Clio just announced two integrations that add robust backoffice accounting (Xero) and serious document management (NetDocuments) to its already-great practice management package.
Clio’s CEO, Jack Newton, also said his developers are putting together a mobile app that will be “worth the wait” (his words). I obviously don’t know exactly what he means by that, but Jack said his team did not want to just throw together an app; they wanted to build an experience optimized for both mobile and Clio. Sounds cool. I’m expecting something like long-awaited and really awesome Basecamp iOS app. So if you are a Clio user (or the client of a Clio user), look forward to the app.
NetDocuments has become a solid, cloud-based document management system. It basically takes over your Microsoft Office suite, replacing the file open and file save functions with NetDocuments. In other words, every time you open or save a document, you will be doing it with NetDocuments. I think this is the only sensible way to handle document management software: don’t give your staff the option to save things anywhere but your document management system. With Clio, matters are synced up, and documents you save in NetDocuments are associated with your matters in Clio. It’s a pretty powerful integration, and it’s clear from talking to both companies here at TechShow that they are pretty pumped about it.
Xero is a cloud-based accounting package that I had never heard of until Clio announced its integration. I wasn’t sure what to make of it until I talked to Jack Newton, Clio’s CEO, about it. Apparently, Clio itself uses Xero for its accounting. If it’s good enough for a 70+-employee company, it ought to work just fine for law firms. I signed up for a free trial right away, and was excited to see a detailed QuickBooks-to-Xero conversion guide.
Looking at Clio more closely for the first time in a few months, I’m also reminded that Clio has added a bunch of nice enhancements over the last couple of years. Besides NetDocuments, you can connect it to Dropbox, Box.net, and Google Drive. You can use text snippets to auto-complete your frequently-used billing phrases (emtc –> email to client). Clio also added two-factor authentication, which is an excellent way to bulletproof your account.
Clio Updates with NetDocuments and Xero Integration, Promises an iPhone App “Worth the Wait” is a post from Lawyerist.com