Centerbase Erfahrungen

Centerbase in the Cloud for Law Firms

Kommentare: Centerbase is a Legal Case Management cloud application that provides a Law firm with full matter management of all the details about a case, including the Parties (each with contact screens) the Court, the Filed Case Activity and MOST importantly all the Documents associated with the Matter, in one location (at the Matter). It is really easy to use and has fantastic Customize-ability.

Vorteile:

Powerful legal practice management solution Can establish multiple workflows to automate a process (where tasks are sequenced and fulfilled by the system) integration with O365 (saving an email to the matter, or scheduling an appointment /saved in both) Plugin for MS WOrd and Outlook (to allow drafting of a document or an email to be saved in the matter) Capture incoming leads and turn into a Potential New Client.

Nachteile:

Complex workflow processes require a knowledgeable Consultant (expert) to build. Training for an IT Admin would be helpful if provided (meaning in-depth behind the scenes configurations) More videos about how to Implement key customizable features.

Happy CB User 2+ years

Kommentare: Have been using Centerbase since February, 2022. Although the migration was difficult due to implementation manager (who is no longer with CB) the team who took over to coordinate and address issues were outstanding and created a smoother transition. The new Success Manager and has been instrumental in our firm's success to date and continues to be available to our administration when needed. Ease of use between main office and other locations was a factor in cloud-based software.

Vorteile:

Ability to use both accounting program and billing program simultaneously. Need to create double entries into two prior programs was time consuming and the Centerbase platform has allowed time to be freed up. Attorneys' ability to enter time as well as approve prebills has also been productive in delivering invoices to clients in a timely fashion.

Nachteile:

Occasionally system runs a bit slow and requires refreshing/restarting of program mostly during monthly billing cycle. Would like Reports on time entry be a bit more specific and customizable. Requires data review in excel format which creates an additional time burden.

Business operations

Kommentare: Overall the experience has been okay. We've expected much greater for the price we are paying and right now the price tag definitely does not match the product.
I am hoping Centerbase will improve in many areas over the next year or so as we've had our fair share of issues.

Vorteile:

Centerbase is quick to learn and has many good features.

Nachteile:

Centerbase can be a powerful program. However, we have encountered a handful issues or learned that the program doesn't work in the way we thought it would. We had many issues with the current update and many issues with poor response times on support. Tickets will sit for days with no response and I feel that I always have to reach out to our success manager in order to get a response. Things don't feel timely and nothing seems important. Reporting is also hard to navigate as we've found that sometimes we try to create reports that we need specific for our firm and it doesn't turn out the way we want to. We'd hate to keep bothering support but I wish it was more intuitive.

So helpful for our boutique firm!

Kommentare: Centerbase has helped transform our firm over the last few years. We have become much more organized and are able to handle a higher volume of cases without having to hire a ton more staff or attorneys.

Vorteile:

We were able to go from 4 separate systems into one with Centerbase. It has helped our efficiency so much having everything in one place throughout the entire lifecycle of a case. We love how customizable it is and are constantly adding new fields and features to help make us more productive.

Nachteile:

Occasionally, the site seems to run a bit slow, but they appear to have addressed the issues because we haven't noticed it lately.

Why I've been with Centerbase for years.

Kommentare: My overall experience with Centerbase has been great! It is a comprehensive billing and accounting software that I feel is still at the top of the market place in legal software.

Vorteile:

I like that they are a both billing and accounting software. The dashboards for each client are very easy to read and valuable.

Nachteile:

I wish it had a more easier way to track retainer replenishments and more automation with sending payment reminders.

Small to mid-size law firms - this is the software for you

Kommentare: We have been with CB for 5 years and have seen a lot of growth over that time. New features are being added, they have longevity within their senior management team (unlike many of their competitors), and they are responsive to concerns. Our customer success manager is very proactive and does a great job anticipating our needs.

Vorteile:

The user interface is incredible. Attorneys are able to utilize the system from day one. They have obviously made incredible investments in their software and making it work for law firms.

Nachteile:

Centerbase has grown quickly and there were some growing pains a couple of years ago. But we aren't experiencing any of those problems now. Support is excellent.

