
What’s the Hidden Cost of
Using “Good Enough”
Legal Tech?
Outdated systems appear stable, but over time small cracks in efficiency, compliance, and scalability widen into major issues. Modernization with NetDocuments ensures a foundation that’s secure, resilient, and future-ready.
Webinar
Cracks in the Foundation
Understanding the Hidden Cost of Outdated LegalTech
Your document management system and processes might look “fine” on the surface, but cracks are forming beneath. Slow search, manual filing, audit friction, mounting IT costs, and security gaps slowly erode the foundation on which your entire legal operation relies.
By the time those cracks widen into a major failure, the hidden costs — in time, risk, and missed opportunities — can be staggering.
In this webinar, discover the true cost of outdated legal tech, why legacy systems block AI adoption and innovation, and how legal teams are modernizing before their systems fail them.
Register for Webinar
What You’ll Learn
- How outdated DMS quietly drains productivity and budgets.
- The IT and compliance risks of “good enough” systems.
- Why legacy tech is the biggest barrier to AI adoption.
- How cloud-first legal tech reduces total cost of ownership.
Who Should Attend?
- CIOs, CTOs, COO, CCO
- Corporate legal leaders
- Legal operations professionals
- IT managers supporting in-house legal
Presenters

Heath Harris
Senior Director of Applied AI
NetDocuments

Chris Dunsford
Vice President of Applications
Element
The Claim | The Facts | The Why This Matters to You |
---|---|---|
JOURNALINGNetDocuments only indexes an official document either per the user’s assignment or latest version and doesn’t capture changes. False |
NetDocuments supports full-text indexing for both official and all document versions. This robust indexing ensures that every version, not just the latest or official one, is accessible, providing a complete audit trail of revisions. Additionally, our platform offers auto-versioning, creating a new version with every save. For more detailed control, we also offer sub-version creation and tracking. True |
With NetDocuments, you gain more than just standard tracking and version control. Our advanced workflows allow you to easily monitor, collaborate on, and retrieve documents at any stage, giving you complete transparency and control over changes. You’ll also benefit from built-in document comparison within Microsoft Word, ensuring you can always track revisions seamlessly. While others are still catching up, we’re providing you with next-generation tools like AI-powered workflow automation and semantic search, so your firm can work smarter and stay ahead. |
ADVANCED VERSIONING CONTROLNetDocuments only indexes one version so users cannot view or search incremental changes or earlier document versions. False |
NetDocuments supports both official version and all version indexing, enabling robust lexical search across every document version. Ask us for a demo to see it in action. True |
Basic search capabilities, like finding document versions and sub-versions, are expected in any DMS. But with NetDocuments, you can search across all document versions, making it easier to track specific changes or retrieve past versions. This not only saves time but makes document auditing more efficient. While others are catching up, we are leading the way with AI-powered legal workflow automation and semantic search. By 2025, NetDocuments will offer semantic search across the platform, giving you even more accurate insights and transforming how you work with documents. |
FOLDER FLEXIBILITYSize restrictions limited to 500 folders per workspace and files limited to 2GB. MISLEADING |
In NetDocuments, each folder can contain up to 500 subfolders. With just 3 layers of subfolders, a single workspace can hold up to 125 million folders. Most customer files are well under 2GB, but for those with unique needs, we’re increasing the file size limit. This update will be available to all users early next year. True |
Folder count and file size have never been a meaningful limitation for our customers in the over 25 years we’ve been supporting legal professionals with a robust document management system. Let’s break it down — each folder in NetDocuments can have up to 500 subfolders, and at just three levels deep, that equals 125 million folders in a single workspace. That’s more than enough for any organizational need. Plus, creating thousands of top-level folders, as some claims suggest, would lead to a chaotic and inefficient experience. Our customers have told us they prefer streamlined, efficient structures. That’s why, instead of focusing on unnecessary features, we’ve partnered with our customers to tackle the challenges that truly add value, like sophisticated, secure, and flexible AI and automation solutions, deep integrations with Microsoft applications, and so many more cutting-edge innovations that make areal difference. |
CONTINUOUS DEPLOYMENT MODELNetDocuments requires scheduled downtime for software updates and patches, interrupting productivity. False |
