Onit just may be onto something. At LegalTech last week, the company revealed that it is moving in a new direction, away from a single, soup-to-nuts process-management platform in favor of a new line of task-specific apps, each designed to address a specific business process. It rolled out a series of apps that address legal, governance and compliance, HR and sales functions within an enterprise.

Call it the app-ification of process management — or maybe the consumerization of enterprise IT. Our mobile devices have taught us to appreciate the simplicity of apps that address everyday functions in an easy-to-use manner. Users no longer want comprehensive software suites that do everything imaginable. They no longer want to be tied to rigid operating systems. They want specific solutions that make their lives (or work days) simpler.

Enter Onit Apps. Regular readers of this blog will know that Onit is a Houston-based company that two years ago rolled out a Web-based project management tool. Last year, it released an enterprise version designed for corporate legal departments. With its new direction, it is focusing in on specific processes within an enterprise or legal department. Think of it as a process-management  buffet — pick the apps you want, ignore the ones you don’t need.

So what’s on the menu? With regard to legal-department processes, Onit offers apps for:

  • Contract review and approval.
  • Service mark or trademark registration.
  • IP infringement.
  • E-billing and spend management.
  • Matter management.
  • Matter intake.
  • Invention disclosure.

With regard to governance, risk and compliance, it has apps for:

  • Ethics violations.
  • Whistleblower matters.
  • E&O claims.
  • SAS-70/SSAE-16 compliance.
  • Incident and accident reports.

Onit also has apps for various HR and sales functions. And if it doesn’t have the app you want, it will build it for you. Better yet, it will soon roll out the Onit App Builder, a function that will allow companies to build their own apps.

At LegalTech, Eric M. Elfman, Onit’s CEO and co-founder, demonstrated the contract-review app. An employee need only fill out a simple form and attach the contract document to get the process started. From there, the app ensures that it moves through each stage of the review process. Onit will customize the app to match the company’s workflow. At every stage, the legal department is able to monitor progress through a dashboard and receive real-time notifications.

Apps are priced on a monthly subscription of $1,000 per app. Onit’s apps are delivered via the cloud so there is no special software or hardware required.

Just a few weeks before LegalTech, Onit announced that it had raised $4.1 million in funding. The investment will enable Onit to continue to develop consumer-like apps for the business enterprise, the announcement said.

See below for screenshots (click on image to enlarge).

[Disclosure: Onit is currently a paid advertiser on this blog.]

Notification of request to review contract.

Notification that more information is required.

Responding to a question.

Requesting contract review.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.