Two of the leading global providers of document management systems for the legal industry are coming together, as the cloud-based DMS company NetDocuments has acquired Worldox, one of the oldest DMS systems still operating, in business since 1988, and one that primarily serves small- to medium-sized law firms.
In a media briefing yesterday, Josh Baxter, CEO of NetDocuments, said that the acquisition is intended to accelerate NetDocuments’ growth among small- and mid-sized firms.
“The acquisition is a way for us to accelerate our footprint in medium- and small-sized law firms and accelerate their journey to the cloud,” Baxter said.
Already, NetDocuments serves virtually every facet of the legal market except solos, with law firm customers that range from five-person firms to the world’s largest. It also serves corporate legal departments and government agencies, including the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.
The acquisition also highlights the continuing movement of the legal industry away from on-premises products to cloud solutions. While Worldox offers both on-premises and cloud versions of its product, the longer-term goal of the acquisition is to eventually move all customers to the NetDocuments’ cloud.
In the briefing, both Baxter and Rebecca Sattin, co-CEO and CIO at Worldox, said NetDocuments will continue to support all Worldox products, both on-premises and cloud, “for the foreseeable future,” and maintain customers’ existing license and subscription agreements.
Rebecca Sattin of Worldox and Josh Baxter of NetDocuments brief the media yesterday on the acquisition.
But the longer-term plan is to work with Worldox customers to move them to the NetDocuments platform. Baxter anticipates that customers who are already using the Worldox Cloud product will be among the first to move, as “they’ve already made a decision to be in the cloud.”
Sattin said that Worldox customers stand to benefit not just from NetDocuments’ proven cloud technology, but also from its greater variety of partner and app integrations.
“Cloud is the core to NetDocuments’ DNA,” she said. “We wanted our customers to have the opportunity to take advantage of that DNA and have a direct path to the best and most proven cloud platform.”
With the acquisition, NetDocuments, founded in 1999, becomes a company with a combined base of 6,800 customers and 300,000 individual users in at least 52 countries. Both companies serve not only law firms, but also legal departments and other legal organizations.
All but a small group of Worldox employees will move to NetDocuments. Sattin, who was named co-CEO last month after the arrest of the company’s longtime president and who was already its CIO, will became head of a part of NetDocuments’ customer success team.
(Baxter said the arrest had nothing to do with the acquisition, which had already been in the works since early this year.)
“We are thrilled to welcome Worldox customers, partners, and employees to NetDocuments, and look forward to building upon the strong relationships established by the Worldox team,” Baxter said. “Going forward, our focus will be integrating Worldox customers onto our cutting-edge platform at their own pace, while delivering on our commitment to all of our customers through continual innovation on the NetDocuments platform.”
NetDocuments said it will be hosting webinars for customers to answer their questions about the acquisition. Current Worldox customers can also obtain more information by calling (844) 638-3696 or emailing experiencespecialists@netdocuments.com.
Leadership from both organizations identified a customer-first approach and vision for the future as key synergies that will align customers for success as they move to future-proof their firms with the leading cloud DMS in the industry.
Baxter credited Worldox for its leadership over the years in the area of document management. “Worldox laid so much of the groundwork for why a legal DMS matters for these small- and medium-sized firms,” he said. “They helped create the ecosystem that has helped NetDocuments accelerate.”
This acquisition comes following NetDocuments’ August launch of PatternBuilder, a document and workflow automation tool based on its acquisition of Afterpattern, a no-code toolkit for law firms and legal teams to build apps and automate legal documents and workflows.
“Industry trends among law firms and legal teams reflect a prevailing cloud-first strategy and the desire to future-proof their organizations with platforms that can deliver a wide variety of tools, seamlessly connect to other technologies, and scale with their needs,” Sattin said in a statement.
“NetDocuments’ proven ability to support these capabilities coupled with their commitment to innovating new, customer-inspired solutions made the combining of our organizations a win-win for customers, partners, employees, and the legal industry as a whole.”
More on the LawNext Legal Technology Directory:
Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.

Bob Ambrogi is a lawyer and journalist who has been writing and speaking about legal technology and innovation for more than two decades. He writes the award-winning blog LawSites, is a columnist for Above the Law, hosts the podcast about legal innovation, LawNext, and hosts the weekly legal tech journalists’ roundtable, Legaltech Week.
Receive a weekly digest of all new content.