Operations Manager

Kommentare: Overall, our firm experience with Centerbase has been great, and more specifically the increase in productivity with intuitive features and working within the cloud.

Vorteile:

What I like most about Centerbase are the features that provide increased efficiency. More specifically, the billing tabs, ePreBill review process, and Microsoft add-ins that allow our employees to seamlessly work across multiple applications in sync with Centerbase.

Nachteile:

What I like least about Centerbase is the lack of detail with regard to security features or new feature roll-outs that unfortunately don't always provide users with a comprehensive understanding of the effects to workflow.

Cheers to Centerbase

Kommentare: We have used Centebase for almost three years and we have no plans to change anytime soon. The conversion to CB was the smoothest I have experienced in my 15+ years of being an administrator. The learning curve is steep for users, which is no different than any other new software deployment. All in all, it has been a good transition.

Vorteile:

I love the fact that case management and accounting are all in one program.

Nachteile:

My least favorite feature is that the templates are in HTML and it takes a bit of an effort to create or revise a template.

The Longer We Are A Client The More We Are Disappointed

Kommentare: I give one star reluctantly just for the years we have been with Centerbase. If you were to ask me right this moment, it would be 0 stars. We have been with Centerbase since the start of our firm in mid-2020. While the roll out team during that time was helpful, it has not continued. Since that time we have dealt with no response to issues, increasingly annoying lag times on the program, and no way to talk to an actual person when there is a five minute issue fix that shuts down you firm's legal software. Seriously, all my accounting functions and billing functions have been offline for 4 DAYS with no contact! My staff and attorneys cannot even put down our time - which as any legal office knows is the backbone of getting paid! I have spent hours on hold with the sales office with no response because that is the only place I can even stay on hold! You can only leave a voicemail with the IT department. I am beyond frustrated and am even contemplating moving our business to another company because of this. Centerbase - you can do so much better as your platform is actually very friendly to use and learn.

Vorteile:

Ease of use and easy to learn. Onboarding team was helpful.

Nachteile:

ABSOLUTELY NO CUSTOMER SERVICE and increasingly long lag times.

Centerbase did the right thing

Kommentare: Centerbase came back after a week or two and said they would agree to the original agreement. They have been regularly checking in with us to address other concerns and get feedback.

Vorteile:

Ease of use. Integration between time, billing, and accounting. Streamlining processes. Ability to customize the system.

Nachteile:

They recognize support needs to be better and are working to hire new leadership and reduce ticket times.

Centerbase before and Centerbase NOW!

Kommentare: I guess I have mixed emotions about Centerbase as a year ago I would have recommended a different database partner. But once I got assigned [sensitive content hidden] Centerbase the world has changed and we are centralizing our business around the CB solution! In addition we have the [sensitive content hidden] of CB as our Executive Sponsor who seems to really care! Leeettttsss GO CB! :)

Vorteile:

My CSM [sensitive content hidden] is the biggest asset to Centerbase! [sensitive content hidden] is enthusiastic, talented, engaging and responsive.

Nachteile:

I will be honest that over the past year CB has not been a responsive at all when it comes to service response and report development! The turnover was deplorable!

Centerbase for Firm Efficiency

Kommentare: Tracking and reporting features are robust and customizable which has allowed our firm to expand our toolbox and become more efficient.

Vorteile:

Centerbase is a very user friendly platform. Everyone from attorneys to admins and management find ease of use which makes them more productive. Centerbase is always looking to improve the functionality of the platform and listens to users and user experience when making enhancement decisions.

Nachteile:

Improvements to the Centerbase platform are sometimes released faster than I can stay up to speed with new features. I am sure there are some new features I am not currently using and should be.

CB made a huge positive difference for us! <3

Kommentare: Magical! We had top-notch support (and continue to do so).

Vorteile:

So much! No servers, the website and app are easy to use, bill processing is super fast, it can execute workflows, etc.!

Nachteile:

I want to see logic improvements in the workflows, the ability to duplicate workflows, and a Mac Admin Tool. And I hope the support articles are updated soon too because we could then get answers to user questions on our own / faster.

