Avis clients sur HoudiniESQ

Far better than the other management software out there!

Commentaires : The ease of having everything in one place that does everything a firm needs. I haven't found anything that our firm needs that Houdini does not already do!

Avantages :

I love the functionality of Houdini. While some of the features are not the EASIEST to use, the customer support to walk you through it is amazing, and done on the spot. Every issue I've ever had with Houdini has been lack of knowing exactly how it was done. But the program itself is amazing, works exceptionally, and their support is the best I've ever seen!

Inconvénients :

Some of the features can be a little confusing at first, but the support staff will immediately demonstrate how to use it. I have not done the free training program, which I'm certain is exceptional -- based on my experience with their staff -- so, a lot of my lack of know-how for certain features is my fault. But, even without the training the software is very easy to use and has amazing features.

HoudiniESQ has an extensive feature set, but the documentation is poor

Commentaires : I have used HoudiniESQ for over seven years. The product absolutely works, contrary to what another reviewer said. The challenge is that HoudiniESQ is designed with the very large office in mind, for example, 5,000+ seats. It assumes that the user will have high-end tech support in-house. I guess I am able to use HoudiniESQ successfully largely because decades ago I coded my own law practice management software, and have at least minimal understanding of what must be "under the hood." For that reason, I would only recommend HoudiniESQ to a very large organization that can truly take advantage of the extensive, advanced features or a solo with a coding background.

Avantages :

HoudiniESQ is free to solo practitioners, so the price is fantastic. The price for even a few seats, however, is also less than other products I have investigated, so HoudiniESQ offers great value for the extensive feature set. Secondly, it always works. Third, when I have a problem, I often get immediate attention from support, and it never takes long for a response by someone who truly knows what he is talking about. Advanced features include: calendaring triggers with conditional branching, user-programmable multi-practice group set-ups, fast searching, contract management support, mass emailing, support for atypical billing arrangements, client portal support, and embedded links with many types of other software.

Inconvénients :

The areas needed for improvement are too broad to discuss here. The product lost some functionality that I was relying on when it moved from version 1.99x to 2.0x and later. I continue to be surprised by what I consider to be poor programing/feature choices made in the transition to a different coding platform. I feel I kinda limp along with version 2.0x after using 1.99x (even though at least 2 excellent improvements were included in 2.0x – better searching and user coding control over invoices). I found the business tracking portal in 2.0x unusable, while the information provided in 1.99x was rudimentary but useful. Cons for all versions: no useful report for trust accounting, very limited functionality for integrating trust transactions in invoicing, paltry scripting language for creating documents from templates, and inadequate documentation that is typically out of date with the current version.

Mediocre Software that the Developers Like to Break and Blame on the User

Commentaires : Generally speaking, the software offers everything you want in a practice management software. It does trust accounting, billing, general practice management, calendaring, e-mailing, and task management. However, every single one of these features is clunky and slow. The database constantly breaks and you lose information by clearing your cache and refreshing your page. The database will, occasionally delete or lose entries on its own but when you call tech support they blame you for it. Randomly, during updates, the developers decide that you should have been doing something (billing, trust accounting, etc.) their way and change the software to force you to do it that way in the future. Often, this breaks all of the entries that you put into the system in the past. For example, if a client had a carry over credit balance from a small overpayment; houdiniesq now doesn't use that in calculating the client's current balance. Many of the search features simply don't work correctly, particularly when trying to search for an invoice. You used to be able to print invoices when you generated them. Now, you have to go search for the invoices, after it is generated and on a search platform that doesn't operate properly, and then print them adding an entirely wasteful extra step to billing. Really, this software is a complete headache. The developers don't own up to these problems or offer solutions. They often don't answer the support phone line and seem to work limited hours. The price is on the lower end, although better companies are now competitive price-wise. The only reason I still have this software is because I don't have the time to move all of my data over to new software.

Houdini 2.0 is a vast improvement over prior versions

Commentaires : We unexpectedly updated to Houdini 2.0 so the difference was quite a shock, but we have found it to be much more user friendly than previous versions. The response time is also much faster when adding notes, contacts, events, and matters. We are only on day 3 here with version 2.0 but the ease of use is biggest improvement we could have asked Houdini for. Also, the customer service has been absolutely amazing. Since we had no warning of the upgrade from our system administrator, we were caught on our heels on a busy Monday morning; however, every time we called for help, which we did multiple times over the course of the day, we were given outstanding service and attention. I wish I could rate the customer support higher than 5 stars.

