Conversion Survey

Needles Case Management Software sells approximately 100 programs per year. Of that number, 75% are conversions from other programs that these clients have been using. We are flattered that so many law firms would leave their present case management program and convert to Needles. On the other hand, to the best of our knowledge, in 20 years, no law firm has ever left Needles for another system. We think that says a lot!

Needles' conversion specialists have performed conversions from all the following products*:

Participants were asked to rate on the following scale:

1=Not satisfied, 2=Just Satisfied, 3=Pleasantly Satisfied, 4=Very Satisfied, 5=Ecstatic

What is your degree of satisfaction with the overall conversion?

83.33% were “Very Satisfied” or higher.

What is your degree of satisfaction with the helpfulness of the Needles staff throughout the procedure?

100% were “Very Satisfied” or higher.

Now that the conversion is complete, what is your degree of satisfaction with the new Needles system?

81.5% were “Very Satisfied” or higher.

All things being equal and knowing what you know now, if you had to do the conversion over again, would you?

94.44% said Yes.

Needles clients share their conversion experiences and thoughts below:

“My firm decided to convert to Needles for a number of different reasons.  We wanted a very stable platform, a program that would not suddenly and inexplicably crash while performing routine data entry tasks.  Our old one drove us crazy that way.  We wanted a software that provided top notch technical customer support with frequent updates or enhancements that kept the system current.  Our old one came out with a new version about every 3 years.  We wanted a system that could provide us with document merge field integration that was easy to use.  Our old one could do that but only in Word (not Adobe) and was difficult to format.  By contrast, Needles' feature for document integration was simply to use, bulletproof and fairly easy to learn.  We had a lot of data reaching back 12 years.  We needed to work with a provider who could help us decide what data to keep and how to best translate that data into a new database structure.  Our old software had decent support, but did not provide solutions to problems on a timely basis.  We needed a case management provider that would do that for us, no matter how "dumb" our questions sounded. 

In sum, Needles fulfilled our needs in the conversion process quite well.  In fact, when I was in the training session in Baltimore a few weeks ago, I noticed how well the conversion process had gone when I was looking for some rather "ancient" data.  It was easy to find and would have been lost had not our conversion specialist had the foresight to (patiently) talk me through some issues at the time.  I can recall being a bit fed up with the length of time the conversion process was taking and wanting to "go live."  Fortunately, he prevailed upon me to wait and I did with superior results in the long term.”

"We have two offices and the connection speed with Saga was extremely slow.  We heard that their Windows based program wasn't much better.  We determined that Needles would be much better and now that we are accessing 85% of the program, things have improved.”

“Our prior system was a custom application on a Dbase platform.  It had basic calendar control and address book functions, available only to selected users.  I had long pushed for a more powerful management system for all users.  When we took on a major mass tort matter, that provided the occasion to convert.

The conversion process was challenging because we imported case info as well as contact lists from a variety of sources.  We went through several phases in the conversion.  Overall, Needles conversion staff was very responsive and met the challenges.  There were issues, largely from inconsistency of our data, but overall it went as well as can be expected.

There is no comparison with our old system, really.  The prior system had limited functions.  Our main issue now is encouraging users to make better use of features such as the checklist, and to enter data consistently.”

“Why our firm decided to convert?  We had an old system, Tort Pro.  There was only one person that could help when it had a problem, he was out of state and it took days to get him, however he did make contact and always gave us a band-aid.  The system was slow, prone to mistakes and breakdowns.  We needed a dependable system WITH service back-up.  There were cheaper systems, but we went with Needles, thankfully.

How would I describe the conversion experience?  In a word: FANTASTIC!
The sales patter was good.  But I never expected such a smooth conversion, better than advertised.  Needles people were here for training twice and we learned sooooo much.  Needles was a great experience, something like buying a Ford and getting a Rolls!  There was a lot of telephoning, but Needles was ALWAYS there for us. The Tech people at Needles were so professional.  Our old system had to be converted to Needles. I thought that was going to be a problem.  It was not.  Needles made a flawless transition.  I don't think we lost a word.  And, we had a lot of words!  Needles support and Tech worked together.  It was great.  I worried for nothing.

How Needles has improved our case management experience?  Where do I start?  IF we follow Needles outline - to the letter - it is perfect.  My problem, with changing employees, is to get people to do it by the book, don't put off filling in the information.  I tell new people, we have the best software possible and you MUST do it the Needles way.  I've lost some people, but here, it's Needles way... or the highway.  Our efficiency is up 300%.  It is so easy to use.  Simple.  Our case management is flawless when our people do it the Needles way.  If something is not correct, it was a human error, not Needles.

“I am the person in charge of making sure that Needles is running smoothly.  I was with this Firm when we decided to change case management.  We were using Case Wizard.  It was very outdated.  Our computer person suggested several programs.  The whole office went through each program.  We all decided that Needles was the most attractive and efficient looking to us.  The change was pretty easy.  The Needles staff  took an example of what we were using and transferred the information to our new Needles system.  We paid for one week of training.  We had a few bumps on the road, but we learn quickly so by the end of the week, we were experts (exaggerating a bit)!  The difference between one program and the other is unbelievable.  We can get the work done so much faster, we are much more organized, very pleased and really love it.”

“We recently went through two conversions with Needles.  Our firm split into three separate entities.  Recently, one of those entities rejoined and we had to go through another conversion to bring them back in.  Conversions are a lengthy, tedious process but both times it took place with minimal glitches as your Needles staff have a process in place that provides for a smooth transition.”

“We decided to convert because the system we were using (Abacus) could not do what we wanted it to do.  Primarily this was document generation.  Our conversion experience was a little different.  We were working with another firm & dittoing their system so to speak.  Once the bugs were worked out, we have been very pleased.  In retrospect, we feel that we really had no handle at all on case management.  We are still working on our SOPs and things still come up, but we feel that we do have case management now.”

To learn more about converting, contact our sales force via e-mail at info@needles.com or call (410)-363-1976.

“It would be difficult to grow the business without Needles.” -Patsy Keener of Stouwie & Mayo in San Antonio, TX

“Needles is the greatest! It allows us to help ourselves and not only our clients.” -Antonio Tembledor of Peter M. Steinberg Law Corporation in Santa Monica, CA