NetDocuments regularly updates its software, requiring zero downtime. Fact check us: We encourage you to visit our uptime tracker and our web refresh notes on the support site so you can see our new features being released with no downtime. True |
As a NetDocuments customer, you benefit from our cloud-first, cloud-only platform that delivers continuous updates without any scheduled downtime. This means you always have the latest features and security enhancements, with no disruption to your work. In contrast, iManage customers often face costly, time-consuming updates — especially for those still using on-premises software. With NetDocuments, you can focus on what matters most, knowing your technology is always up to date and running smoothly. |
ZERO TOUCH PRINCIPLESNetDocuments has a dated network that is susceptible to malware attacks. False |
At NetDocuments, we constantly monitor and enhance our network to ensure you experience the best performance and security. Our industry-leading security certifications, including FedRAMP authorization (which iManage has yet to achieve), provide a true measure of our platform’s modernity and reliability. You can trust that our commitment to security goes beyond marketing claims, focusing on delivering real, certified protection for your data. Here’s an article detailing our security certifications and how you can access detailed compliance materials. True |
With over 25 years of experience managing a constantly evolving cloud platform, we understand how critical security is to your business. At NetDocuments, we prioritize transparency about our platform’s security capabilities and take pride in providing honest, accurate information. We never make false claims about the security risks of other platforms. iManage doesn’t have insight into the inner workings of our network, so their comments on malware risks lack credibility. Rest assured, security has always been, and will continue to be, atop priority for us — so you can focus on your work with peace of mind. |
DATA PROCESSING COMPLIANCEAI, OCR and indexing applications all require data to be moved across cloud systems, introducing unnecessary risks and compliance risks. False |
Like all mature cloud providers, including newer ones like iManage, NetDocuments uses multiple cloud technologies to serve our customers. These technologies are fully vetted and meet strict compliance certifications. Using multiple cloud systems does not pose any security or compliance risks. Your data will always stay within your chosen geographic region, unless you specifically configure it otherwise using features like FlexStore, which allows you to control where your data is stored. True |
Our use of sub-processors — partner cloud technology — is fully disclosed to customers. This is a common practice for cloud providers. Regarding AI, while we use the same service as iManage (Microsoft Azure OpenAI), our platform is model-agnostic, meaning we are not constrained to a single provider or single family of large language models (LLMs). Generative AI is a rapidly evolving technology, and our more strategic approach allows customers to benefit from best-in-class AI capabilities — or even leverage their own LLM instances — regardless of which provider currently offers the best fit-for-purpose LLM(s). |
HIGH SCALABILITYNetDocuments uses legacy architecture where performance would be impacted when onboarding new clients and/or processing large amounts of data. False |
NetDocuments has a proven track record of successfully implementing large customers with extensive data needs, without any impact on their service or others. We use Kubernetes and other top technologies to ensure reliable, scalable performance. True |
When you join NetDocuments, your data is securely stored in Amazon Web Services (AWS),the world’s leading public cloud provider. While we also use Microsoft Azure for our generative AI capabilities, AWS offers a broader global reach, essential for meeting data sovereignty requirements. Its advanced technology, like the Graviton chipset, and faster network performance make AWS the best choice for our public cloud storage. With 31% of the global cloud infrastructure market, compared to Microsoft’s 25%, AWS provides the scalability and reliability our customers can trust. Our team constantly monitors and manages our platform performance, and continually makes enhancements to ensure our customers’ scalability needs are met. |
SECURITY POLICY MANAGEMENTNetDocuments has limited security policy functionality with narrow support for ethical walls, insider reports audit trails and notification, and no ability for users to efficiently grant access as required. False |
NetDocuments provides foundational ACL capabilities within our core DMS. On top of those critical capabilities that enable customers to control access and prevent unauthorized unethical access, we also offer additional levels of security, including full support for ethical walls within the DMS and robust security policy management. Ask us about our access controls, WSM, and DLP demos! True |
