Metafour Allen & Overy Case Study

Allen & Overy are one of the world’s top law firms. With a global network of lawyers and consultants, they help industry-leading businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. For almost a century, their reputation for embracing change and bringing original solutions to their clients’ most complex legal challenges has helped them to remain at the forefront of the law industry.

In 2007 Allen & Overy’s Liverpool Street office was using their own in-house system to organise their mailroom. Housing over 2,000 people including staff members and tenants, the building received constant deliveries ranging from important legal documents and routine letters, to personal packages. Each item
had different logistical requirements, including the required delivery time frame and the recipient’s location. Whilst their current system was serviceable, it was becoming increasingly outdated and did not offer the level of service and functionality that the company’s partners required. It also did not allow them to create a full chain of custody by tracking outbound deliveries.

Working together over the course of a couple of months, the two teams designed and implemented a fully tailored mailroom solution. The Metafour team spent time learning about Allen & Overy’s current workflows and requirements to ensure that the new system met all of their current and future needs. There were two main parts of the new solution: Inbound and Outbound.

As its name suggests, the inbound section focused on Allen & Overy’s incoming mail. It allowed the mailroom to record the items coming into the office and track them all the way through until proof of delivery with the intended recipient. The collaboration between the two teams was also the driving force
behind MetApp, the software’s integrated messenger app. From this, the mailroom team were able to view deliveries, recipients, and required delivery times on-the-go. Identifying and recording items’ delivery times and whether SLAs were met was simplified, and bottlenecks became easier to identify.

The outbound solution allowed Allen & Overy to create a full audit trail for all items sent by their staff. An API connected the mailroom system to their own International and Sameday carrier accounts, allowing the mailroom staff
to rate-shop, book the most suitable option, track, and view full proofs of delivery for all shipments. The latter was especially important for Allen & Overy, as misdelivered or lost documents could have dramatic legal implications.

With so many people, departments, and even businesses to look after, it was important for the mailroom team to be able to easily allocate costs to specific cost centres in the business. As Metafour’s mailroom system allowed them to
give every item a specific consignment matter number, every item could be billed to the correct client. Reports could be run to identify what was still to be billed, to ensure no lost revenue.

The working relationship between Allen & Overy and Metafour has evolved over the last decade. Every 6-weekly update that Metafour releases ensures that Allen & Overy’s system remains up-to-date with the newest features and technologies. They have seen so much value in the system that it has even been rolled out to their Belfast office. The two-way conversation between the
teams has also enabled Metafour to refine their offering over the years, and ensure that they are at the leading edge of mailroom software providers.

7th largest global integrated law firm
1,5000 pieces sent weekly
550 partners