Global News
Addressing the IT systems challenges of a specific industry can be time consuming and complicated. Global Software's partnership with DW reporting, an industry leading consulting firm for the legal sector is focused on reducing the complexity associated with one of the major challenges facing Law Firms around the world, financial reporting.
SpreadSheet Server® for Thompson Reuters Elite Enterprise and 3E is quickly becoming the reporting software tool of choice for in-house finance and analytics teams wanting to get more efficient and quicker insight into their financial and operational data before then making this available to the Firms Owners and Partners.
The so dubbed “data challenge” is certainly not unique to the Professional Services or Legal sectors and those in the know are aware that this sector has historically always been challenged by accurate and timely access to data in a format which makes sense for analysis and distribution. With many firms using 'no longer' supported reporting systems like Microsoft FRx and with alternative offerings perceived as being costly and difficult to implement, the requirement to upgrade to a more suitable and cost effective platform has become an absolute reality. “The overwhelming interest spurred on from the recent Thompson Reuters “Vantage” event held last week (19/20th September, 2013) in London has shown once again that more and more firms are clearly looking for an effective user driven tool to help them manage the cadence of the business with greater efficiency and simplicity” said Dan Wales, Managing Director of DW Reporting.
Microsoft Excel™ has a huge role to play in bringing the legal sector back up to par. In a recent article on “Why Excel is filling the reporting Gap” Garry Simon of FSN explains just why Excel remains the workhorse of the finance function and the most successful personal productivity tool in history with more than 50 million users worldwide.
In comparison by identifying some of the more common challenges associate with alternate reporting models, which arguably have a place in more complex reporting environments where vast amounts of data sit to be analysed Garry presents a case for organisations who are looking for a return on investment and existing organisational skill. “The complexity of process like ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) tools to pull data into a data-mart (small multi-dimensional warehouse) radically over complicates the needs of the industry. The problem with this approach is that it is frequently too technical for the non-specialist. ETL tools are complicated to install, configure and maintain and finance professionals do not necessarily have the skills to decipher the complex data structures and relationships that reside in most ERP systems.”
Similarly Law Firms are not necessarily resourced with the right skill to have to manage heavy IT processes and “It is for reasons like this that our partners like DW Reporting are seeing a real surge in activity” said Fergus van Niekerk, Director of Global Software's Channel, “The cornerstone of our success lies with our Software's pre-built 'connectors' that expose the underlying structures of ODBC compliant ERP systems like Thompson Reuters and ADERANT to the user's spreadsheet so that the metadata is automatically discoverable and retrievable in the spreadsheet. It's a live connection to your source data without recourse to complex lookups and macros and by leveraging these connectors users can be up and running with Spreadsheet Server in a matter of hours and with minimal impact to the IT department.
As we move further into the era of “Law Firms as a Business”, standardising the aggregation of data across key business areas and optimising the distribution of this data is key to the future success of legal IT and indeed the Firms themselves. By leveraging SpreadSheet Server Law Firms the world over are able to see increased success as a result of timely and accurate consolidation and distribution of key financial and operational performance data.
For more on SpreadSheet Server for the Legal Sector please contact Dan Wales @ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DW Reporting is a legal financial reporting and BI solution provider that helps international, national and regional law firms turn their incoherent and separate data sets into consolidated and effective business information. Through a range of market leading products and consulting services, they are able to provide law firms with flexible and tailored management information solutions to meet their short, medium and longer term needs. To learn more, visit www.dwreporting.com.
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