NetDocuments Workspace Security Manager is trusted by many of the world’s largest and most security-focused firms, offering high value and strong adoption across the legal industry. Our solution provides comprehensive security features designed to protect your sensitive data, giving you peace of mind. While the critique is unclear, we’d be happy to show you the full depth and flexibility of our offering — and how it can better meet your firm’s security needs. |
THREAT MANAGEMENTNetDocuments does not offer the ability to have 24/7 intelligent threat detection. Threats are only “neutralized” by locking at-risk files so they cannot be downloaded. False |
NetDocuments analytics provides security analytics 24/7 and dynamic activity triggers to alert customers of potential threats. Ask us about a security analytics demo! True |
Our security analytics offer flexibility so customers can define the parameters of threat detection and more effectively manage their organizational security. |
CO-AUTHORINGCo-authoring from the web interface only limits functionality and makes work clumsy and slow in NetDocuments. Misleading |
NetDocuments was the first and only legal DMS to provide truly native web co-authoring capabilities through Microsoft’s Cloud Storage Provider Program (CSPP), which allows for seamless and secure collaboration. These capabilities will soon be extended to include desktop applications via our membership in CSPP+. Ask us for a co-authoring demo! True |
While competitors claim seamless integration with both web and desktop co-authoring, the reality is that their current solution relies on a legacy approach, requiring documents to be saved outside the DMS in Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint. Even they acknowledge that this introduces security risks. At NetDocuments, we prioritized a secure and seamless integration through our strong partnership with Microsoft. Although our competitor later pivoted to a similar approach, they have yet to deliver. Notably, they announced native desktop co-authoring three years ago with little progress, while NetDocuments announced our solution in the Summer of 2024 and is just months away from making it available to you. |
POWER AUTOMATE AND WORKFLOWSNetDocuments PatternBuilder (document and workflow automation solution) is a bespoke application that requires users to take documents out of the DMS to launch a workflow, creating extra steps and unnecessary risk. False |
NetDocuments automation capabilities are built natively into the platform, which means there is no need to move documents outside the platform to leverage these capabilities. Ask us for a demo about PatternBuilder, or our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX)! True |
Our automation solutions give you the flexibility and control to automate everything from simple to complex workflows, making your processes smoother and more efficient. With our award-winning AI and automation App Builder, powered by PatternBuilder MAX, you can expand the range of tasks you automate, all while keeping your documents safe and secure in NetDocuments. Best of all, our no-code framework makes it easy to create automations without needing IT skills or third-party tools like Power Automate. For firms with more advanced needs, such as orchestrating data and workflows across different platforms (DMS, time and billing, CRM), we support Power Automate to ensure you have the tools to handle even the most complex workflows. |
DOCUMENT INSIGHTSIn NetDocuments, once a function has been executed, such as summarize, the results are provided in a new document outside the DMS. False / Misleading |
Customers leveraging NetDocuments automation capabilities have the flexibility to determine output format. Customers often choose to automatically save summaries and other outputs to NetDocuments but maintain control of this functionality should they prefer to review such outputs before they are added to a matter file. Ask us for a demo about our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX). True |
At NetDocuments, we understand that you need both flexibility and control in your workflows. While chatbots can be helpful for tasks like finding specific information in documents, we know that delivering consistent, reliable work at scale requires more than that. That’s why we offer a comprehensive document and workflow automation solution with seamlessly integrated generative AI. This ensures you get precise and predictable results — something legal professionals need when basic AI tools like unstructured summarization aren’t enough. |
AI AT SCALEAny actions with PatternBuilder are bespoke and limited to a document or a handful of documents at a time. False |
With our AI-powered automation (PatternBuilder MAX), there are no limits on the number of documents you can automate. Whether it’s one document, ten, or ten thousand, you can apply automation seamlessly and efficiently, scaling to fit your needs without restrictions. Ask us for a demo about our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX). True |
