Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis improves business continuity with iManage Work in the Cloud

Esteemed law firm Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP (Greenbaum) was in need of an IT upgrade. After a power outage left the firm unable to access their on-premises document management system for several days, the firm knew it was time to move to the cloud. With iManage Work 10 in the Cloud, the firm found the reliable uptime they wanted combined with enhanced security and mobility.

Founded in 1914, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis is a respected firm with far-reaching knowledge of New Jersey legal issues. The firm has a diverse and comprehensive range of expertise. Whether they’re retained to structure a transaction, serve as strategic counsel, or represent a client in a dispute or litigation, they strive to earn the loyalty and respect of their clients by delivering results that meet their specific goals and objectives.

The business challenge

Looking to the cloud

When David Melczer joined Greenbaum in 2018 as their new Director of IT, he suspected the firm needed an IT update.

“Back in 2018, we had an on-premises iManage system which was a couple of revisions behind. In addition, the operating system on those servers was also a couple of revisions behind. There was no redundancy, and we were supporting two different sites with this configuration. So, we needed some hardware and software upgrades,” he said.

Three months into his tenure, a critical event proved that this instinct was right. A 13,000-volt transformer blew out in the basement of their head office building, leaving the firm without power. While the building and the electric company debated whose responsibility it was to replace the transformer, the lack of power for Greenbaum’s on-premises hardware meant that two of their three office locations were unable to work for several days.

When the power was restored, the firm’s leadership challenged the IT department to design a system where that kind of downtime wouldn’t happen again. For Melczer, that made their path clear.

“The only realistic way we could do that was with a cloud-based architecture.”

The desire for reliable uptime combined with an operating system in need of an update made moving to the iManage Cloud the ideal choice for Greenbaum.

“We had a perfect storm and a golden opportunity to sell a cloud uplift to our upper management and give the attorneys the resilience and the business continuity that they wanted,” Melczer explained.

The solution

Putting everyone’s mind at ease

Melczer first took his case for cloud uplift to the firm’s technology steering committee. Their initial concerns were, unsurprisingly, about security.

Melczer explained, “I needed to put everyone’s mind at ease that, yes, the documents will be encrypted at rest and they will be encrypted in transit. And incidentally, those were things we were not able to do with our on-premises system. So moving to the cloud was a natural evolution.”

For Greenbaum, like most law firms, security is paramount. The security that iManage Work 10 in the Cloud offered was a major selling point. As Melczer put it, “iManage is investing in security technology that we, as a firm, can’t afford.”

The technology committee was also excited about the redundant data centers iManage offers, a huge plus for business continuity. Meltzer said the benefits of moving to iManage Cloud were obvious.

"We realized what it would cost to purchase new on-premises systems for our redundant locations and implement the software and hardware to synchronize all of that, then add the cost of the iManage and the operating system licensing. All taken together, it was much more cost-effective for Greenbaum to go with the iManage cloud-based model.”

Cloud migration made easy

Once the firm’s technology steering committee and broader leadership were on board, Melczer took the lead on the firm’s cloud migration. Fortunately, he had some experience.

“I’ve done this twice. The first time was several years ago, when the cloud uplift process was fairly new. And I can say between then and now, the iManage team has improved the process tremendously. They have dotted their i’s, they have crossed their t’s. They know exactly what questions to ask and they know exactly where to look for all of the gotchas,” he quipped.

The migration was a smooth process. First, Greenbaum copied their approximately six million documents to a large USB drive. They then sent the USB to the iManage team, who put their documents and database into the cloud. On the weekend they went live, the final step for the Greenbaum IT team was to upload robocopy scripts for deltas directly to iManage.

“As far as the database and the documents being placed into the cloud and the uplift, that part was absolutely seamless,” Melczer said. “It took almost no effort from the IT team at Greenbaum.”

Business Outcomes

Seamless transition

The cloud uplift took place over a weekend with eight hours of downtime (finishing ahead of a planned 12 hours). Aside from the hours offline, the Greenbaum team was amazed by how little the user experience was impacted.

Melczer explained, “When the users started work on Sunday and Monday, they couldn’t tell that they weren’t on premises. In fact, I even had a few attorneys contact me and say, ‘Hey, did we actually move to the cloud? Because the performance is as good as it was on premises.’”

Security, mobility, and peace of mind

Melczer has found “peace of mind” to be his favorite benefit of making the switch to iManage Work in the cloud. “The security model that iManage provides means that, as an IT director, I get to sleep at night.”

Melczer went on, “There is also a resiliency of the architecture, which is better than we could have done, and which provides fantastic business continuity.” With iManage Work 10 in the Cloud, his team no longer has to worry about software versions, security patches, or database maintenance.

“In IT, this gives us the ability to focus on things that are more top of mind today, things like ransomware and other security concerns.”

The firm’s attorneys are also seeing the benefits, most notably in the mobility afforded to them by the cloud. “The attorneys no longer have that extra step of logging into a VPN client, they just fire up Outlook. And there you go, you have all your documents at your fingertips,” Melczer explained.

Looking ahead

Melczer is glad that Greenbaum continued their relationship with iManage.

“It’s really nice to work with a company and an infrastructure that has hit all of their SLAs. For the two years we’ve been on this system, not once has there been an SLA violation.”

Melczer is even more pleased with their choice to move to the iManage Cloud.

“Cloud systems are available. They’re resilient. It’s been a pleasure to be in the iManage Cloud.”