NeD Tax is an international consulting firm that has specialized in business between the Netherlands and Germany for 22 years. With a team of tax specialists, lawyers, and financial experts, the firm assists clients with consulting, compliance, and transactions. Partner and tax specialist Alain Cheung explains how NeD Tax achieved greater peace of mind and better oversight in document management with Docubird.
Documents scattered across systems
Before NeD Tax started using Docubird, documents were scattered across various systems. Everyone had their own way of filing documents. “That made it very difficult to find documents,” says Alain. “We’d been wanting to move to a uniform, consistent structure for quite some time.” An earlier attempt using the existing software didn’t deliver what they were looking for.
At that time, NeD Tax was already working with an external partner to modernize its IT infrastructure and make it more future-proof. During that process, the question of how to improve document management also came up. As a result, the company chose Docubird’s document management system.
Working the way the team is used to
For Alain, ease of use was the main factor in that decision. Saving documents had to be simple, and the organization of document libraries in Docubird made sense to him. The system fits in well with how the firm already operates. Like many firms, NeD Tax works with data in the Microsoft cloud and with multiple SharePoint environments. People who have been using File Explorer for years recognize the layout right away. “You don’t work with subfolders, but with a number of main folders. And it looks a bit like File Explorer. That makes it easier to get started.” That helps with adoption. “You could also choose a really fancy system with lots of bells and whistles, but people have to actually want to use it.”
A second point was searchability. With Docubird, the firm can search the entire environment—rather than just a single SharePoint site—and also search within the content of documents. This makes working with Copilot more effective. NeD Tax was also able to contribute ideas before the accounting template was rolled out. Alain had a specific request for the advisory team: the ability to save an advisory report with a link to the underlying documents. “Docubird came up with a solution for that pretty quickly.”
Save and retrieve files faster
The biggest benefit is time. Saving documents is faster, and finding them takes less effort. “Data is a gold mine,” says Alain. “But if it’s not searchable, it’s useless.” With a fixed structure in the document libraries, no one has to worry about subfolders anymore. Just make sure to use the right metadata, and you’re done. “It takes some getting used to for some people, but it’s simple.”
Close communication with the Docubird team
NeD Tax was one of the first firms to use the accounting template. That led to a few teething problems here and there, but the development team responded quickly. “If we noticed something, we’d let them know, and they’d come up with a solution.” What Alain appreciates most is the direct contact. “With other providers, you often have a service desk and a ticket system; not so with Docubird. If we can’t resolve an issue via email, we just pick up the phone or schedule a Teams meeting.” Practical, fast, and efficient—that’s how he describes the collaboration in three words.
Advice for Firms That Are Undecided
Alain recommends that other firms request a demo. “Let them know where you’re still not convinced. Then you’ll see that they really work with you to find solutions.” NeD Tax now has a foundation for making better use of its own data, from faster searches to working more effectively with Copilot.