Thomson Reuters has released new version of HighQ, its cloud-based productivity solution, with significant new 
features and integrations. The new version, HighQ 5.4, offers powerful document automation with a new native Contract Express integration, AI-driven contract analysis, new mobile applications, Legal Tracker integration, and much more. When I saw a demo of HighQ last year – my first question was “when are you integrating it with Contract Express.” The two products were meant to be merged and today they are.
Thomson Reuters acquired HighQ, in July 2019. Irish McIntyre, head of Legal Software and Workflow for Thomson Reuters is quoted in the press release: “Now, just a little over a year later, two market-leading Thomson Reuters software products are integrated with HighQ and we are introducing the most significant HighQ release to date. There are more than 100 new features or enhancements in the latest version to solve our customers’ biggest challenges and to help them work better virtually.” The seamless Integration of Contract Express HighQ 5.4 brings the best of Contract Express and HighQ into a single solution. Contract Express now powers HighQ’s Document Automation. Contract Express templates can now be associated with HighQ sites and accessed to generate documents. These documents and associated data are stored natively in HighQ, enabling the user to integrate and establish workflows, collaborate, co-author, and utilize new data-visualization capabilities.
Seamless Integration of Contract Express
HighQ 5.4 brings the best of Contract Express and HighQ into a single solution, with Contract Express now powering HighQ’s Document Automation. Contract Express templates can now be associated with HighQ sites and accessed to generate documents. These documents and associated data are stored natively in HighQ, enabling the user to integrate and establish workflows, collaborate, co-author, and utilize new data-visualization capabilities. A client, for instance, could complete an iSheet form, which would trigger the creation of a contract, along with a series of other designated actions, including creating a folder, saving the document to the folder, sending emails, and sending the contract for review and approval.
Powerful Contract Analysis With the new AI-driven contract analysis engine, users can compare hundreds of documents against a model form to quickly identify which agreements present the most deviation from the standard form, often a proxy for risk. Documents, including contracts, can be clustered according to their similarity to quickly identify groups of documents. The contract analysis engine also can be trained to recognize new clauses, allowing customers to build their own clause banks.
Improved Project Management HighQ 5.4 also allows customers to manage projects and processes more effectively. For example, the 5.4 release introduces sub-tasks, significantly enhancing project management capabilities for complex projects. And HighQ users can also create rules that trigger upon completion of a task, such as setting a rule to create another task or re-assign that task to someone else – all intended to keep the work and project moving along.
Legal Tracker Integrated with Document Management HighQ 5.4 allows for Legal Tracker to be integrated with the document management capabilities in HighQ. This puts enhanced tools for work product collaboration in the hands of in-house teams, increasing productivity. Legal departments can use HighQ document management to securely store and search documents and emails, control and compare versions, view audit history, and access documents offline without having to leave standard productivity tools.
Client Collaboration Customization Enhancements The new version is a boon for client portal developers who will find tools and templates to deploy sites of all levels of sophistication much more quickly and with smart, fresh designs. There are countless customization and permission options to govern the information customers want accessible to different groups on the same site, including an ability to create different home page structures and dashboards based on the group, while still allowing granular permissions. This can be useful when dealing with multiple third parties who need to review information, for example, when managing deal rooms during the M&A process.
HighQ 5.4 is an impressive workflow platform created by the integration of platforms acquired by Thomson Reuters. I can’t help but wonder if there are any plans to tie HighQ into the Panoramic workflow management platform which was created internally at Thomson Reuters leveraging work process content from Practical Law and firm timekeeping data from Thomson Reuters Elite.
Here is a link to the full press release.
