Now, perhaps more than ever, paralegals, general counsels and corporate secretaries are being asked to do more with less. Thankfully the right technology makes that possible.
With the unusual pressures created by the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate legal teams are facing increasing pressure. With large numbers of staff being based at home, there are additional challenges to face, with fewer resources at hand.
Here are just a few of the ways entity management software like Diligent Entities can help your in-house legal team do more with less:
1. Fast, Direct Access to Relevant Data
Many companies are still relying on a combination of spreadsheets, databases and paper files to keep their crucial entity data. Diligent Entities brings everything together to form a single source of truth for the entire organization, along with all the relevant documentation for every jurisdiction it operates in.
Persona-specific dashboards, tailored to the needs of different user groups, enable authorized people to access the information they need quickly and securely in just a few clicks, from wherever they are. You can be confident that the entity data is accurate and up to date, as relevant paralegals are prompted to check-in on a quarterly basis.
You can even enable staff in other departments to find answers to their own queries, by giving them access to a read-only data library, tailored to their needs and permission level. This should save time for paralegals who often spend a lot of time responding to emails about the corporate structure and responsibilities.
An entity management system also makes it easy to produce reports and org charts for executives, giving them the information they need to make decisions.
This ease of access to relevant, accurate data could take your organization to unprecedented levels of efficiency.
2. Avoiding the Need to Update Multiple Records
In recent years most corporate data has been kept in spreadsheet form. However, it’s notoriously difficult to ensure that all the information is accurate, with up to 90% of spreadsheets containing errors. Relying on multiple disparate spreadsheets stored in various places on a network compounds the issues.
Imagine how much time bringing your entire corporate record together into one centralized cloud-based data source could save your legal team.
No more time spent monitoring, updating and consolidating spreadsheets or chasing colleagues for information. All the latest data will be stored together in a central hub and the system will automatically prompt relevant people when tasks need to be completed.
Plus Diligent Entities’ ability to integrate with third-party platforms, such as HR software, removes the need to update certain data manually.
The increased reliability of data you will gain from switching to entity management software will reduce risk for your organization and protect the credibility of your brand.
3. Standardizing and Centralizing Legal Work
According to Gartner, organizations that standardize their legal work, including entity management, benefit from a 30% lower legal spend.
Currently legal teams are often working with inaccurate and incomplete data. For example, they may be the last people to know when someone has left, putting them at risk of filing inaccurate information.
It’s also often the case that different functions within a business, such as legal and treasury, have different information about the same entity.
Centralizing your corporate record in a single source of truth enables multiple teams in multiple countries to unite around an agreed set of facts, streamlining administration and compliance processes.
4. Speeding Up the Processes Involved in New Entity Creation and Acquisition
Even in challenging times, growing their business is one of the key aims of most CEOs. And with some businesses struggling to cope with the rigors of the new normal realities, an increase in corporate takeovers looks likely.
Once your corporate record is centralized in an entity management system, adding a new legal entity will be far quicker and easier. Workflows will automatically be triggered, leading your legal team through a structured process for entering, changing and confirming corporate data.
Automated emails will go out to the relevant parties for validation, and all the activity will be logged to form a clear audit trail.
5. Streamlining Regulatory Filing
2019 was a record year for fines from financial regulators, with penalties totaling $8.14b charged around the world for breaching anti-money-laundering rules. The U.S. led the way, with 25 fines amounting to $2.29b.
Entity management software could help you avoid such costly mistakes and the massive damage to your reputation that could follow.
The system will remind you when regulatory filings are due in each jurisdiction through compliance calendars. Statutory forms are already inbuilt into the software for countries from Australia to South Africa. Auto-fill and eFiling will make the whole process quicker, easier and less prone to errors.
The result will be that your entire organization will be able to handle compliance with speed, certainty and accuracy across the globe.
Improved Efficiency and the Freedom to Drive Value
Moving your entity management to entity management software will fundamentally boost the efficiency of your legal department. This will free the team to spend less time on administration and troubleshooting and more on strategic initiatives, which could bring real value to your business.
So not only will Digital Entities allow your in-house legal talent to do more with less. It could also empower them to become strategic business partners. Schedule a demo today to see how Diligent Entities can streamline your entity management processes, enable your team to do more with less and focus on more strategic initiatives.