Avantages :

I'm not sure yet. So far, the speed is by far the best improvement. Version 1.9 would stall or take a long time to access contacts, events, and matters. So far, we have not experienced these delays with version 2.0.

Inconvénients :

It's difficult to multitask. If I am trying to schedule an event on the calendar and another phone call comes in, I cannot open anything else in Houdini without first finishing the event I was working on. In previous versions, we could leave the window open, take care of the incoming phone call, and then finish the event on the calendar. We also miss being able to access the contact record on the event to find the client's phone number from the calendar. This was especially important for confirming the appointments for the next day.

It's my understanding this product built by architect of much larger yet more stagnate competitor.

Commentaires : Peace of Mind. My information is secure and isn't going anywhere. It is always available to me. I have a very good rapport with my Houdini IT Department.

Avantages :

Versatility- This product intended for lean and mean firms. You don't need to have a Masters Degree in Computer Science, but it helps if you are somewhat computer savvy. There are features on this program that have been integrated in that even I haven't found time to master... yet (e.g., Quickbooks and Excel). Comprehensive- Lower your IT overhead costs. These people know what they're doing. Your investment here means less investment in some IT guy sitting in a corner twiddling his or her thumbs. When they say 99.9% up-time, they mean it. This is an incredibly powerful time-keeping program, that has a very good overlap with document integration. Customer Service- Usually only the occasional call, but they are ALWAYS there, and can walk you through any issues.

Inconvénients :

As with any newer product, there is going to be the inevitable growing pains. My favorite application integration was with the Outlook Add-in for e-mail. This is giving me hiccups at the moment. You are actually partnered with this vendor, so when rep can't figure this out, you have to evolve with the product limitations by creating a work-around (e.g., saving the e-mails manually to the file). I'm also a creature of habit, so I struggle with major platform updates. They are kind enough to leave the old platform running, and aren't demanding their clients evolve overnight. So now I am learning two different platforms.

HoudiniESQ: A promising case management program

Commentaires : Overall, I am very satisfied with HoudiniESQ. I have used the one-account free version to manage the cases for my budding law firm for several months now. The program is relatively straight-forward. Many of the program's parameters can be readily customized, which I appreciate. Also, it can upgraded to accommodate my growing legal practice. Customer service is generally pretty on-point when it comes resolving occasional issues. Plus, the price can't be beat! For a sole-proprietor like me, the fact that the program is offered free of charge for a one-seat account, was a big selling point when I was opening up my law firm. However, as with any case management program, there are a few drawbacks to HoudiniESQ that I would like to see corrected. For instance, some minor cleanup may be necessary when it comes to invoices. Presently, I have to limit the length of each task that I enter into HoudiniESQ for any given client because, if the task description is on the longer side, it will be cut off on my invoice, with a "..." appearing at the end. I wish that the program could simply carry over the rest of the task description to the line below. Also, there is another invoicing issue. More specifically, if a decide to not charge a client for a task, but still want to have the task appear on the invoice as a "no charge," I have to remember not to open up the task again after I put "0" for the charge about b/c, if I do, HoudiniESQ will automatically refill the charge amount per the going rate for the task, effectively overriding my override. Left unnoticed, this issue can cause MAJOR issues b/c the error tends to spill over to future invoices. Another issue that needs to be addressed has to do with calendaring. I regularly use Google Calendar for organization. But, almost immediately after syncing my HoudiniESQ with my Google Calendar, I had to turn off syncing. The problem was that syncing made all of my case tasks appear on my Google Calendar, regardless of whether the task was an upcoming hearing reminder or a notation that I received and read a letter from an opposing attorney. In effect, my Google Calendar became heavily cluttered, showing tasks that have no reason to be on my calendar. In short, I would like more control over the calendar syncing option and invoicing. I trust that these issues can be fixed in future updates. But, all-in-all, I am very happy with this program and I think that it shows great promise. Thank you, and keep up the good work!

