REDMOND, Wash. — May 4, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Hunton & Williams, a Richmond, Va.-based firm with more than 900 attorneys in 17 offices on three continents, has migrated from a portal solution provided by Plumtree Software Inc. to Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services. The move to Microsoft technology is providing Hunton & Williams attorneys and support staff with improved access to information related to their cases and is improving collaboration across the firm.
“The ease of deployment of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 was exceeded only by the benefits we’ve seen from shifting to this Microsoft technology,” said Jamie Booth, director of information technology at Hunton & Williams. “Attorneys and support staff in all our offices can now access the information they need, when they need it. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 puts the information our business relies on at the center of our operations and in the hands of the professionals who need it to serve our clients.”
Streamlining Data Delivery and Improving Access
Like most professional services firms and many large law firms, Hunton & Williams is confronted by a rapidly growing quantity of digital data and greater challenges in finding all documents and materials relevant to pending cases. The firm’s Plumtree portal solution provided a Web-based interface for viewing data in various systems, but it did not afford an aggregate view or easy transfer of documents.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services have enabled streamlined data delivery to Hunton & Williams personnel by providing them with access to the right information at the right time based on contextual relevance; increased ability to deliver appropriate counsel to clients, thereby reducing risk; enhanced efficiency in gathering relevant material, resulting in more timely client service; and the ability to share information with clients through an extranet portal.
Integration and Collaboration Achieved for Law Firms
Hunton & Williams’ move to a Microsoft SharePoint-based portal solution is providing results typical of those achieved by large firms adopting Microsoft technology: a more integrated, collaborative work environment. Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services enable firms to aggregate in a single location, access and act on client matters and legal information that is typically stored and managed in multiple, disparate systems.
“We are delivering on our commitment to provide the legal industry with the technology it needs to address its business challenges, now and in the future,” said Elliott Ichimura, industry manager, Professional Services Industry Solutions unit at Microsoft. “Hunton & Williams is a great example of the encouraging response we’re seeing from law firms to our efforts to apply Microsoft technology to the legal industry’s need for increased efficiency and productivity and, of course, improved client service and satisfaction.”
The Hunton & Williams deployment incorporates Microsoft industry partner Handshake Software Inc.’s Handshake Relationship Toolkit (HSR) to deliver consolidated information such as matter-centric and client-centric views from the firm’s line-of-business systems to legal professionals via integrated workspaces. HSR integrates and relates information from disparate applications without a data warehouse and creates an integrated .NET Web Service to facilitate the delivery of information from enterprise applications into Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server.
Moving Information to Professionals’ Desktops
The momentum building around adoption of Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and other Microsoft technologies reflects Microsoft’s investment in providing the professional services industry with the tools it needs to compete and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
To deliver service efficiently to clients, professional services teams must be able to access information, such as time and billing, client relationship management, document management, and calendaring systems, from multiple locations. An integrated workspace solution delivers role-based information directly to the professional workers’ desktops so they can spend less time looking for the information they need and more time using it.
Microsoft solutions are enabling law firms and other businesses in the professional services industry to improve service quality, timeliness and efficiency; better leverage human, intellectual and client capital; and deliver distinctive client service experiences.
Hunton & Williams can be found at http://www.hunton.com. Information on Handshake Software is located at http://www.handshakesoftware.com. Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies are available at http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx. Additional information regarding Microsoft’s offerings for professional services firms is available at http://www.microsoft.com/professionalservices.
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