Cuatrecasas is set to move in Q1 to SAP in the cloud, we can reveal, leveraging SAP’s business-transformation-as-a-service programme Rise with SAP, which was launched in 2021 to increase the adoption of S/4HANA cloud.
Cuatrecasas has been an on-premises SAP customer since 2010. The Iberian giant has been working on shifting to the cloud in conjunction with rebuilding its client relationship management system, as it moves from SAP CRM on premises to SAP CX. Its compliance processes will be notably be embedded within the new CRM, and Cuatrecasas is working with SAP S/4HANA digital transformation partner Avvale. 
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Cuatrecasas’ CIO Francesc Muñoz said: “We moved from Elite to SAP in 2010 and were on premises, but we’re moving to Rise, a new cloud solution from SAP. We’re doing it in parallel with rebuilding our CRM. We’re building into it all the compliance processes, so all the AML and know your business processes are all matter related, and we’re building them into the CRM.” He adds: “Compliance has grown really fast and to have one single solution within SAP to sustain the business is key.”
A significant amount of work has gone into changing Cuatrecasas’ processes and Muñoz says: “Every matter at Cuatrecasas begins with an opportunity. From there, a proposal needs to be created and subsequently passed through our KYC, Conflict and Risk and DAC6 assessment stage. Once it receives approval, from both the compliance team and the client for the proposal, it officially becomes a matter. It’s crucial that this entire process flows seamlessly and remains interconnected.”
Cuatrecasas’ SAP journey began in 2008, when it made the decision to move to SAP ERP 6.0; SAP CRM, and SAP Business Intelligence and Duet, all within the platform SAP NetWeaver. The 1300+ lawyer firm customised SAP in terms of invoicing and billing and integrated TIQ Time for time recording. Muñoz said: “To have one single solution within SAP has been key. SAP has a huge footprint and it’s really easy to localise; we just connect the pipes and have one single instance.”
While the Rise with SAP cloud project started in October last year, Muñoz said: “We started the path to cloud seven years ago. We were with NetDocuments in 2017 and were one of the first in Continental Europe to move to the cloud. Even large firms in the UK didn’t really have a cloud document management system. We have embraced it and it’s more reliable for cybersecurity and easier to deploy globally.” While law firm practice management systems are still largely on premises, albeit the tide is turning, Muñoz says: “Our strategy is clear, and we just needed to explain the project. Our lawyers reviewed all the security and data privacy provisions, and they are of course fine: SAP is a European company and compliant with its data privacy arrangements.”
The Rise cloud project was spurred by Cuatrecasas’ five-year SAP contract coming up for renewal at the end of this year and Muñoz said: “We could either renew for five more years more or move to the new version of SAP and the cloud. We could have waited like a lot of people, when there would probably be less experts to help, so we had a window of opportunity now.”
Muñoz says that change management is a big part of the project, commenting: “Changing the compliance process has required a lot more interaction with partners. They have to confirm the scope of the matter and they have to close it, it’s really important and they can’t work for the client until it’s done. It has taken a lot of change management but now all of the compliance team are doing a roadshow to show that this is the way we have to work and this is the impact. In fact, the impact is quite minimal.”