conversation bubbles with a red and green background.

 

When it comes to email, “the pain is real,” said Dan Hauck, vice president of user experience for NetDocuments. He's talked with law firm partners that have thousands, or even tens of thousands, of unread emails. And yet, as he explained, “the coordination that's required and the ability to stay in sync with one another is critical to providing the highest quality work product to our customers.”

The result is the rise of chat communication technologies, a trend that NetDocuments is looking to explore through the release of its new ndThread messaging tool. ndThread is a matter-based tool that integrates directly within the preexisting NetDocuments cloud platform, allowing for instant communications between individuals and groups surrounding matters already set up within NetDocuments.

A direct result of the company's ThreadKM acquisition last fall (at which Hauck was previously CEO), the tool is currently available as an add-on for preexisting NetDocuments customers for internal communications. Functionality to allow outside users to be invited into chats will be forthcoming, the company said. ndThread is available on Windows and Mac desktops, within major web browsers, and as a mobile app on both iOS and Android devices.

Demonstrating the product to media before the tool's official May 23 launch, Hauck noted that the company's development team had three distinct goals in development of the product: simple, intuitive messaging; the ability to save conversations alongside a matter; and making sure they didn't create “another place” to manage and govern content. The result is what the company is billing as “secure, matter-based messaging and document discussions.”

At its core, ndThread functions like many other commonly used communications tools. There is the ability for both one-on-one and group chats with other users of the tool. The tool allows for “@” notifications are other users, as well as push notifications to both mobile devices and email if preferred. Users can upload files directly to the system for others to view and comment on as well.

Where NetDocuments is hoping to set ndThread apart from other communication tools, Hauck said, “is our ability to have workspace-based conversations.” ndThread pulls client matters directly from the NetDocuments core platform, maintaining preexisting matter numbers, document uploads, and user permissions. Users can then have chats in specifically-created repositories for each matter, with all chat histories and uploads for the matter saved in the same place. Each matter has a general “thread” for chat, but users can also create specific threads like “Legal Research” or “Settlement Talks” within a matter that can be access-restricted. The process should look very familiar to Slack users that have created channels for varying topics with different levels of access.

On the back end, the NetDocuments team integrates these ndThread chats by uploading them as documents to the NetDocuments cloud repository. This way, Hauck explained, the system can treat the chats as it would any other document, allowing for user authentication, object storage, encryption, geo-aware storage, and search functionality.

“To the user, it's quite invisible,” Hauck noted. “The user's whole experience will happen through the ndThread platform.”

Uploads are also integrated into the wider document management system; any file uploaded in an ndThread chat is also uploaded to the corresponding bucket within NetDocuments management system, using the same filters and folders. ndThread also allows for a layered annotation that exists “on top of the document,” with comments and highlighting allowed during the document rendering but that won't attach if the document is sent out from the system.

These new features are all part of an ongoing plan, one that should continue moving forward for NetDocuments, Hauck said, “What we're really doing is building a conversation around the document.”