Review of HoudiniESQ

Commentaires : Pros: Platform independent and on-premise and cloud options. Features and included plugins Cloud services integration Browser interface. Scalable licensing. Multiple supported back-end database choices. Opportunity to architect legitimate HA and DR solutions. Cons: Adobe Flash as a front end is somewhat of a non sequitur. My experience with support has been measured in days. I've had to send follow up emails after no response for 3+ days to hopefully keep a support request alive. I'm currently on day 9 waiting for a response. I don't necessarily expect a solution, but I do expect a response; especially after multiple follow up emails. I've done some testing with "short codes" but the product feels a bit reliant on the mouse to navigate the interface and input data. The document storage architecture appears to only offer a single folder approach when storing files and templates. A nested physical folder structure is preferred and common in firms. Logical folders by matter, case type and doc type would be an advantage when dealing with many templates and files. This might also exclude the need to manually (re)assign and maintain the metadata assignments of all documents via the gui interface. Finally, the doc management approach requires full commitment to document access and management through the user interface and the provided plugins. Integration with a content management system or a scanning and imaging solution while possible via ECF, is a non-starter due to the required manual cloning of documents into IRIS The API while advertised as simple and easy to use appears to not have much if any documentation or reference material to support very simple proof of concept integrations Finally, the reputation of HoudiniESQ on the street is "it's one-man shop". Overall Impression: My overall impression of the product is good. I like the platform and the enterprise approach. The coverage of specific and general needs of many different law firms is impressive. Integrations are there for targeted solutions like Google,Dropbox,Evernote but integrations outside of those select few seem dependent upon the development pipeline. The full commitment required to IRIS with little to no opportunity to bring enterprise doc management/workflow automation to the solution is a little unnerving. Generally speaking the feel of the platform is constrained primarily by the UI and doc management.

Great value for time tracking program

Avantages :

Price; customer support; fairly easy to add new matters and add time to events. I like that is is fairly compatible with Quickbooks.

Inconvénients :

The stopwatch feature. You have to manually add time to an event and then unclick and click on "bill" to update the fees. You should have the option for the stopwatch time to automatically add to the open event and update the fees accordingly. The old version did this well.

Very easy to use and great for managing my case load and process.

Commentaires : Organization and a sense of control over my case load. This software has really changed the way I track and work my files. I absolutely love it!

Avantages :

The ability to integrate with other programs and software. I am able to seamlessly work across outlook, adobe, and word, which makes document generation and calendaring a cinch. My favorite thing is the template creation and document generation, that has been a game changer.

Inconvénients :

Difficult to make changes to fields from the original Houdini version. The customization mode is a little clunky and arduous to use. I cannot print Ad-Hoc reports or my calendar.

Affordable, customize-able, multifaceted client management software

Avantages :

FANTASTIC client support. Agent is the best support person that I've had the pleasure of getting assistance from across all of the technical systems and software that I've used. He consistently goes above and beyond to make sure that whatever crazy customization that I want can happen.

Inconvénients :

A very superficial "con" but I don't like the aesthetic of the site. It looks outdated. The navigation could use some improvement.

Very good overall experience.

Avantages :

The software is very reliable and fairly easy to learn. Video tutorials are very helpful. Customer service is excellent! Calls made to customer service are either answered right away or returned timely.

Inconvénients :

Our firm has had issues with searching. Would like to see cases in a "list" format, with more than 50 showing at once. Also, we have had an issue with printing an invoice from inside the "Matter". If the "print" is not chosen quick enough the program will print another matter's invoice. Note, these issues may just be settings and not a true problem with the software.

Doan Law Firm - Bankruptcy Attorneys

Commentaires : I manage a high volume bankruptcy practice in California and HoudiniESQ is living up to Mr. Rivera's statement he once made to me, "If you can think of it, we can get HoudiniESQ to do it for you." So far, I continue to be impressed. I highly recommend this product for law office management. Actually, it could be used for virtually any industry. I used to walk into court with a dolly. Now I carry only my laptop and can access my entire office from any browser (Explorer, Safari, Mozilla, etc). Best thing, I can access my office from anywhere in the world with any computer that has an internet connection. Or, I can access my office through my mobile phone with the HoudiniESQ mobile app. Way cool. Don't take my word for it... you can download it free from Houdiniesq.com. Whether you're a solo practitioner (like I used to be) or a firm with 17 offices and expanding (like we are now), HoudiniESQ can handle the load.

Avantages :

Easy to use, easy to configure, economical, scalable. Links Matters, Contacts, Notes, Emails, and Documents. Allows us to centrally manage our entire bankruptcy practice (17 offices and expanding) without the need for terminal services connections. The CEO, Frank Rivera, is extremely receptive toward ideas that enhance the product. Mr. Rivera's team is doing a great job of staying on the cutting edge of technology.

Inconvénients :

The release date. I wish this product was available BEFORE we dumped tens of thousands of dollars into Time Matters and the "leading bankruptcy customization feature package".