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
ABOUT LAW SITES
LawSites is a blog covering legal technology and innovation. It is written by Robert Ambrogi, a lawyer and journalist who has been writing and speaking about legal technology, legal practice and legal ethics for more than two decades.
Nov 14, 2022 Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications & Platform
Although supply chain disruption is not new, its complexity and the rate of change are outpacing organizations’ ability to address issues at a global scale. Many solutions today are narrowly focused on supply chain execution and management and are not ready to support this new reality. Enterprises are dealing with petabytes of data, spread across legacy systems, Enterprise Resource Planning programs (ERPs), and custom solutions, resulting in a fragmented view of their supply chain.
An organization’s supply chain agility and resilience will be determined by how they can connect their data and orchestrate actions across all relevant systems to quickly respond to changing market conditions. To be truly agile, supply chain software needs to increase visibility across data sources, predict and mitigate disruption, streamline collaboration, and fulfill orders – sustainably and securely.
Today we are announcing the Microsoft Supply Chain Platform, which helps organizations maximize their existing supply chain investments with an open approach, bringing the best of Microsoft AI, collaboration, low code, security, and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications to a composable platform. As part of the new Microsoft Supply Chain Platform, we are also announcing the preview of Microsoft Supply Chain Center. The Supply Chain Center empowers customers to get started quickly with a ready-made “command center” that natively works with existing supply chain data and applications.
The Microsoft Supply Chain Platform: An open, collaborative and composable foundation for data and supply chain orchestration
Across Microsoft, we deliver a breadth of capabilities for organizations such as Grupo Bimbo, Mercedes Benz and Tillamook to build their own custom supply chain solutions. With today’s announcement, we are making it easier for customers to leverage the full Microsoft Cloud to enhance their supply chain. The Microsoft Supply Chain Platform provides building blocks across Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams and the Power Platform for customers to adopt capabilities that address their specific supply chain needs. With Dataverse, customers can use hundreds of data connectors to gain visibility and act across their supply chain. The Power Platform also enables custom workflows, data reporting, and applications that connect to existing Supply Chain systems.
Partnering to empower customers in supply chain transformation
The Microsoft partner ecosystem will continue to play a critical role in enabling customer supply chain resiliency and agility. With the Microsoft Supply Chain Platform, partners can bring their industry and domain expertise to create integrated solutions leveraging Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Teams and the Power Platform. A rich supply chain partner ecosystem includes advisors and implementers like Accenture, Avanade, EY, KPMG, PwC and TCS. In addition, to help customers find the best solution for their supply chain needs, the Microsoft Supply Chain Platform connects to Blue Yonder, Cosmo Tech, Experlogix, Flintfox, InVia Robotics, K3, O9 Solutions, SAS, Sonata Software, To-Increase and many more.
Accelerating business agility and efficiency with the Microsoft Supply Chain Center
At the core of the Supply Chain Platform is the Microsoft Supply Chain Center, now available in preview. The Supply Chain Center provides a “command center” experience for practitioners to harmonize data from across existing supply chain systems, like Dynamics 365 and other ERP providers including SAP and Oracle, along with stand-alone supply chain systems. Data Manager in Supply Chain Center enables data ingestion and orchestration to provide visibility across the supply chain and drive action back into systems of execution. During preview, our launch partners C.H. Robinson, FedEx, FourKites and Overhaul, will offer native experiences within the Supply Chain Center.
Existing Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management customers will automatically gain access to the Supply Chain Center as part of their current agreements. The Supply Chain Center includes pre-built modules that address supply chain disruptions across supply and order fulfillment, as outlined below:
We’re excited to announce Daimler Trucks North America, iFit and Kraft-Heinz as some of our Supply Chain Center preview customers:
YouTube Video
Building sustainable supply chains with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability
Sustainable supply chains are one of the biggest opportunities for organizations to reduce their carbon footprint. However, it is one of the most challenging areas to address because decision makers lack the data and insights to optimize the selection of suppliers, routes, fulfillment and products. Using capabilities from Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Order Management in the Supply Chain Center, customers can make sustainable decisions on product sourcing, package-free returns, transportation logistics, manufacturing and warehouse automation and more.
Last month at Microsoft Ignite, we introduced new capabilities in Sustainability Manager, a Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability solution, which enables organizations to reduce indirect value chain emissions (also known as “Scope 3” emissions), which account for a disproportionate share of most organizations’ carbon footprints. The solution already includes prebuilt calculation methodologies for more than half of the 15 categories of Scope 3.
