AbacusLaw

Comentários: I feel that if you are an attorney, or work for one, you need AbacusLaw. They have pre-created tasks that you can begin with, or you can create your own specific guidelines for whatever type of law you practice. I had created a timeline that was "to-the-day" for bankruptcy documents to be filed in the Federal Court, and other tasks with clients to complete and file in a timely manner- it was a well-oiled timeline! If somebody practices family law, ie: divorces, child custody, child support- you could create a timeline to file documents as required. Personal Injury attorney or Estate Planning- Criminal law, so many options - Abacus is the program (tool) that helped me to get my jobs done, on time!

Vantagens: I have worked for two separate law offices since 1998. My first time using Abacus in 1998 (we call her "ABBY") I felt a little overwhelmed- but as I learned HOW the system worked- I LOVED it! I rely on ABBY for everything! I like knowing WHERE the client's file is, whether it is on someone's desk or in the attorney's briefcase, or tucked away in the filing cabinet- it saves time when searching a large or even small office for a file- just click on the client's Matter and look for "LOCATION" and BAM! it tells me the last entered location! ABBY keeps track of notes, events, tasks/to-do's, court hearings, appointments- anything that is important to your office. When a client comes in to the office or calls, I can easily pull up ABBY and see what notes or tasks that others have placed in the system for that client, then I can easily help the client do what they need to do, like print out documents for them to sign - or maybe collect a payment for something- I can help the client without having to pull others away from what they are doing. I have found ABBY to be an AWESOME TOOL for the law office- ABBY is right up there with the scanner, copier and telephone! Cannot run a business without any of those!!

Desvantagens: the ONLY 'bad' thing, is if the HUMAN does not enter their tasks or to-do's, or utilize ABBY as intended. ABBY is like a car, she is not going to go anywhere unless you put the tasks, to-do's, hearings, location of a file, etc. in her. Train the employees to utilize ABBY for your office's needs, and there will be no 'negative' anything regarding ABACUS.

Comentários: I have been an AbacusLaw customer since 1998. I believe I was the first accountant to try and adapt your matters based program to a client based usage. We spent many hours adapting your improvements every year to insure that I could continue to manage my accounting practice through your program. It was a challenge, but the results are well worth it. I have a data file that has a record of every appointment, every phone call, what IRS agent is assigned to what case, etc., since 1998, for over 5500 tax clients.I have a record of every bill sent to our business clients since we started using Abacus Accounting to manage our receivables. I believe so strongly in this program that, when I joined H&R Block 3 years ago, I demanded a clause allowing me to put this program on their computers. After investigating your program, their tech team recommended that the clause is allowed in my contract, a very rare concession by H&R Block. They have since designed a program for appointments, which is free, and which I am required to use. So we make our appointments in AbacusLaw first then input them into the AM. It takes a little more time but it is worth it. When a client says they have not heard from us, I print out the Abacus record of contact, showing the date and time calls were made and what messages were left. It immediately tames the angry beast and I usually get an apology. This program is the heart of my business. I would be lost without it.

Vantagens: Their support is absolutely the best. In the very unusual event that I need support, they always remember me, are friendly and super knowledgeable. Usually I am asking for a workaround to make their program do something it isn't designed to do. They could just impress me off, but they really try to make it work the way I need it, and they usually find a way. Having client info at my fingertips makes me look very efficient and very competent.

Comentários: My law practice is totally integrated with Abacus so my overall experience is positive. I think the next big thing that Abacus can do is better is connect with clerk of court's e-portal websites. Electronic filing of documents is now standard practice. I hope abacus starts improving its software to allow electronic filing directly from the program so that it will be just as easy as printing a letter.

Vantagens: I have been using Abacus Law for over 15 years. I have seen only steady improvement in this superior case management program. Technical assistance is usually good and sometimes superior. Sometimes it can be less than satisfactory but that is rare. I have used this program as a sole practitioner and in a firm with six attorneys plus staff. The program is designed to ramp up or down as needed. I have thousands of contacts, hundreds of forms and I rely on this program to handle my case notes,appointments, forms, documents, emails and bills. Like any case management program the "garbage in garbage out" rule still applies but if a practitioner and staff follows the rules they set up for using the program- then it becomes an indispensable tool. I cannot run my office without it.

Desvantagens: When something goes wrong it can be aggravating. Because sometimes either the lawyer or staff have to spend a good deal of time resolving the problem with the Abacus technician. The one excuse that I don't like to hear from tech support is "that's an outlook issue or that's a windows issue or we have not updated our software to work with that yet."

Comentários: For the last 20 months my entire law office has been run on Abacus Private Cloud. It has worked flawlessly, with great, responsive, USA-based tech support (for set up issues and as needed thereafter). APC enabled me to put my entire law office into a private cloud environment, in an industrial data center custom-built solely for this purpose, dedicated to the legal profession, and managed by top-notch professionals in the data center industry; this is something I could never have achieved on my own, or through another vendor. The benefits to my law practice from Abacus Private Cloud are:
- - My data is secure and safe in the Abacus Private Cloud data center. No more local data backups, because all data is on the private cloud server, and is backed up there.
- - My local equipment costs are drastically lower than before I switched to a private cloud. I eliminated the three desktop computers that I was previously accessing remotely.
- - I don't need costly application software on each local access device. All law office applications can be run on the private cloud server, not on local hardware. The local devices are there simply to display and interact with the private cloud server.
- - My private cloud server can run any software, whether related to Abacus or not. Therefore, I can run the application software that my meets the specific needs of my law practice, regardless of the vendor.
- - My local IT and tech support costs are $0.
- - My staff and I have become totally mobile, without sacrificing efficiency. This means that each employee, as needed, can work on their own schedule, and from any location with cell phone coverage, electricity, and an Internet connection. This creates a flexible, modern, and dynamic work environment, resulting in a better quality of life, happier attorneys and staff, and a better work vs. life balance for all involved.
- - All law office applications and data are accessible 24×7 for each user via any device: desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
- - Private cloud technical requests (e.g., email configuration, remote access from a new device, etc.) are promptly resolved by the Abacus Private Cloud support staff.
- - System reliability (uptime) is outstanding. In sum, this is a truly great product, at a reasonable price, with great customer support. I highly recommend you get it!! Thanks.

Comentários: Three of four years ago, I would have given five stars on all categories. Things have changed. In addition, the new owners increased annual license fees 40% last year.

Vantagens: It is a comprehensive software product for a law office, with case management, document management and billing. Our firm has been using it for 12 years.

Desvantagens: The original founder of Abacus had very high standards. Tech support was very good. You could always connect quickly with a knowledgeable tech support specialist. In addition, for the first 7 or 8 years we used it, it was virtually bullet proof. It rarely, if ever, had a crash or issue of any kind. In more recent versions, you started to see more crashes or technical problems. But, at least the support was good when needed. The founder sold the company a couple of years ago. They acquired Amicus, several other products and most recently HotDocs. The quality of their tech support has significantly deteriorated. For example, we had a crash using the billing component, with a window that popped up with an error code this morning at roughly 9:00 a.m. Called tech support, was on hold for ten minutes, then prompted to leave a message. Left message at 9:10 a.m. this morning. In fact, both I and the user of the workstation left messages. It is 3:15 p.m. and Abacus has not called back.