AI Responsibly with ndMAX
What has inspired you recently? Family, business, new ideas? The two days of NetDocuments Elevate found wonderful customer inspiration. Over 600 customers, partners, and peers came together on our virtual site to learn, grow, and just wish we were together.
Throughout the conference, customers and partners shared moments of inspiration from the last 8 months, outlining new habits they’ve formed as a result of the shift to work from home and how they’ve refocused their energy to discover what truly inspires them to do great work every day.
Kicking off the event, NetDocuments CEO, Josh Baxter, addressed these newly formed habits such as the workday starting earlier, fewer lunch breaks (and even weekends for that matter), or hiring for talent versus hiring someone based on their location.
Baxter highlighted that the role of technology companies is to anticipate new work habits and trends and additionally build the solutions that support these habits, so users can focus on what needs to be done and why, rather than how to do it.
For example, NetDocuments understood the need for corporate legal professionals to utilize the same instant chat functionality as their peers while maintaining document security. In response to this need, NetDocuments released the Microsoft Teams integration via ChatLink in less than 21 days. Baxter made it clear that building for the needs of today and tomorrow is exactly what NetDocuments is—and will continue—delivering to the market.
The theme of anticipating and supporting new work habits so employees can focus on working in inspired ways permeated each session during Elevate, from the Solution Roadmaps to the Women Who Lead conversation on day two. Here’s an at-a-glance look at what was covered:
With the launch of the new ORGANIZE, PROTECT, PLAN, DELIVER, and LEARN solutions at ILTA>ON, attendees got an even deeper look into what to expect from NetDocuments in the coming months.
ORGANISE
The document management and email management systems in the NetDocuments ORGANIZE solution will see numerous updates and enhancements that fine-tune the user experience. These included new tools like Folder Packs, updates to Dynamic Attributes, and new Pinned Folders in ndMail.
Over the last two decades NetDocuments has built a platform with a strong foundation to solve for the evolving needs of legal professionals. These enhancements to ORGANIZE ensure customers access the most up-to-date technology, helping them maintain their competitive edge.
PLAN
PLAN was created to solve the virtual communication and planning challenges professionals everywhere face. The beginning of the session highlighted PLAN as one of the fastest growing solutions from NetDocuments, with over 7,000 new users joining since the launch this summer. This significant growth is a testament to the value clients are seeing with the technologies found in PLAN, including ndThread, ChatLink, Tasks, and Margin Notes.
Additional features to Margin Notes and Tasks were also discussed, that will extend the flexibility and customization of these tools:
DELIVER
Dan Hauck, CPO, and Travis Reed, Product Manager, announce Analytics, the latest technology addition to the NetDocuments LEARN solution.
This highly attended session highlighted SetBuilder and CollabSpaces – two technologies that work together so lawyers and legal teams can put their best foot forward in client interactions.
Upcoming enhancements were also discussed, including Templates in SetBuilder and deeper integration across the platform for CollabSpaces, which will increase efficiency and transparency while working with clients.
LEARN
Perhaps the most exciting announcement of Elevate was the reveal of Analytics, a new technology included in the LEARN solution.
Analytics provides data analysis and visualization tools to turn a wealth of user activity, system performance, and team collaboration data into deep insights that will unlock the full potential of your NetDocuments solution. Analytics makes it possible for you to gain the insights you need to improve user behavior, shape business outcomes, and get more value from NetDocuments.
Learn more about Analytics here.
Announced earlier last month and demonstrated in detail during the Roadmap session was NetKnowledge powered by BA Insights, an add-on technology to PLAN. NetKnowledge replaces the slow, frustrating process of searching through different systems and applications individually and creates a single, federated source of truth for searches that includes all of the documents, ideas, policies, and other essential information stored in various different systems across your organization.
Learn more about NetKnowledge powered by BA Insights here.
When technology is smart enough to stay out of your way. That’s Work Inspired.