Reimagine your supply chain with Microsoft
We believe supply chain agility is critical to persevere in today’s economic climate. This means understanding and taking real-time actions based on supply chain data, securely and with sustainable business practices. We’re excited to deliver on this first step in our commitment to reimagine the supply chain with our customers and partners.
Learn more
To learn more about these new solutions, join us at Supply Chain Reimagined, a free digital event on Nov. 16, 2022. You’ll learn how to enhance your supply chain to delight your customers, empower your workforce, and boost operational efficiency to reduce your costs. You’ll also hear real-world best practices from Microsoft and industry leaders. Plus, ask the experts your questions during the live Q&A chat — register now.
Tags: Microsoft Supply Chain Platform, supply chain
Nov 2, 2022 Jason Zander
Oct 24, 2022 Judson Althoff
Oct 12, 2022 Frank X. Shaw
Sep 8, 2022 Kevin Peesker, Worldwide President for Small, Medium and Corporate and Digital
Jul 25, 2022 Judson Althoff
Follow us:
Enter your email address to instantly generate a PDF of this article.
Team collaboration can be a real challenge if you’re still using written to-do lists and communicating through email. To-do lists are easy to misplace, which can ruin your productivity for the day, either by having to rewrite them or missing crucial due dates. Not only that, but keeping up with dozens of email threads is a remarkably inefficient way to handle task management, not to mention that it’s a huge hassle.
That’s why cloud-based project management software programs have become so widespread over the past few years. They grant you the ability to communicate with and assign tasks to team members in one convenient location. You can manage your workflows visually via kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, and checklists. These programs integrate with popular apps and tools, such as Zapier, Salesforce, Gmail, and others.
Out of all the project management tools on the market today, Asana and ClickUp are the two currently leading the fray.
Yet, how do you know which one is right for your needs?
That’s why I’m pitting Asana vs. ClickUp in a head-to-head comparison of their primary features, learning curve, customer support, and pricing. Read on to learn more about each platform’s pros and cons so you can make the most informed decision for your business.
ClickUp is a bit of a newcomer in the project management space, as the platform launched in 2017 (for comparison, Asana has been around since 2008).
For this reason, they’re perceived as a bit of an underdog, slowly climbing their way to the top of the project management software mountain with their excellent work ethic, support, and functionality.
The company is certainly ambitious, as its tagline is ‘one app to replace them all.’ You see, ClickUp doesn’t view itself as yet another project management tool like Asana or Trello. Instead, they’ve branded themselves as a customizable WorkOS.
What’s that?
It stands for workplace operating system, a singular location for task management, team collaboration, OKR, and time tracking. Other standout features of the program include a whiteboard, a centralized inbox, multiple dashboard views, and mind maps.
ClickUp also makes healthy use of automation, with plenty of customizable options for users. What’s even better is that many of the automated features are included in the free plan. The app boasts over 1,000 integrations with many popular tools. In fact, you can embed views from apps like Airtable and Miro and even make changes to them within ClickUp.
Despite its late start, ClickUp has been winning over the hearts and minds of users ever since its inception. Accolades include its inclusion in the Forbes Cloud 100, a Proddy award for the best project management tool, and being rated Zapier’s #1 growing app of 2020.
Beginning in 2008, Asana launched commercially in 2012 as one of the first project management tools of its kind.
It’s grown to become one of the most widespread project management apps due to its intuitive layout and ease of use. For these reasons, it’s a popular choice for both small businesses and enterprise-level companies.
In fact, many mainstream companies use Asana, including:
Red Bull
Deloitte
Tesco
Roli
NASA
VoxMedia
TimBuk2
Asana’s simplicity and user-friendly interface are masterful. It features crystal-clear navigation, standout labels, and a contrasting color palette which makes it effortless to find your way around.
With Asana, managers can assign tasks to team members, complete with due dates, attachments, instructions, links, and more. Each team member has their own dashboard view, complete with assigned tasks and deadlines. That way, every team member will know what to focus on each day, and they’ll be able to see any approaching deadlines clearly.
Asana also has Gantt charts, calendar views, portfolios, automation dependencies, and a built-in messenger for communications.
