Smokeball Erfahrungen

SmallLaw Review

Kommentare: Overall, an excellent software and definitely worth considering for your law firm, especially if you handle real estate transactions.

Vorteile:

1. Smokeball is an "everything" platform. We realized we were only using the other softwares for billing/invoicing, but found little use for them otherwise. Smokeball, on the other hand, is much more versatile. We track our to-dos there, create workflows, assign tasks/projects to others at the firm (it avoids the back-and-forth internal emails), share our draft documents with client through a secure portal, and much more! 2. If you are a real estate transactions law firm (as we are), Smokeball is the only platform specifically designed for that practice area. We love that it automatically calendars deadlines, has templates built in, and otherwise automates much of the closing process for us (and avoids costly mistakes such as missing a deadline).

Nachteile:

1. Cost (yup, it's one of the more expensive options you'll find out there). But when evaluating options, the thought process should be whether you will save some time by implementing the features of the software. And if so, a few extra bucks monthly is well worth it. 2. A little glitchy at times. We sometimes would create an invoice but would not be able to load it or send to a client until the next day. I have no idea why this happens, though it hasnt been a big issue for us. 3. Requires you to invest a lot of time to set up to automate your documents and learn how to modify them as you go. But, again, it is time well spent.

One Year Later

Kommentare: Overall, the experience has been excellent. Other than the mobile application leaving much to be desired, the desktop-based application has been fantastic. They offer a wide variety of functionality, and their technical development team has been incredibly helpful in responding to our communications with them. There is so much good to be said about the product offered. Having seen a number of other practice management solutions, nobody else comes close to the full functionality of Smokeball for most practice areas.

Vorteile:

Smokeball is an incredibly easy platform to use, and is a true "all in one" platform for practice management.

Nachteile:

Smokeball's mobile application needs serious work.

Do not use

Kommentare: Negative. Use MyCase instead. The year commitment was unbearable.

Vorteile:

Not much. It wasn’t special and it costs too much

Nachteile:

The annual contract and the refusal of the staff to listen to my complaints.

Great Product

Kommentare: I have used multiple case management systems in the legal field. I have found that Smokeball has been the best program to us. It does take some adjustment, but so does anything. I think is the easiest program to use and track your information in files as well as being able to sync easily to the file.

Vorteile:

I like how user friendly the program is. It is also able to be downloaded to your phone, which is very convenient as a lot of business are on the go. It has a lot of features that are available base on any business use.

Nachteile:

There is really nothing that has come up for me as a dislike.

Never Practice Without It

Vorteile:

Complete end to end practice management solution. Fantastic tech support and client account managers. Constantly improving the product for users. Actually does legal template automation (caption and proof of service etc) as opposed to Clio.

Nachteile:

Cost of entry seemed very steep on 3-year contract basis. Because Smokeball integrates with all accounting processes except for operating accounts payable there is a great deal of work to get it stood up. Both of these hurdles are surmountable and worthwhile given the excellent product and service.

Smokeball Legal Software is leading the pack

Kommentare: Love Smokeball - I have been in the legal field for 18 years now and have worked with a number of different Legal Billing/Case Managment Programs. Smokeball, hands down, is leading the pack.

Vorteile:

Time tracking, integration with Microsoft, intakes, Secure client portal, templates, document management system

Nachteile:

I wish we had the option to create reports by selecting different fields.

Game changer!

Kommentare: The productivity has increased. Training a new higher is so much easier and the features of Smokeball really allows you to set a Newby up for success! There are just to many amazing features that make the overall experience better than I could have ever expected!

Vorteile:

Making my work product automatically generate on demand!

Nachteile:

The Matter Types are not customizable and do not work for Texas cases.

Useful and Intuitive

Vorteile:

Smokeball is useful for managing any number of client files. The fact that it keeps contacts across all cases makes it easy to send form letters and make service lists. It also auto-generates captions.

Nachteile:

I wish I could download documents from smoke ball directly rather than opening them and clicking save as and saving it. Maybe there's a better way to do it, but I haven't learned it.

Document automation is great with this software

Kommentare: It's been great. They have advance greatly over the years.

Vorteile:

Document automation, storing emails with the matter, document organization.

Nachteile:

When you schedule an event inside a matter, rather than on the calendar directly, it will not alert you that you have a conflict with your new appointment.

We couldn't practice law without it

Kommentare: We are so happy that we found Smokeball four years ago and couldn't imagine our business running as seamlessly with any other case management software.

Vorteile:

It is very easy to use and they keep updating the product. If we have an issue, they are quick to help us.

Nachteile:

Sometimes there are glitches and the calendars don't update or we have to wait for tickets to get responded to.

Best practice management software!

Kommentare: Our firm literally cannot work without Smokeball. I am not exaggerating one bit when I tell you that it is as essential to our practice as air. When the pandemic began, other lawyers were struggling to figure out how to work from home. Luckily for us, Smokeball is everywhere we are. With help from Smokeball's cloud-based system, we were able to transition to working from home very quickly and easily. Thanks to Smokeball's features -- file notes, memos, timeline, phone messages, email tracking, and activity tracking -- it is easier than ever for multiple staff members to collaborate on a file even though they are not physically in the same space. The integration with InfoTrack/Docusign means that we obtain client signatures without even leaving our desks. And the document automation and contact database make working much easier and more productive in general! I highly recommend Smokeball to any small law firm.