Stay away from this software

Kommentare: Writing this post so others don't find themselves in the situation we're in today.

Vorteile:

The pre-bills are electronic and mobile timekeeping.

Nachteile:

Lack of support is always an issue with Centerbase. They make promises they never keep, reports always get broken even after fixing them, data doesn't feed at random times causing huge issues for accounting and following GAAP. Site is slow and randomly shows error messages for no reason when our internet speeds support any other site, so we know it's their site. Reporting is not condusive for a mid-sized firm.

Centerbase

Vorteile:

The ability to customize it to our needs.

Nachteile:

When there is lag, there is no working quickly.

Not Ready for Prime Time

Kommentare: Customization is difficult. Customer service is slow and often unresponsive. The back-office accounting features do not allow batching of checks. If you owe a vendor or client on several different matters, you must write individual checks for each payment. We sometimes send 20 checks to the same client on the same day because we cannot combine them. It is mystifying that this feature is missing.

Vorteile:

The end-user interface is easy to navigate.

Nachteile:

Back-office accounting features are weak.

Highly Customize-able, scale-able, intuitive

Kommentare: We decided on Centerbase for many reasons, but the catalyst is that we, as a Los Angeles-based firm, acquired an office in San Francisco and in San Diego. We needed a central repository for case management and document management. In addition:
1) We needed our practice to be accessible in court or on the go (cloud-based)
2) We needed integration with a reputable document manager (we went with NetDocs, though Cenbterbase has it's own document management system, too)
3) We needed to eliminate the "human error" component in workflow systems, so we built workflow systems for all different types of legal procedures from intake to administrative appeals to litigation. This is especially important for solo practitioners, those working with limited resources or when the job requires extensive training about minute things. Creating a workflow that does the administrative thinking for you, is everything. They have a great Word Merge feature which integrates with Word.
4) We needed a reliable calendaring system - they're working to integrate the calendar with Outlook and Google calendars, as I understand.

Vorteile:

The software is incredibly customize-able. There is no limit to what you can do. Think big, bigger than you think you need to. The customization scales marvelously and works intuitively. The software elevates practice management so that operations are more fluid.

Nachteile:

The only con is that we need to review lots of data in table form. Once you chose column headings, you are stuck with those columns no matter what query you run. Column headings are customizable, but not customizable within each data set; you have to modify them each time you run a query. The way around this is to export to Excel and delete the irrelevant data.

Centerbase and ease of business solution for any lawfirm

Kommentare: I was able to learn and master CB in a small amount of time due to the resources and help tutorials they offer

Vorteile:

I love the way the system is very user friendly!

Nachteile:

There’s nothing I can say negative at the moment

New User: Growing Business

Kommentare: Centerbase has moved our firm into the 21st Century in terms of access through web browser and phone app. Our timekeepers love the straight forward use and it has increased consistency and timing of time entry. The link to LawPay that auto-processes payments has cut our manpower down and increased cash flow for it's ease of use for our clients. We are a Trust/Retainer heavy firm and clients can make one payment and it directs splits between AR and replenishment retainer in trust to the correct accounts, opposed to us manually tracking and writing multiple checks or transfers from one account to the other.

Vorteile:

The ease of use, I have used several billing and accounting programs over my 25 years experience and must say Centerbase is thoughtful in its approach of what worked and what didn't and compiled an inclusive product that is constantly evolving with ease. Since it is cloud based, upgrades and updates are pushed monthly, no versioning or what for new/annual releases that need to be purchased like on premise software.

Nachteile:

They are still developing out of the reports, which I wish were more inclusive. However, they have built a comprehensive and easy to use menu to build your own. Their accounting side is fairly new and constantly taking feedback and improving, but still has some AP areas that could be streamlined. I am looking forward to the opening up API where you can add apps to work in conjunction with Centerbase and make it truly a one stop shop for timekeeper and administrator. They are on their way!

Would NOT recommend.