As far as integrations go, Asana integrates with over 200 apps, including many popular tools. As such, you shouldn’t run into any integration issues, and Asana should be able to fit into your existing business workflows.
While there is a free version, many key features aren’t available until users upgrade to one of the paid plans.
Now that you know a bit more about each platform, it’s time to compare Asana vs. Clickup in terms of their primary features.
Along the way, I’ll let you know if each feature is included in ClickUp or Asana’s free plan or not, as some features will be locked behind a paywall. For example, Asana only offers priority customer support for premium plan users.
Let’s start by taking an in-depth look at what ClickUp offers its users in terms of workspace management, time management, task management, team communication, automation, and reporting.
ClickUp offers a variety of ways for users to streamline to-do lists and projects, including the following:
Task dependencies. ClickUp allows you to set task dependencies, which refers to when your team can’t start on one task until another subtask is completed. An example would be preventing a blog post from getting published until it’s been edited. Dependencies ensure you don’t complete tasks out of order, which can be a real lifesaver.
Custom project statuses. A unique feature of ClickUp is the ability to customize the status of a project. Instead of the typical ‘Ready,’ ‘In Progress,’ or ‘Complete,’ you can choose a custom status using industry-specific jargon. For instance, you could set a project’s status to ‘Needs Proofreading’ for blog articles.
Multiple assignees. Not every task can get completed by the efforts of one person. That’s why ClickUp allows you to assign one task to multiple assignees. That way, you’ll be able to hold everyone accountable for the completion of a task, not just one team member.
Checklist templates. Nobody likes having to create similar checklists from scratch every single time. That’s why ClickUp lets you save checklist templates that you can reuse as often as you want.
Workload charts. This tool lets you visualize the workload for each team member to ensure you aren’t overloading anyone with too much work. You can also use the tool to divvy tasks from busy employees to team members that don’t have as much going on.
Reminders and notifications. Instead of tying a ribbon around your finger, ClickUp features customizable reminders to remind you of urgent tasks and approaching deadlines. That will keep your team focused on the most important work for the day, which will boost your productivity.
Resolving comments. Nobody likes to look at a cluttered board filled with notifications and comments. That’s why ClickUp features the ability to resolve tasks and comments so you can keep your workspace nice and tidy.
Goals. Every project has an ultimate objective and a preferred outcome. ClickUp lets you set goals as well as a series of subtasks to reach them. Along the way, you’ll get to monitor your progress toward your goal, including if you’re straying off track.
Automation. ClickUp lets its users automate repetitive tasks using specific parameters. Unlike Asana, ClickUp’s automation features come with its free version.
Recurring tasks. Does your team deal with the same types of tasks each week or month? If so, ClickUp makes it easy to set up recurring tasks that automatically trigger according to your schedule.
As you can see, ClickUp gives users a myriad of useful tools to manage their projects.
The best part?
All the features you see above are included in the free version. ClickUp also provides unique dashboard views, including a calendar view, list view, Gantt charts, and kanban boards.
ClickUp goes far beyond the standard fare when it comes to visualizing workflows. In addition to calendar and board views, ClickUp features the following:
Digital whiteboard. The platform takes digital team collaboration and brainstorming to the next level with its digital whiteboard. No matter where you are, you can create new project roadmaps with your team — complete with the ability to draw/doodle to convey concepts and flesh out your ideas visually.
Mind maps. Map out the steps of a new project with ClickUp’s mind maps, a powerful visualization tool that begins with a central image/idea and then branches out. Mind maps are great ways to highlight important facts while conveying the overall structure of a subject and its related parts.
Document creator. Another standout feature is ClickUp’s built-in document editor. Other platforms like Asana require you to attach or link external docs. Yet, with ClickUp, you can create documents, wikis, and more straight from its editor. You can also collaborate with your team while creating documents, so you don’t have to complete all the work yourself.
While these advanced features are undoubtedly useful, new users may find all the options a tad overwhelming. With all the complexity, some companies may desire a more traditional and simpler solution like Asana. These features are all available in the free version of ClickUp.
ClickUp makes ample use of user-friendly drag-and-drop controls for its work checklists, and they work amazingly well. With its task checklists, the project management platform makes it effortless to keep track of your projects and tasks. All you need to do is drag-and-drop tasks and subtasks into your existing projects.
You can easily rearrange tasks, add new instructions, embed documents, and extend/reassign due dates.
