PMV secures its success in a growing business with iManage

Owned by the Flemish government, ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV) describes itself as a “do-it-yourself and venture company that shapes the future of the Flemish economy.” As the organization and its workloads grew, ensuring that documents relating to an investment were managed efficiently and tracked and secured in one place became essential. iManage Work 10 allows investment teams to work more efficiently and collaborate seamlessly across departments so they can address auditor requests with minimal effort.

Public investment firm PMV finances promising companies on behalf of the government of Flanders. It invests in companies likely to have a positive economic, social, or environmental impact on Flanders and its people. When COVID-19 struck, PMV also became responsible for generating loans to Belgian firms in difficulty.

The business challenge

Investing in firms shaping the future of Flanders

Every idea that PMV invests in taps into a broad range of expertise, making the ability to collaborate securely and effectively essential. But PMV handled documents manually. What’s more, with different departments involved at each stage of an investment’s lifecycle, folders were regularly moved between departments. “People were using email to share documents,” said Tim Moonens, IT Director at PMV. “There was duplication, and staff were losing files or forgetting which was the correct version. We needed a single source of the truth. We needed a document and email management system.”

As a public company, PMV is regularly audited for compliance with the EU GDPR data protection and privacy regulation, among others. But it had no easy way of managing access to investment materials — including sensitive documents such as contracts and
NDAs — or proving who had accessed what. With no audit trail, there was no knowing whether ethical walls had been crossed or conflicts of interest had occurred.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people were starting their own businesses. PMV received more investment applications and took on additional work
managing applications for COVID-19 government loans. The company needed a document and email management system to allow its teams to manage their growing workload effectively and efficiently.

The solution

Building on a robust and open foundation

PMV scoured the market for a document and email management system to aid in both collaboration and compliance. “iManage came out on top in our evaluation,” said Moonens. “And we have never looked back.” PMV rolled out iManage Work 10 to ensure every document and piece of correspondence relating to an investment — emails, contracts, NDAs, spreadsheets with investment data and more — can be managed efficiently and is tracked and secured in one place.

Technology partner Morae worked closely with PMV throughout the project, providing consulting, implementation, and support, including data migration and systems integration. “iManage provides us with a world-class platform,” said Moonens. “Morae provides the ongoing strategic, technical and business-change resources that help us realize the platform’s full value.”

iManage Work 10 integrates directly to PMV’s CRM. When new investments are created in the CRM, a workspace is automatically created in iManage with the correct folders, correct templates and an NDA to send to the client. And when an investment gets the go-ahead, the relevant documents are automatically sent to the legal department for review, saving a significant amount of time and administrative effort. “Then when a document needs to be signed, we just push a button in iManage, and it goes to our external signing provider,” said Moonens.

PMV also appreciates iManage integrations with Adobe PDF and Microsoft Teams. Investment managers create a team in Teams for every investment. Staff members can then seamlessly send documents stored in iManage Work via Teams. “iManage integration with Teams is very intuitive,” said Moonens. “You can even preview a document in Teams.”

Business outcomes

Winning back time as workloads multiply

The biggest impact iManage has had at PMV has been moving users from a departmental way of working to an investment-focused way of working. “Staff don’t need to move the files between departments—they just share a link to the investments workspace in iManage,” said Moonens. “It prevents data duplication, and users are not losing those files or forgetting which is the correct version to use. iManage takes care of all that.” The new approach also means people’s mailboxes are much smaller because they are no longer sending attachments.

In five years, the number of investments that PMV manages has doubled from about 300 to about 600 each year. In addition, the firm has handled 5,000 COVID-19 loans in each of the past two years. Using iManage Work has made a vital contribution to PMV’s ability to maintain its strong performance through this growth. A new investment can now be set up in 20 minutes rather than taking an hour and a half. An email can be saved in the correct place with one click. “We won back a lot of time with iManage,” said Moonens. “Without it, the people responsible for the additional workloads would have struggled. Having everything central and automated has made our operations both more efficient and more secure.”

iManage also helps PMV manage its regular audits. When the auditor comes knocking, the iManage Work timeline function allows PMV to demonstrate who has accessed what at the click of a button. “As a public firm, we’re really scrutinized,” said Moonens. “With iManage, every trace of activity is logged. You can see what we’ve done and who read what.” PMV uses iManage Share to safely share all that information with the auditor in one click.

As PMV continues to grow, governance and compliance become ever more critical. “As our firm grows, so do security risks,” said Moonens. “Recently, when someone at PMV unintentionally released sensitive information to the press, iManage revealed the source of the leak.”

With all documents stored centrally, information is easy to find. “Knowledge sharing is easy. iManage search is fast. The filtering is easy. You input what you’re looking for, add a few keywords and get documents your colleagues have already created in just a few seconds,” said Moonens.

"iManage just works. It doesn’t break. It updates automatically. And new features are added automatically."

Tim Moonens IT Director, PMV

The iManage deployment means that IT can now focus their efforts on other areas of the business. “iManage just works,” said Moonens. “It doesn’t break. It updates automatically. And new features are added automatically.” Moreover, with all documents stored centrally and with versions managed, the PMV IT department no longer spends time locating multiple versions when someone loses a document. The intuitive interface means newcomers only need an hour of training from IT to get them productive in iManage Work 10.

Looking ahead

The firm recently set up a Compliance Office, and Moonens has demonstrated iManage Security Policy Manager, iManage Threat Manager and iManage Records Manager to the new Compliance Officer as essential tools for ensuring the firm’s future success. Adopting these iManage tools will allow PMV to establish and adhere to new security and compliance policies as regulations evolve. “With iManage at our side, we can be assured that our documents are managed efficiently and securely. iManage is critical to our future,” said Moonens.