DealCloud at Work: How Ward and Smith Turned Relationship Data into a Growth Engine

Ward and Smith, a mid-size law firm, adopted Intapp DealCloud to improve how its attorneys manage relationships, track deal activity, and support compliance across client-facing work.

Like many growing firms, Ward and Smith needed more than a basic CRM. The firm needed a platform that could fit attorney workflows, reduce manual updates, and create a clearer view of relationship activity across the organization.

The firm selected Intapp DealCloud because it combines relationship management, pipeline visibility, automated activity capture, and reporting tools in a platform built for professional services firms. For Ward and Smith, the goal centered on practical adoption: give attorneys and teams better information without forcing them into a rigid process that slows down client work.

Implementation Focus: No Attorney Time Needed 

Charles Collins, Director of Information Technology at Ward and Smith, led the implementation effort and emphasized the importance of choosing a platform that attorneys would actually use. “Our goal was to give our attorneys a tool that works the way they work, and not the other way around,” Collins said. “DealCloud’s integration with Outlook, the onboard ERM tool, and our time entry tool means activity capture happens automatically, which removes the friction that kills adoption in other CRM deployments.”

From the IT perspective, that point mattered. Law firms often struggle with CRM adoption because attorneys do not want to spend time entering notes, updating records, or duplicating information that already exists in email and calendars. Ward and Smith approached the implementation with that reality in mind.

Rather than positioning DealCloud as another administrative system, the firm focused on embedding it into the daily workflow of attorneys. Sara Oglesby, the firm’s Marketing Technology Manager, explained, “We are not a firm that would ever ask an attorney to manually enter contact data. Instead, the attorney conducts her normal marketing activity, and DealCloud captures it from our time and billing records, adds it to the contact record, and presents that information back to the attorney, or practice group, or team, without the attorney spending any additional time. It maximizes the non-billable efforts with no attorney administrative burden. It’s been a good fit for us.”

Outlook integration played a key role by helping capture activity automatically and reducing the need for manual data entry. That approach gave the firm a stronger foundation for consistent relationship data, deal visibility, and follow-up tracking.

Product Fit: Relationship Data That Gains Value Over Time 

Lori Hamel, Managing Director at Intapp, pointed to Ward and Smith’s implementation as an example of what firms can achieve when they commit to using DealCloud as a central relationship and deal management platform.

“When firms like Ward and Smith use Intapp DealCloud as their system of record for relationships and activity, the data compounds in value over time,” Hamel said. “That foundation is also what makes AI useful, because AI grounded in the firm’s own relationships and deal history is what turns reporting into sharper insight and surfaces cross-sell and referral opportunities earlier. It’s how a firm builds a real edge in growing and protecting client relationships.”

For Ward and Smith, this means the firm can move from scattered knowledge of relationships to a more structured view of client and prospect activity. Attorneys and business development teams can see relationship context, identify next steps, and coordinate outreach with better information. Over time, the platform can help the firm spot cross-service opportunities, reduce duplicated effort, and support more informed client development.

A Platform Built for What Comes Next

Ward and Smith’s adoption of Intapp DealCloud reflects a broader trend in the legal industry: firms that invest in purpose-built technology for relationship management gain a durable advantage over those that rely manual processes. By centralizing relationship intelligence, automating activity capture, and embedding reported insights into attorney workflows, Ward and Smith has positioned itself to grow more intentionally and serve clients more effectively as the firm continues to expand throughout North and South Carolina.