How to improve your 3E cloud experience with Helm360’s automated testing tool
Cloud computing is an integral thread in today’s business fabric. As with all things tech, it’s iterating fast. Forbes magazine suggests 2023 could be the year that businesses come to understand the advantages of diversifying their services across a number of cloud providers.
While your firm may not be ready to explore a multi-cloud environment, you’re most likely already using cloud-based as-a-service offerings, specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS). This delivery model is growing in popularity and, like floppy discs in the 80s, it’s quickly becoming the way to access software.
Accessing practice management software, like Thomson Reuters’ 3E application, via the cloud is fast, safe, cost-effective, and reliable. And having that immediate access is so convenient! Sign in and you’re on your way.
This immediacy delivers another great SaaS benefit: automatic application updates, patches and other provider-initiated software improvements. This convenience takes tracking new software releases (and implementing them) off your in-house team’s to-do list. Big win, right?
Yes! But with a caveat.
As handy and performance-improving as these automatic, cloud-delivered updates are, you still need to make sure they work with your firm’s data and customizations. This is standard procedure for on-prim systems as well. It ensures your 3E system continues operating optimally.
As more firms move their 3E to the cloud, we’re seeing a lot of fear and frustration associated with not knowing when these automatic improvements will occur and how they might impact firm data and customizations. It’s nerve-wracking. Will there be a system disruption? Will a customization break?
Happily, we have the solution: the 3E Automated Testing Tool.
Helm360’s 3E Automated Testing Tool: A quick recap
We developed the 3E Automated Testing Tool in response to a growing need for 3E law firms; namely, the ability to fully test their application quickly and at low cost. We also wanted application testing to be a repeatable process that helps firms get more value from their 3E systems.
As we’re seeing across industries, automation is key to businesses’ ability to remain competitive, especially with a potential recession on the horizon. Automating application testing delivers significant cost and time savings. Instead of requiring a designated tech team weeks to complete their evaluation, the testing tool makes any level of application testing, including full regression testing, a one-person, one-click operation that’s completed in hours.
The tool also addresses another common pain point: system documentation.
Accurate system documentation is critical for knowledge continuity; you don’t want system knowledge walking out the door with employee turnover. And yet, documentation is often overlooked or delayed, which creates a sneaky form of risk.
The tool’s reporting functions give your firm the ability to document your core business processes, including benchmarking system weak spots and customizations, while performing the testing; they’re simultaneous events. These reports include screenshots showing the step-by-step interaction with the 3E application.
More importantly, the 3E Automated Testing Tool gives puts your firm back in control. You’re no longer at the mercy of the unknown in terms of what an automatic upgrade will do to your 3E system. The tool empowers you with the peace of knowing your system will be okay.
The tool also gives you control over when and how significant data projects happen. The ability to perform full regression tests with the click of button makes updating your 3E system regularly (as opposed to once every five years) a feasible decision. It moves system maintenance from a business upheaval to a powerful management tool.
Controlling 3E in the cloud
Speaking of control, let’s circle back to the gut-wrenching thought of system changes being applied to your cloud-based 3E system automatically.
Receiving automatic application updates is a selling point for SaaS products. And something can be said for not having to keep track of application improvements. It’s one less thing your in-house team has to keep on their radar. So, the question is: How do you take advantage of this convenience while retaining agency over it?
This is where Helm360’s 3E Automated Testing Tool comes in.
We designed the testing tool to accommodate cloud-based systems—because that’s where business is going. The tool integrates into these environments quickly and easily. And by including the tool in your legal tech landscape, you gain control over those automatic updates.
How? By employing the tool’s scheduling functionality.
The 3E Automated Testing Tool is extremely flexible. Its low code/no code platform makes it easy for in-house teams to build pre-planned testing parameters that can be scheduled to execute every time an update hits. This allows you to vet the update immediately:
- Are the changes right for your firm?
- Do the changes create redundancies in your system?
- Will your customizations be impacted?
- Do the updates need tweaking? If so, where? How?
The 3E Automated Testing Tool makes it a low lift for your in-house team to answer these questions and create an effective action plan in a short amount of time. And if an automatic update does cause disruption, the testing tool gives your team insight into where the issue is and how to fix it quickly.
Implementing the 3E Automated Testing Tool’s scheduled process allows you to include the tool’s reporting capabilities, ensuring changes to your 3E system are captured in your documentation. Another win!
Conclusion
Want to know more about Helm360’s 3E Automated Testing Tool? Contact us to schedule a free demo.
