The Competition & Markets Authority Remain Efficient in Lockdown with Remote Working
About the CMA
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) was launched in 2014 in order to rationalise competition policy in the UK and are now the UK’s key competition regulator. With tasks as complex as investigating breaches of anti-competitiveness agreements and abuses of dominant positions, they knew that a powerful case management system had to be implemented to match their ambitions. A case management system that would not just maximise efficiency but also move away from a traditional way of operating.
The CMA had been looking for over a year at case management systems, and as the COVID-19 pandemic hit they placed Access Legal’s case management system as their top choice due to its browser-based functionality. They understood that with Covid-19 more and more people would be working from home under more flexible arrangements. They saw that they needed a system that could meet these needs.
Access Legal became the obvious choice as the features it offered outmatched other legal case management systems and it was all accessed from any device with a web browser.
Along with the ability to work from anywhere and the richness of functionality, at the top of the CMA’s list for product features was security. Spitfire met all these needs since it has been penetration tested to the highest standards having both CHECK level security accreditation and ISO 27001:2013. These were both essential features that the CMA needed in their case management system.
The go-live process
Even though there were increased pressures due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the CMA had a target of going live on the 27th May 2020 which the Access Legal team met.
Gavin Wilson, Head of Public Sector Business Development at Access Legal said, “From the day the contracts were signed the go live process took no more than 10 weeks. The management team were surprised that the systems were implemented so quickly especially with the complications that the lockdown created.”
“The need to train all of the users so they knew how to use the system also became a problem due to the social distancing rules at the time. But we found a solution by using virtual classrooms to teach everyone instead of the usual face to face learning environment. The managers were very happy with such a quick turnaround of implementation and now enjoy a quick system that suits all their needs in a remote working environment.”
Using the Access Legal Case Management System
Once the CMA went live and began to use the system in May 2020, they felt the benefits instantly. Previously, their methodology did not allow them to effectively manage litigation matters that ran into the tens of thousands of documents, which they could also store and recall. Now they are able to do this quickly and with no struggle at all meaning they are able to focus their skills in more pressing areas.
Assistant Director at the CMA, Edward White, had this to say about using the software, "We chose Access Legal’s system for the full functionality they provided in their software. Unlike other case management systems, Access Legal case management does everything we could want and more."
"The integration of the court bundling document system and Microsoft Exchange as well as the ability to work alongside SharePoint and the mobile app means that we have a holistic system which we can use from anywhere with very little struggle."
The CMA legal division also loved the user-friendly interface. They found that simplicity in the front-end created an easier environment for the user to learn such detailed piece of software. They saw that Access Legal was creating products with their clients wants in mind seeing that software is not just a product, but a service.