As a virtual conferencing solution, Veeting Rooms offers a secure, private, feature-rich collaboration experience for users. But when complex communication and air-tight confidentiality regulations come into play, how well does this application fit the bill? Can it translate into real-world benefits for business?
Christian Laux, founding partner of LAUX LAWYERS AG in Zurich, recently began using Veeting Rooms in his practice. He shared his experience with this modern communication platform and offered insights into how such technology should be implemented in the highly regulated legal industry.
Introducing LAUX LAWYERS AG
The firm focuses on IT law, offering representation in matters such as data protection, licensing issues (software development and software distribution), outsourcing matters, and business strategy. “As an IT law firm, we advise clients on how to legally protect the valuable information they collect, comply with regulations, and monetize their data. Much of our work has to do with drafting agreements that safeguard the interests of our clients. We also go to court to litigate if necessary. We're the translator between the judge and the IT guys. It's a very specialized area of law.”
Because LAUX LAWYERS AG has a finely-targeted focus, the firm’s attorneys strictly limit themselves to their core area of expertise. However, clients often have questions and concerns beyond the scope of the IT legal field. For example, a client might have questions about labor law and tax law in addition to information technology law. To provide a more comprehensive service, LAUX LAWYERS AG regularly coordinates with attorneys in other specialties to address the full spectrum of their clients’ needs. As a result, Christian often finds himself managing projects that include a variety of outside providers. Everyone must communicate effectively to achieve the desired outcome for the client.
Coping with the Challenges of Collaboration
Christian described the difficulty of managing complex cases that require ongoing communication among many parties. “There's a lot of internal project management. If you try to manage communication just with email, the email load explodes.” While email works well for simple communication involving small, immediate decisions, the back and forth of a complex conversation quickly becomes unmanageable. Scrolling through page after page of responses is a nightmare. “Email isn't a nice format to collect information about a project. When you search through each email thread, it's difficult to find the relevant information.”
The Veeting Rooms solution provided a tool that was better suited to the way Christian wanted to handle projects. With real-time collaboration, “Everyone is hands-on and transparency is increased. We can all see the same thing, including how notes are taken. There's an audit trail since all the notes and documents are part of the minutes that are automatically generated and sent to the participants at the end of the meeting.”
Knowing that this type of documentation is built-in helps improve accountability and leads to more productive conversations. “Veeting Rooms helps me structure meetings with a definite, actionable outcome in mind so communication is more focused. The decisions we reach in the virtual meeting are turned into tasks and assignments in our project management platform.”
A Virtual Shop Window
One feature of the Veeting Rooms solution that Christian initially thought of as a “nice to have” quickly became a “must have.” During setup, the law firm opted to white-label the virtual meeting portal with the LAUX LAWYERS AG branding. The overwhelming positive response to this presentation took him by surprise. “People who participate in our meetings tell me it looks very neat and professional. It conveys a message of trustworthiness. It's great for marketing and we wouldn't get that same effect with a third party logo on the software.” For a law firm, establishing rapport and credibility in the somewhat impersonal world of online communication is a definite competitive advantage.
The potential for building stronger partnerships was another benefit that came to light once the software was up and running. “We've found it instrumental in exploring collaboration with remote partners. They can get a feel for how we work on a day-to-day basis and really understand our company culture. It's like being able to have a low-risk trial run in developing a business relationship to see if it's a good fit. You can't really do that with email.”
Can the Legal Profession Safely Use Virtual Conferencing?
Christian encourages other attorneys to explore the potential of new technology solutions but cautions them as well. “You have to understand more than just the features of the solution. You need to find out how the technology is set up so that you can assess compliance.” This was a critical concern for LAUX LAWYERS AG in choosing a video-conference vendor. “Regulations for the legal industry are very strict. I personally would have been happy to have Veeting Rooms host the software on their secure servers. But if a supervising authority comes around with questions about how I use my IT infrastructure, I have to be able to demonstrate that I'm working in a compliant manner.” Fortunately, this proprietary software was easily installed on-premise for the firm to ensure full adherence to legal regulations.
In fact, what impressed Christian most about the solution was how straightforward it was to implement. “It's not a huge project to set up the software. I had an initial discussion with Fabian and he gave me a short list of items he needed from me and they were all simple things to provide. The wait time from the decision to roll out Veeting Rooms to when it was up and running was quite short. Fabian was proactive in taking care of the installation.”
A quick and seamless deployment enabled LAUX LAWYERS AG to start using the application with no trouble. That’s how it should be. In the end, getting business done quickly and properly is the greatest benefit of a virtual meeting room system.
With a well-developed solution and flexibility in deployment based on each client’s needs, Veeting Rooms is equipped to serve a wide range of industries. To learn more, contact sales@veeting.com.