During an Executive Chat session, an attendee asked why NetDocuments has recently made the change to offer Solutions rather than focusing on tools. Dan Hauck, Chief Product Officer at NetDocuments answered, stating: “The way we’re thinking about solutions and the technology we’re developing is that we’re solving for the key function areas our customers work in. We’re offering a whole experience, so the user doesn’t have to think about the process of work.”
NetDocuments is not creating technology that dictates how users work. Instead, these solutions—and their future enhancements—support how and where users work with an experience customizable to their preferences and norms.
In addition to the live Elevate sessions, the event offered numerous on-demand discussions on hard-hitting topics such Cloud Mythology where NetDocuments co-founder and CTO, Alvin Tedjamulia and VP of Compliance, David Hansen, teamed up to break down the 9 most common cloud myths ranging from questions around platform architecture to security and compliance concerns.
The final and critical myth Tedjamulia and Hansen discussed was, ‘I fear the cloud is a tradeoff between efficiency and innovation.’ Tedjamulia reinforced the idea that this is most assuredly a myth stating, “the right cloud will maximize both.” When you select a service with the right platform architecture you receive the benefits of every update, every security patch, and every innovation through a concept called Inheritance. Inheritance is what ensures cloud service providers like NetDocuments can support thousands of customers with leading technology without an inflated development team.
Learn more about inheritance in our blog The Benefits of Inheritance.
One of the most anticipated sessions was Women Who Lead, led by NetDocuments VP of Human Resources, Claudia Reese. The panel explored the unique challenges the pandemic has presented and how women are approaching the increasingly blurred lines between work and home. Panelists included leaders across the legal industry including Elizabeth Benegas, Corporate Counsel, NetDocuments; Judith Flournoy, CIO, Kelley Drye & Warren; Leigh Isaacs, Director of Records & Information Governance, Proskauer Rose; Teka Pope, Senior Manager of Legal Knowledge Services at the Walt Disney Company, and Joy Heath Rush, CEO, ILTA.
A key theme of the discussion was how to continue to humanize the workplace in a remote environment. Pope explained how she has implemented an hour meeting where her team does nothing but discuss real-life moments free of work concerns, while Flournoy offered that as leaders we must recognize when employees are overwhelmed with change and allow them to slow the pace a bit.
The panel also discussed how this pandemic has, in some ways, helped women break barriers by pushing companies to embrace the digital age, thereby demonstrating women can perform even while home with their children—something we can all agree is an antiquated but all-to-common viewpoint.
Last year we unveiled our Customer Zero Award, presented to the NetDocuments customer who expands, or even overturns, product expectations by representing passionate commitment and high adoption in their organization.
This year it was a pleasure to name The Walt Disney Company as 2020’s Customer Zero. Even in the face of a worldwide pandemic, Disney has relentlessly utilized NetDocuments to keep their teams moving forward and innovating for the future.
The recipients of these awards go to companies in the NetDocuments partner community, recognizing their dedication to NetDocuments in various areas. First-time recipients included:
Each of these partners has exemplified an unmatched commitment to excellence for their service offerings and support of mutual customers driving double digit growth in new business.
One of the most heartfelt moments of Elevate was sharing messages from NetDocuments employees who contributed to the new Work Inspired Scholarship Fund. This fund was created to support underprivileged students in Utah and Georgia by opening doors to success through expert mentorship, network building, and education funds. A portion of all Elevate registration fees were donated to the fund, and recipients of the scholarship will be selected later this year.
What was once a simple off-site day with local customers and partners, Elevate is now a global event that partners, customers, and peers attend to connect and learn from one another.
While we’re proud of what Elevate has become, we think the title must evolve along with our vision, and what NetDocuments helps customers achieve in the future.
That’s why next year you’re invited to join us at Inspire 2021, where we look forward to sharing your stories of how our solutions have supported your business advancements and new work habits while magnifying productivity.
We look forward to seeing you at Inspire 2021.
We want to learn how NetDocuments is helping you work inspired. Share your story by emailing us.