Vorteile:

Email tracking, file notes/timeline. These features make it so much easier for two or more people to collaborate on a file!

Nachteile:

I wish that "to-do" tasks in the system would auto-delete if a matter is canceled or closed.

Small Elder Law Practice

Kommentare: More efficient, able to handle more business in less time.

Vorteile:

It took a while, but once I understood how things work it made it easy to manage my client workload. Before I would lose track of matters where the client should have gotten back to me and didn't. Now with tasks it is easy to keep track. Also like the billing options and the automation. I am much more efficient than before.

Nachteile:

Still getting used to billing hourly. I like that it tracks my time, but the entries are not good for billing as difficult for a client to understand. Also wish I could have converted Time Matters client to Smokeball easily. It would have been expensive so I running two databases.

Smokeball Review - Cost = $$$$ - Value = Priceless!

Kommentare: Very friendly and helpful and out to see you succeed and get the most from the software. Everyone seems to have law firm experience from the Implementation Specialist and Account Manager who have many years of experience as a Paralegal to the Billing Trainer who is a Lawyer and they know what they are recommending or helping with and why. You are not alone, you have a great support staff, video training, webinar training, one on one training etc. Believe it or not...the Sales guy didn't lie.....pretty much everything he sold us on during the demo is true!

Vorteile:

It tracks everything. Training and onboarding are fantastic. Customer Support is on top of things and great to help and give feedback. Everyone I have worked with seems to be an expert in the field with solid law firm experience backing their recommendations or help with the software. The integration with Ring Central, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word is SEAMLESS and PRICELESS! The Communicate App for the Client is great as well and even those clients that have previously said they don't text or use apps now use the Communicate app with ease (and seem to like it).

Nachteile:

There are reports I would like to be able to customize for MY use vs a canned approach. As well as saving Favorite Reports the way I want them ran. I would also like to write my own reports. However, there is a great selection of reports that will make the majority of users very happy. Auto-time sometimes tracks too much time, however, it is better to see all and code those items as non billed vs not seeing the tracked time at all.

It has been a god-send.

Kommentare: We have had a great experience with Smokeball thus far.

Vorteile:

The feature that instigated our interest in Smokeball, and that keeps us loving the product, is the automatic time tracking feature. I'd literally been complaining for years that no one had figured out how to do this, and then we found Smokeball! So glad there are smart folks thinking through how a lawyer's practice, time keeping and billing can be streamlined.

Nachteile:

I wish the billing system was integrated as part of the software instead of being separate (online).

A Good Investment

Kommentare: We are moving toward a paperless office, and have a better sense of organization, because with Smokeball, we know where everything is, and it's easy to find.

Vorteile:

That it is cloud-based makes is usable anywhere: home, office, while traveling. That's especially important now, given the limitations imposed by Covid 19. I appreciate the ability to have all emails related to a case appear in the same place. I like the automation features, particularly for drafting quick letters.

Nachteile:

There are still technical issues involving the relationship between Smokeball and Outlook, and even when everything works smoothly, which is most of the time, the loading of both programs takes a while.

Great high tech automation but misses on basic options

Kommentare: I have gained a lot from using Smokeball, but I have had to give up things that I view as basic and simple needs in exchange. The company is open to hearing suggestions, but they are not quickly implemented. They are aware of the complaints that new users have, but they still don't discuss them in the sales demo. I would suggest buying one license only if you decide to try the software. You can add more later if you find that it works for you, but really use the software before adding more as it will take you a minute to realize all of the simple tasks it can't perform. If you have used other major software programs like Abacus or Practice Panther, you may not feel like the benefits are worth the hassle of the change. If this is your first case management system, you will be happy.

Vorteile:

The integration with Microsoft Word and Outlook are great. Unlike other software programs, they work all the time and are easy to use. The templates and automation features help you save tremendous amounts of times doing routine work. The software does not crash and have bugs all the time like the previous software I used.

Nachteile:

This is an out of the box, canned solution. Even on simple requests, ZERO customization is allowed. Also, they are HORRIBLE with allowing you to import data from other software systems. They basically expect each firm to just start over from scratch, other than importing contacts. This is crazy and unrealistic for small or large firms. Smokeball is a one size fits all tool that frequently falls short. It is very difficult to run reports. You have the ability to add labels and input data, but extremely limited ability to run reports to transform the data you have collected into useful information. During the demo, they show you nifty features like automated time keeping, but they neglect to tell you that if you turn on that feature, your invoices will get all messed up. You won't have the ability to itemize or discount each line item of work performed on the case, instead they group them together with a list of daily worked. There is a reason why they do not offer a try before you buy option or a month to month option. You have to sign up for a full year and then you are locked in.