At NetDocuments, we’ve been empowering customers to create AI-powered, legal-specific automations that scale effortlessly across a wide range of high-value use cases for over a year. This means you can streamline complex workflows, improve efficiency, and reduce manual tasks with confidence. Our proven success is backed by independent case studies, industry awards, and real customer testimonials, demonstrating the tangible benefits our automation solutions deliver. With NetDocuments, you can trust that our technology is designed to meet the unique needs of legal professionals like you. |
ANSWERS & INSIGHTS WITH MICROSOFT COPILOTNetDocuments only connects to Microsoft Copilot within Microsoft Teams. False |
The ndMAX Legal AI Assistant offers two experiences: a native AI-powered assistant within NetDocuments and a Microsoft Copilot extension. This is separate from our Microsoft Teams integration (ChatLink), which provides advanced features like linking Teams channels to workspaces, document search, preview, and collaborative document markup (like margin notes) directly within Teams. Ask us about a demo for ChatLink! True |
At NetDocuments, we believe in delivering real value to our customers, not just promises. While our competitor often announces features years before they’re available, we announced the ndMAX Legal AI Assistant in September 2024, and it’s already live in production, ready to be delivered to you soon. Our focus is on dependable innovation that meets you where you work, providing the tools you need when you need them. We value your trust, which is why we’re committed to being transparent about our capabilities — and we never make false claims about our own solutions and what we are delivering. |
TASK MANAGEMENT INTEGRATION WITH OUTLOOKNetDocuments offers no email integration with a task management tool, so tasks can only be assigned from a matter. misleading |
While it is true that NetDocuments’ task management capabilities are assigned from a matter, customers can export tasks to Outlook from the matter AND the My Tasks view so they are surfaced in Outlook as well. Ask us about our task management demo. True |
We work closely with our customers to understand their priorities and areas for investment. While many customers use advanced task and project management tools, some have expressed interest in deeper integration with Microsoft To-Do. However, we agree with our customers that the most valuable focus right now is enhancing our suite of AI-powered solutions and advancing our “next-generation experience” across Microsoft 365. This approach better aligns with our customers business needs and delivers more meaningful impact. |
Task Assignment FlexibilityNetDocuments task assignment is inflexible and offers a single linear view that does not capture the complexity of legal workflows. misleading |
NetDocuments allows for foundational task management, including configurable views to support legal workflow sequencing. Ask us about column flexibility. True |
While many customers rely on advanced task and project management tools or legal practice management systems, some have expressed interest in additional features, like a fully visual workflow designer. To support those needing more advanced matter management, we offer proven integrations with legal task and project management, calendaring, contract lifecycle management, and legal practice management solutions — all while maintaining the security of NetDocuments. |
Legal Transaction ManagementNetDocuments has the ability to create binders (TRUE) but no other features such as closing checklists or automated signature process. false |
NetDocuments offers a robust document bundling solution called SetBuilder. It provides the capabilities customers need to manage their closing folders and document binders, including key integrations with technology like DocuSign. Ask us for a demo on SetBuilder! True |
SetBuilder meets the needs of the majority of our customers. We recently (2023) made significant enhancements based on customer request. While there will always be opportunities to further enhance any of our capabilities, we are aligned with our customers that continuing to power innovation through our AI and automation solutions reflects our customers’ priorities and will deliver the most value at this time. |
Classification and EnrichmentNetDocuments takes an ad hoc, document-by-document approach to perform a function where results are ‘one-off’ as it lacks the modern architecture required to process large volumes of data that AI requires. false |
A PatternBuilder MAX app can use AI to automatically profile any number of documents — whether it’s one, a thousand, or even a hundred thousand. Soon, you’ll be able to trigger these apps automatically by interacting with NetDocuments. For example, uploading a document will run a profiling app in the background, or creating a matter will generate a pre-defined set of documents. AI is seamlessly integrated not just into your DMS, but into your workflows. Also, while training large language models (likeGPT-4) requires vast amounts of data, profiling a document does not. Ask about our demo of our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX) and specifically ask about document profiling! True |
