Upgrading from an on-premise entity management solution to a vendor-hosted cloud-based equivalent can take organizations a huge step forward. Robert Hallmark, Company Secretary Manager at Browne Jacobson LLP, shares how Diligent Entities helped his organization, especially when the pandemic struck. Founded in 1832, Browne Jacobson LLP are private and public sector legal experts, with a presence throughout the UK.
Before we took the decision last year to move to Diligent Entities’ cloud hosted solution, we were relying on a predecessor version which was hosted on our own internal network. It did the job; however we realized that the additional benefits of Diligent Entities hosted on Diligent’s own secure cloud would make the move worthwhile.
We have found using Diligent’s hosted solution a useful way of keeping accurate, robust and accessible statutory registers for our clients – comprising of private and public companies, schools, colleges, universities and others.
Enhanced Functionality
It’s reassuring to know that our data and our clients’ is held securely in the cloud and only the relevant users can access it when and how it suits them. With the quality of security controls embedded in the online platform, it’s a comfort knowing we can prevent any unauthorized persons from gaining access. Since transitioning to Diligent Entities’ hosted solution, it has been easier for our team to access the information they need. It also enables them to manage and report on the data in ways that would not have been possible before. The ability to download reports and email them to clients in PDF format is very useful. It allows us to provide added value for clients. Another way it has helped us save time is we’re now able to complete our online filings with Companies House directly from Diligent Entities. That streamlines and speeds up the whole filing process without compromising on accuracy. We use the system every day and have been pleased to note how frequently updates are added, without ever denting performance or compromising useability. Again, this is a pretty stark contrast to before, when a software update would mean a period of downtime while our IT team installed it and tested the system to make sure it was working as it should. There would then be a learning curve to get back into using the new version.Flexibility and Resilience
The biggest benefit we have gained from switching to the cloud-based solution is that we can now access and manage our own entity data and our clients at any time and from any location. At the start of the year, we could not have anticipated how useful that would be when we made the decision to switch. It’s looking increasingly likely that remote working will be part of the new normal for a lot of us. That emphasizes the importance of being able to store, access, manage and report on entity information anywhere and being able to offer a customer-centric service which is not location-dependent. If we do ever come up against a problem, we know there is support available and any issue will be diagnosed and fixed remotely. So less for our own IT team to worry about. If I had to boil it down to one point, that business continuity factor is the single biggest benefit we have gained from Diligent Entities. I’m glad we made the decision to switch when we did.Moving to Vendor Hosted
To learn more about moving from self-hosted to Diligent Entities' cloud-hosted solution, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or email entitiescs@diligent.com.