We Love Smokeball

Kommentare: We have found Smokeball helped us to increase our revenue due to the automatic posting of billable hours. It was easy to learn and the customer service has been great. The Smokeball staff is friendly and responsive.

Vorteile:

Smokeball streamlined our time tracking and billing.

Nachteile:

I can't really think of anything negative about the version we have. We wish we could afford the more comprehension system, but we are a solo office, and it gets pricey for our firm.

Satisfied customer

Kommentare: I enjoy Smokeball and recently looked into Mycase. Do not consider Mycase. I was informed by Mycase that the integration process would be easy and would take 5-10 days. Those were lies. I have 4+ years in Smokeball with over 1000 files.

Vorteile:

I am able to pull up any document while in court along with access to my client. I am able to conduct a conflict check within minutes.

Nachteile:

The billing program requires me to exit out and enter another program. Least favorite part of Smokeball.

I'd be lost without Smokeball

Kommentare: My firm has used Smokeball for almost 5 years, and I'm still as happy with it as the day we onboarded. There are certainly cheaper options out there (most of them browser based), but you really do get what you pay for and Smokeball does pretty much everything. The main PC software is a tank, and there's also a lighter phone/tablet app for use on the go. My office uses tons and tons of features (most of which I don't see any other firms in our area using), and I bet we still don't utilize even half of what Smokeball has to offer. The integrations are excellent, and from both efficiency and organization standpoints I just don't think it can be beat.

Vorteile:

Tons of features, useful integrations, time-saving, organization

Nachteile:

There are so many features that sometimes it's hard to wade through everything at a glance, but when I make time to sit down and do a deep dive I almost always find what I'm looking for and the setup is easy and straightforward.

Easy to maneuver

Kommentare: Very good. Happy I made the change to use Smokeball for my practice.

Vorteile:

I like how easy it is to access the client's file. I do not need the hard file in order to review documents, share documents, and file documents.

Nachteile:

The fact that the free website went away. When Smokeball was initially being presented to me, it included a free website, which I used for several years. Eventually they decided to do away with the website; now I pay $100 per month for a website. AND my smokeball subscription cost went up.

Smokeball Review

Kommentare: I have enjoyed using smokeball and it has made real estate law a lot smoother.

Vorteile:

I like being able to access all my files on one platform that can be shared with my team

Nachteile:

The integration without look sometimes freezes and I have been having issues with outlook. It would be nice if there was an integration with Gmail.

An Invaluable Tool for Lawyers

Kommentare: Smokeball has increased my firm's ability to organize our client database and keep it updated and available on a moments notice.

Vorteile:

The organization and accessibility Smokeball provides for my practice is invaluable. The integration of Word, Outlook, and the Smokeball overlay keeps all client matters easily organized and accessible from the cloud. Smokeball was integral for my practice to transition from paper heavy documents to a digitally based system. The ease of access provides on the spot support and client records by laptop or phone when at court or remote locations. As a bonus Smokeball integrates automatic billing through calendar and email events to help me keep track of billable hours. I am, and will continue to be, a dedicated and satisfied user.

Nachteile:

The only con is the necessary time to input basic information on a client and client matter. However, once the initial input is complete it is transferable to new client matters.

Good Product - Very customizable

Kommentare: Generally speaking, no serious problems.

Vorteile:

We have access to all of our files during this remote work period. It is easy to scan & add documents to the files and keep them organized. The system syncs with Outlook and Word in order to communicate through E-mail and create documents. The feature to create letters with our letterhead pre-loaded is great. The overall system give us a lot of options. We do not use the billing features because of our contingency-fee work. And I think we could use it more for client expenses if we work to train everyone and implement that. It is a good system.

Nachteile:

It is expensive. I believe that it's worth what we pay, but it is not inexpensive.

Smokeball is Desparate for your money

Kommentare: Our firm has used Smokeball legal software since 2016. We have had 2 licenses which we paid for monthly/yearly. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] in our firm, passed away unexpectedly in December, 2019 at age 64. Our open cases were referred to outside counsel. The practice was closed on March 31, 2020. I have been working with Smokeball in a round-about way since the beginning of March. Smokeball refuses to refund the unused portion of our license renewal which is approximately 1 year, over $2,000. No one is using the Smokeball licenses and they have not been used for 3 months. User beware. I feel this is a scam. This could happen to you!

Vorteile:

The best feature is being able to e-file directly from the matter.

Nachteile:

Customer service passes you from one person to another. No one can answer your questions. Terrible customer service. When I asked to have our files backed up to close the account, 92 files did not come over.

Smokeball is a time saver!

Kommentare: I was surprised how easy it is to create workflows and letter templates! Creating our own workflows unique to each matter type has made staying on track so simple for our team. Technology may not be my strongest skill, but with input from our team I easily create workflows that are convenient to use and highly functional.

Vorteile:

Smokeball is exceptionally user friendly. It integrates very well with with Outlook, and importing/exporting documents between OneDrive and Smokeball couldn't be easier. There are so many ways to customize the calendar, which makes scheduling a little less hectic!

Nachteile:

I would like to see a quicker, more thorough conflict check feature.