Its dashboard views also contribute to task management, as you can switch to the calendar view to see how well your team is doing at meeting deadlines – or you can opt for a Gantt chart view to schedule a new project.
ClickUp has over 1,000 apps it can integrate with (including mobile apps), all at no charge. Here’s a peek at some of its integrations:
Slack
GitLab
GitHub
Google Drive
Outlook
DropBox
Zoom
Jira
Monday.com
Microsoft Office 365 (through Zapier)
With all these connections, the chances are high that ClickUp will fit in with your existing workflows seamlessly.
Now let’s take a look at what Asana has to offer in terms of project management solutions. While it doesn’t offer as many features as ClickUp, Asana has simplicity and user-friendliness going for it.
In spirit, Asana functions similarly to ClickUp, with users being able to visualize all their projects and tasks on virtual pinboards. There are also list views, calendar views, Gantt charts, and kanban boards, but there’s no built-in document editor. Instead, users must attach or link to external documents.
Thanks to its usability and features, Asana is an excellent choice for both small teams and enterprise-level companies.
The core hub for Asana is its timeline, which contains a series of tasks required to complete a project. Managers can assign tasks to team members here, complete with detailed instructions, due dates, and file attachments. Users can either create a timeline from scratch or import an existing CSV file when getting started.
Portfolios serve as Asana’s Goals feature, containing all your projects and objectives. You can also group related projects into a related portfolio, which can come in handy for projects with the same initiatives — like sales and marketing. You can view portfolios in real-time to monitor progress and share them with stakeholders and executives to keep everyone in the loop.
Asana has essential teamwork features such as a workload monitor. Much like ClickUp’s tool, it prevents you from overloading one team member with too much work. You also get to see which days are busiest for your employees, which is very useful. For instance, you may notice that a team member has too many things to do on Wednesday, leading you to allocate some of their workloads to other team members.
Asana also has dependencies that you can set for any task, which will ensure that all work gets completed in the correct order. Each task has a built-in chat that team members can use to collaborate, complete with the ability to tag coworkers. That way, your team can ask any pressing questions they have about a task straight from the task view.
Asana allows users to automate repetitive tasks to free up their time. Users can set parameters to assign new tasks automatically, mark them as complete, and more.
The catch?
Asana’s automation features don’t unlock unless you sign up for at least the Premium plan, so there’s no automation in the free version.
Now that we’ve compared the key features of both platforms let’s compare Asana vs ClickUp in terms of their pricing plans.
ClickUp is famous for its incredible free version, as it contains an incredible amount of features and support. Here’s a look at ClickUp’s pricing plans:
Free version. The free version includes a lot, such as unlimited tasks, whiteboards, collaborative docs, 24/7 support, and so much more. The only catch is that it limits users to 100MB of storage.
Unlimited plan. This is ideal for small teams, as it contains unlimited storage in addition to all the features from the free plan. It’s only $5 per month, which is incredibly affordable. You also gain the form view and guests with permissions.
Business plan. This is for mid-size teams, and it only runs $12 per month. New features here include Google SSO, unlimited teams, and custom exporting.
Business plus plan. ClickUp recommends this plan for multiple teams. It’s $19 per month and includes team sharing, an admin training webinar, and priority support.
Enterprise plan. The top-tier plan at ClickUp has no price listed, as you need to contact sales. It’s reserved for large companies and features white labeling, advanced permissions, and the Enterprise API.
As you can see, ClickUp’s free version is stellar, and its paid plans are remarkably affordable.
Now let’s take a look at the pricing plans offered by Asana:
Basic (free version). Asana’s free version isn’t as robust as ClickUp’s, as it limits you to 15 users. Yet, it still includes three project views, basic workflows, and basic reporting.
Premium plan. At $10.99 per month, the Premium plan unlocks many core features, such as automation and the timeline view.
Business plan. Asana’s premium offering is $24.99 per month and unlocks priority support, advanced workflows, and advanced reporting.
Asana’s plans are a bit pricier than ClickUp’s, and they don’t offer as many features.
It’s been an extended comparison, but someone must emerge victorious from the matchup Asana vs. ClickUp.
Winner: ClickUp
In terms of features, pricing, and support, you just can’t beat ClickUp. Not only is it cheaper than Asana (and its free version offers twice as much), but it outdoes Asana’s primary features to boot. That’s not to say that Asana isn’t a fantastic project management tool with plenty of perks. Asana may be for you if you’re after a more streamlined and simplistic tool.