Kommentare: I would not recommend this company to any business. Their initial responsiveness is not indicative of the customer service that will be provided once monies are paid. Moreover, their failure to refund monies paid, after they failed to perform, is indicative of a more concerning problem with this company.

Vorteile:

I was really looking forward to moving my case management system to the clouds, and using 1 system for the 3 areas of law that my practice handled. The Centerbase personnel were also very responsive during our initial discussions, and while they assisted me in becoming familiar with their product.

Nachteile:

Once I remitted payment for this product, the Centerbase personnel stopped being responsive. Email inquiries from me were not responded to for weeks. An agreed-upon "go live" date came and went, without explanation until after many emails. The company blamed "recent turnover". It has been 5 months since I remitted payment to Centerbase, and there has been no activity on their part, nor has my payment been refunded, despite repeated requests.

The right choice for putting your practice in the cloud.

Kommentare: We migrated to Centerbase after reviewing a dozen practice management solutions. We left Practice Advantage and the move to the cloud and the import of our data was easy and accurate. Most of the interface is very user friendly and it was easy to train out timekeeper.

Vorteile:

Centerbase is easy to use and fairly easy to configure. We email our invoices out directly from the software and it has cut days off of the time getting our invoices to our clients. There is integration with MS office that streamlines practice management. They have an app that most of our attorney find very helpful in tracking time and getting what they need.

Nachteile:

Reporting can be a challenge but no more than most applications with lots of database. If what you want it in a canned report it is easy to get. If what you need isn't you need to engage a consultant (for a fee) to work with you. This is not unusual.

Centerbase Transformed Our Legal Practice

Vorteile:

increased our efficiency 10-fold with time keeping and document storage. We had a very clunky timekeeping software before that would crash frequently. So glad to have a better solution! They also have extremely helpful and responsive support, AND their willingness to hold our hands through a massive file migration was super impressive (and something that no competitors were willing to do.).

Nachteile:

there can be little quirks with saving- especially with excel files- sometimes we have to save to our hard drive directly because it will glitch when saving an excel file on to center base. BUT- every time we have a missing file issue, their support jumps right on it.

Centerbase is Great but Could be Better

Kommentare: Overall I do like using CB because I use it daily. As long as the cons could be worked on, everything would be a 100% great!

Vorteile:

It's easy on the eyes. Certain reports are easy to use and navigate. Quick at generating invoices, certain reports, emails.

Nachteile:

1. CB needs to have a report feature that shows the legal services with number of hours worked and rates. However, CB only provides expenses per client/matter. 2. It's confusing how to pull up total paid amount to each matter. It confuses accounting and the client. It needs to be clear report that shows attorneys, hours, rates, total. 3. In posted bills, there needs to be a box to let us see only certain origination attorneys and their specific matters. 4. There also needs a contingency setting where it shows rate the legal fees amounts are but doesn't require the client to pay the invoice since it'll be recoup at the end.

Centerbase

Vorteile:

Our firm has used Centerbase for over three years. During this time period, with the assistance of Centerbase, we have become more organized and efficient in our case management while increasing our overall billable hours. We are able to customize Centerbase to manage and track the data that is most helpful to our firm. The file management feature is also a major plus. Finally, the best part about Centerbase is the team behind the project. The Centerbase team has always been there when needed to assist with technical support.

Nachteile:

In previous versions, the product had problems with lag. This problem has been addressed and fixed.

AVOID - DO NOT USE! WORSE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM EVER!

Kommentare: I'm so confused why this program has so many good reviews. This is the most frustrating program I've used. The same issues keep coming up and support chooses when they want to reply and never addresses the problem. They offer a solution that is irrelevant or already did on my own. Calendar management is the worst. Missing so many features and program is practically useless. I'm better off manually calendaring everything on my own on Outlook. They constantly have new glitches and bugs.

Vorteile:

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Customer service sucks - literally told me "we have no solution for you" and had to bill our IT guy to do something that Centerbase could have literally done. Features are bonkers. Nothing works properly. Literally a new issue EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Nachteile:

EVERYTHING! NOTHING WORKS LIKE IT SHOULD BE. CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS BUT CENTERBASE IS WORST THAN CLIO.