insulate legal teams from these challenges by:
Providing Virtual Minute Book Solutions
Maintaining a documented chain of custody over minute books is essential for both compliance and data transparency purposes. However, keeping up with physical minute books can be challenging, especially at large firms or busy in-house legal departments.
Entity management software offers the ideal solution by providing corporate paralegals access to a virtual minute book application. This technology can be updated via a secure cloud-based server by authorized users. Each modification to minute book data is documented and time-stamped, creating an accurate chain of custody.
As an added benefit, clients can be granted access to “read-only” virtual minute books. This practice will promote trust between legal professionals and their clients by providing a transparent review process.
Storing Data in the Cloud
While on-site data storage practices have their merits, cloud-based alternatives are the far more pragmatic option. Storing data on the cloud is far more cost-effective than investing in in-house servers and other hardware. In addition, cloud-based files will not be impacted by a natural disaster that damages an office space.
Transitioning away from on-premises software solutions and adopting a cloud-based platform will allow corporate paralegals to remotely access files or client data. This capability can support remote or hybrid work schedules while enhancing organizational agility.
Minimizing the Need for Manual Data Entry
Entity management software reduces the need for redundant manual data entry practices. While corporate paralegals will still need to input some information directly, entity management solutions facilitate data sharing between applications.
This approach will decrease the frequency of data entry errors while allowing paralegals to spend more time performing billable work.
Facilitating Remote Access and Secure Collaboration
Entity management software from a premier provider like Athennian facilitates seamless collaboration between clients and team members.
Our technology expedites key business processes by allowing corporate paralegals to leverage auto-populating templates and remote document signing tools. Cumulatively, these capabilities are designed to drive organizational efficiency.
Ready to learn more about Athennian’s unparalleled entity management software? If so, then connect with one of our digital entity management experts today.
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