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Law firm meeting management at Burns & Levinson used to run on pen, paper and a spreadsheet kept by a few central coordinators. With AskCody, every legal assistant books the room, the catering and the AV in one Outlook booking, room displays show who has which room, and attorneys and assistants spend far less time on meeting logistics that cannot be billed.
Burns & Levinson, one of Boston's leading law firms, has been an AskCody customer since May 2017. This is how they automated the labor-intensive meeting tasks and gave their clients a consistent, professional experience.
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Customer: Burns & Levinson LLP Location: Boston, US Vertical: Law firm Size: 500+ employees Customer since: May 2017 Uses: Meeting room booking, meeting services and room displays Case study first published: November 2021 |
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The challenge: billable hours lost to meeting logistics
When we first spoke with Burns & Levinson, they highlighted these challenges:
- Ghost meetings held rooms that nobody used
- The complexity of meetings made coordination troublesome
- Manual processes were time-consuming
- Technology solutions were considered difficult
- Attorneys work in billable hours, so efficiency is key
With a setup of pen, paper and an Excel spreadsheet run by central coordinators, Burns & Levinson wanted a smarter way of working where every legal assistant could take ownership of their own meetings and orders. The top requirement was a system that was easy to use and could decentralize the process. They also needed a partner who understood their business and could convince even those who were skeptical of a technology solution.
"We strive to support our users in every conceivable way. With AskCody we have a system based on Outlook which everyone is already familiar with, so training of the end user is painless. The system can be explained in a clear, logical, and relevant way, and assist even computer-phobic partners in feeling comfortable with handling meeting bookings. All workflows are now managed through one central system, which makes it much easier."
Jennie DePhillips, Training Manager, Burns & Levinson
How Burns & Levinson manages meetings in Outlook
At the time of this case study, Burns & Levinson ran AskCody with:
- 276 active users
- 41 bookable resources
- 24 room displays
- About 12,000 bookings a year, around 1,000 a month
Because AskCody books meetings straight into Microsoft Exchange from Outlook, Burns & Levinson reached its goals for internal and client meetings quickly. Booking a room became part of every user's daily routine instead of a request to a coordinator.
Adding catering or AV equipment to a meeting is part of the same booking. The kitchen receives the order instantly, sees any change made to the meeting, and accepts or rejects incoming orders. See how meeting catering works in AskCody.
One booking for the room, the catering and the AV. Illustrative example with fictional details.
The firm added resources over time, reaching 41 bookable resources. Meeting room displays show each room's calendar in real time, which prevents interruptions and booking misunderstandings. With 24 displays around the office, there is no more "I thought I told you I didn't need the room anymore", because everyone can see whether a room is free. The result is higher room utilization and fewer unnecessary service orders.
Meeting room display at the Burns & Levinson office in Boston, US
The chart below shows how much the firm has used catering and AV services through AskCody.
With no more bottlenecks in booking, the reception is free to give clients a white-glove welcome instead of spending its time scheduling conference rooms.
What meeting logistics really cost a law firm
The time spent coordinating meetings by hand never showed up as a line in the budget, which is exactly why it was easy to overlook. A pilot changed that picture for Burns & Levinson.
"When you come up with an internal process that works, the cost of time savings is often hidden. There was not a cost to the budget, so in terms of dollars, it seemed 'free'. AskCody quickly showed us through various calculations and analyses with our team that this was not the case. The pilot helped us understand just how much time we could give back to the attorneys and assistants and the price of that time. The POC helped us actively compare the cost of the solution, and the ease it was bringing to the cumbersome process we had before. My best advice is to try it. You will see quickly that the ease of use, ease of management, and overall time savings are worth it."
Henry Chace, CIO, Burns & Levinson
The result
Burns & Levinson has embraced digital transformation to meet its business needs. Users book around 1,000 meetings a month through the AskCody add-in and spend significantly less time on the booking process. As the firm moves to hybrid working, in-person meetings matter even more and have to be planned down to the last detail, and Burns & Levinson relies on AskCody to support its vision of a flexible work environment.
Key takeaways
- Pen, paper and a central spreadsheet were replaced by booking in Outlook, so every legal assistant owns their own meetings
- Catering and AV are ordered in the same booking, and the kitchen sees every change
- 24 room displays make room availability visible and reduce interruptions and wasted service orders
- A pilot made the hidden cost of manual meeting coordination visible before the firm committed
Want to see how this works in your own Outlook? Talk to an AskCody consultant
