With 2020 in the books, it’s time for our annual look back. While this wasn’t the easiest year, we’re proud of how we responded as an organization. Everyone at Trustpoint came together and made the necessary transitions as smooth as they possibly could be. In some ways, we’ve always been a remote organization. We have offices and employees all around the country. However, it’s a whole other matter to turn on a dime, close our corporate headquarters and change our entire focus to remote solutions.At the beginning of 2020, remote and virtual solutions were part of what we did. We didn’t know that in a few months time they would be all that we did. As the world changed overnight, so did we. In April 2020, we officially made the switch and transitioned the entirety of our operations to their virtual counterparts. Fortunately for Trustpoint, these solutions did not need to be created from the ground up. Our technology and process were already in place to conduct document review, depositions, and eDiscovery remotely. For us, It was just a matter of scaling up quickly and bringing our clients up to speed alongside us.
Across the country, the pandemic put countless review projects on immediate hold. Large rooms staffed with dozens of review attorneys side by side was no longer a possibility. Our technology and review teams worked around the clock to transition each and every onsite reviewer to our existing virtual platform. We successfully transitioned over 500 onsite reviewers across multiple projects in multiple locations to our virtual platform in under three weeks. It felt somewhat dramatic at the time, but in hindsight, the whole affair went off pretty smoothly. Trustpoint’s Denika Thomas explains:“Traditionally, onsite reviews were preferred, because there was this sense that having everyone in the same room offered greater oversight, as well as the ability to quickly answer any questions that might come up. There were also concerns that the lack of collaboration among reviewers would negatively impact the project. But now that we’ve done it for several months, and on engagements that ranged from a single reviewer to more than 300, in retrospect, the transition was actually almost seamless.”Read Denika’s full thoughts on the matter here.
Keeping it Light
As we all started to adjust to the new normal, our talent team stepped in with some much needed perspective and levity. They helped us all adjust to our new Zoom offices with the right attitude. Out of that came our favorite series of social posts from 2020. Their advice? Don’t worry about the dog, take walks, and for goodness sake, look behind you.
Depositions
If there was one industry that changed virtually overnight – it’s court reporting. Depositions are synonymous with travel. Attorneys cris-crossing the country, staying in hotels, and gathering in small rooms for many hours conducting depositions. That basically changed overnight. At first, there was quite a bit of nervousness as two of our court reporters explain:
Eventualy things settled down and became normal. After putting a few thousand remote depositons behind us, we can proudly say that we learned a few things. And now that we’re all used to it? We think virtual depositions may very well be here to stay. They are just that easy.
eDiscovery
The reality of modern eDiscovery is that it was already a remote enterprise. This side of the business probably experienced the least amount of disruption. Our project managers, the real heros of our eDiscovery business, didn’t miss a beat by moving to remote work. In order to support our diverse client base, they were already configured in a “follow the sun” methodology. Since the work of e-Discovery has largely been managing data that is hosted in secure ISO and SOC certified data centers, and the team was already utilizing collaboration tools like Teams, Go-To-Meeting, Web-ex, Amazon Chime & Zoom – transitioning to fully remote was really like going to work after a holiday break.
The realities of 2020 didn’t change the simple fact that we always work backward from a similng customer. In fact, it may have made this approach all the more important. Many of our clients, especially at law firms, were unaccustomed to remote work – and this made Trustpoint’s support all the more important. It truly became a situation where our customer focused approach was needed more than ever. Due to that, Trustpoint was able to have our greatest year ever in growth, new customers and client satisfaction.
It’s Always Been About People
In some ways, this year has brought us closer together. Trustpoint has always been a nimble, technology focused business. But this year, perhaps ironically, we’ve become more aware than ever that ultimately it all comes down to the people. We couldn’t be more proud to work with this exceptional group of talent. So hat’s off to 2020, and may 2021 be better, healthier, and more prosperous for all.