Instantly access free expert advice, management strategies and real-life examples of workplace success.
A Dublin software maker won city incentives for its move to a new headquarters twice the size of its former office and its plan to create 190 jobs.
Northwoods Consulting Partners Inc. bought 5200 Rings Road for $4 million and a few months later celebrated the move-in.
The date? February 2020 – right before Northwoods and office employers around the country sent workers home.
The pandemic’s impact on Northwoods’ clients, largely county social service agencies using its electronic document management software, caused wide swings in revenue that have continued into this year.
But a strong balance sheet and recent acqui-hire to diversify its business are key to resuming the company’s long-term plan to grow to $200 million in revenue, said Brian LaMee, Northwoods chief marketing and revenue officer.
“We have a lot of work to do to get back on track with those growth numbers,” LaMee said. “We’re able to survive a pandemic, a hiring crisis (among clients) and a potential recession – and we’re in a financial position we won’t have to lay anyone off because of those dips.”
Northwoods revenue topped $50 million for a few years pre-pandemic. Then it plummeted to $30 million in 2020 – and doubled to $65 million last year when counties were spending federal coronavirus relief funds on IT modernization.
But now there’s a severe labor shortage of licensed social workers, so counties have pulled back again, LaMee said. That means another 2020-like year for Northwoods.
Northwoods will stay true to its roots of specializing in document software that meets the complex regulatory needs in social services, LaMee said. But it can diversify its products and target clients within that milieu, so it doesn’t face this type of risk from a single type of client again.
The company has 152 employees, reflecting attrition since 2019, when it had 170 workers (including about 50 remote) and was awarded the city tax break to grow to 360 by 2025.
Federal Paycheck Protection Program funds allowed it to avoid layoffs, LaMee said, and the company was careful not to over-hire. HQ renovations by Grove City-based Brocon Construction Inc. helped the company adopt a hybrid of home and in-office work.
Despite the disruption to its growth, Northwoods had cash on hand to make a six-figure acquisition last month that takes it to a new client base.
Connect a Voice, also based in Dublin, is a mobile app used by direct care providers for people with developmental disabilities to digitize the legally required documentation of each home visit.
A Northwoods employee who previously helped develop the app made the introduction. Connect a Voice founder Tom Shovelton wanted to ensure the app’s mission would be protected as he started planning for retirement. He and another employee joined Northwoods with the sale.
“We saw the need for what their software does,” LaMee said. “This absolutely broke us into a market that Northwoods did not have a solution for previously.”
Northwoods largely has worked with county agencies that manage Medicaid, cash benefits and food aid, as well as child protective services. Working county by county had led it to larger contracts with entire states; Ohio adopted Northwoods’ electronic document management for all 88 counties five years ago.
New opportunities are more products for developmental disability and aging services, LaMee said.
Governmental and private agencies still are awash in paper, and LaMee said selling them on digitization still is a slow process.
“It is a massive culture shift for these groups and agencies because it’s the way they’ve always managed it,” he said. “They’re too busy chopping down the tree to talk to the chainsaw salesman.”
But generational shifts are changing that, he said. Social workers fresh out of college aren’t pleased when they’re handed a box full of paper.
Keeping documents that way can lead to harmful or fatal incidents – for example if the new case worker hasn’t dug through every page of a file to find out there’s a warning against allowing a child to be alone with a particular relative.
Going digital also allows a worker to obtain electronic consent and release of a child’s medical records instead of driving documents to the parent and then the hospital.
Northwoods competes with giants like IBM, Deloitte and Accenture for state projects, but not at the county level, LaMee said.
“We go where the elephant isn’t going to step,” he said. Then the biggest challenge is helping county agencies find grants or other funding sources to pay for the digital transformation.
“We’re not the typical tech company looking for investors, growing the thing at a ridiculous rate, because that doesn’t serve the customers we need to serve,” LaMee said. “We’re not making risky bets that put the company and mission in jeopardy.”
The mission along with work-life balance has helped Northwoods recruit in a tight tech labor market.
“More than half of all the employees here at Northwoods are former social workers or have experience in social work,” he said. “We look at success by the number of families we help.”
Want to stay ahead of who & what is next? The national Inno newsletter is your definitive first-look at the people, companies & ideas shaping and driving the U.S. innovation economy.