With NetDocuments, you have the power to enrich your content with unlimited metadata, allowing you to extract as much insight as you need to make your documents more valuable and accessible. Dynamic metadata takes it further by letting you use your own taxonomy or industry standards, like SALI, to classify documents with greater precision. These features ensure your content is always classified and enriched accurately, saving you time and improving efficiency. Unlike our competitors, who haven’t provided details on their approach to classification, NetDocuments delivers cutting-edge technology to keep your workflows seamless. While others may rely on outdated tools, we’re bringing semantic search to our platform in 2025, giving you even more powerful ways to manage and find your documents. |
INTELLIGENT EMAIL FILINGNo equivalent offering to iManage’s use of AI to automate email filing. false |
NetDocuments has offered AI-powered email management capabilities since 2018. ndMail is designed to help legal professionals file emails into the appropriate client/matter workspaces automatically using predictive filing based on machine learning algorithms. ndMail integrates directly with email platforms like Microsoft Outlook, enabling users to easily manage and organize their emails within the NetDocuments document management system. Ask us for a demo about ndMAIL! True |
NetDocuments offers all customers access to their Microsoft 365 Outlook add-in for a robust AI-powered email management experience. This modern architecture ensures customers experience the highest performance and cutting-edge technology made available to key Microsoft partners like NetDocuments. |
GENERATIVE AINetDocuments only uses AI to perform workflow functions and queries with predefined prompts using bespoke applications that don’t scale across the DMS. false |
AI assistants like the NetDocuments Legal AI Assistant deliver quick, accurate answers to legal questions and are available to all PatternBuilder MAX customers at no extra cost. More importantly, firms and departments worldwide are using our AI and automation tools to create scalable processes for a wide range of needs. With our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX), user scan leverage ready-made apps, customize them, or build their own to meet specific requirements. Our solution automates processes and document management at scale, providing flexibility to meet your unique needs. Any claims that we only support predefined prompts are simply untrue and can be easily disproven by anyone familiar with our capabilities. Ask us for a demo of our App Builder (powered by PatternBuilder MAX) and our Legal AI Assistant. True |
NetDocuments provides a sophisticated suite of AI-powered solutions, seamlessly integrated into your document management system (DMS). Our native AI capabilities are designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows, all within a secure and flexible environment. Whether you’re automating routine tasks, accelerating document creation, or extracting valuable insights, NetDocuments ensures you can leverage AI in ways that maximize efficiency and deliver real, measurable value. With our AI solutions, your firm can confidently embrace innovation while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance. |
EASE OF SHARINGNetDocuments can only share from a matter. false |
NetDocuments offers seamless internal and external collaboration through CollabSpaces. This feature allows for secure, real-time collaboration with external parties and is not limited to a single matter. Beyond CollabSpaces, there are two other options for securely collaborating and sharing documents with clients (or outside counsel or other third parties): 1) share one or more documents via a link secured by expiration date and/or password, and 2) set up an external user with many of the same features as an internal user. Ask us about a demo of CollabSpaces and Deliver a Secure link options. True |
CollabSpaces provides users with the flexibility to share documents with clients, vendors, and other stakeholders in several ways that aren’t confined to the traditional matter workspace structure. This means that external collaborators can access and edit the right documents in a controlled, secure environment, ensuring compliance with security policies. |
At NetDocuments, we believe in transparency and delivering solutions that truly help legal professionals do their best work. We understand how important it is to make informed decisions, and that’s why we are committed to providing you with all the facts. Our team is always available to answer any questions or concerns, and we welcome the opportunity to discuss how our solutions can support your firm’s needs. We’re an open book — because when it comes to choosing the right document management system, you deserve nothing less than complete clarity.