Great program

Commentaires : We use Houdini at our law firm. It is easy to use and helps make our firm run smoothly. I am a paralegal here at the firm and for me, Houdini is wonderful because it helps me keep the attorneys on track. There are minor things that could be changed or updated with the new 2.0 system, but overall this program is excellent and we enjoy it here at the office. :)

Functionality in progress

Commentaires : Main features work well. However there are some important issues that need to be corrected. 1) In "Matters" we cannot get a list of cases in their order of arrival date (yes it does give you date order for the cases that have been last modified but this really isn't useful), What is needed is listing by arrival dates. One can make arrival date column in "Key Dates" but you can't list using it which sucks. Also you cannot get a lit of other "Key Dates" in Matters. If you can then please add these functions to "Matters" section as an option. These would be very useful features. 2) Sometimes it looses some of my cases especially if someone else has made the case and then appointed it to me. 3) the search field is usually not working. Sometimes it finds the words written to it but mainly it just runs for a while with no results. 4) We should be able to customize the names of some headings like district and county as we use these for different purposes 5) Some of the sections like "Project" never work 6) Something good: it lists activities etc. very nicely and that function is working well

Great Software

Commentaires : HoudiniEsq is a great for case management, document management and billing! Technical support is extremely helpful and greatly assists with making the software tailored for our firm.

Avantages :

Ease of use - very user friendly.

This software makes our firm work so smoothly since we are mostly not in the same place on a daily

Commentaires : The largest benefit is having the ability to comunicate case info to each other with out beingin the same location all the time.

Avantages :

The best part of this software is being able to commuincate what we are working on together as a firm but not have to be in the same location. We are striving to be paperless and this software has been

Inconvénients :

This software needs to be able to upload larger files to the documents sections. Being that we are a personal injury law firm, it would be more convenient for it to be able to upload large medical records files.

All Good Things Take Time

Commentaires : We began our journey with HoudiniESQ back in November 2012. It was a little bumpy getting started; we are a small general practice (3 to 4 attorneys) running QuickBooks Pro on a cash basis, and we do a lot of Matrimonial and Family Law that includes NYS Assigned and Attorney for Child cases. We didn't want to run our data in the Cloud so we chose to host on-site (which we were very pleased HoudiniESQ offered). Getting our data transferred from QuickBooks Pro into Houdini was the biggest hurdle; but Eric and Kevin from HoudiniESQ were both great help in walking us through the transition. I will not lie -- it took us nearly 3 months to get all the bugs worked out; but I have to say I'm really pleased with the end result. And, most of our challenges presented because we were already operating with QuickBooks Pro and we wanted to continue to do so. HoudiniESQ is really amazing software; and, we've figured out some work-arounds so that we are now running smoothly most of the time. I also really like the links to Outlook Calendar and Word, as well as how every invoice saves as a PDF to the matter in Houdini. We've been able to significantly reduce the amount of paper filing we are doing in our office.

I've never had so much difficulty learning and configuring a software program.

Commentaires : PROS - Seems like it does everything / most of everything we wanted from a case management software, and it's free for solo practitioners! This is huge. It's the reason I tried it, more than once. CONS - Not user friendly. I couldn't figure anything out. It was all very unfamiliar - the layout, workflow, and terminology all felt cumbersome and confusing. The "Help" portal was glitchy and usually didn't work when I clicked on a page to read the instructions. I also could never figure out how to access it remotely. I called customer service, and while they were somewhat helpful (I got the gist of what they said the problem was), they ultimately did not help me solve any of my problems. I am computer saavy, but they made me feel like an idiot on the phone. I was embarrassed that I couldn't even get to a level of basic functioning, and I didn't want to be bothering Customer Service all the time, so I just quit trying to use Houdini altogether. I've never had so much difficulty with a software before. I'm dumbfounded.

Great Software...Great Learning Curve

Commentaires : The Software is the best value on the market and is very intuitive and full featured. There is a steep learning curve, however after some time using the software you will find out how amazing this software can be: Whether Organizing your case Documents; Document automation, or Automated Tasks, this software is very robust. Additionally, the software does some things that other software do not do at all, such as the automatic billing for email function that is built into the Outlook add-in. I am very happy with this investment. One suggestion, though, they need to add a quick bill tab to every screen to capture billable time.

Avantages :

It is Robust and Full featured

Inconvénients :

Since upgrading to version 2.0 there is not a quick bill button to add billable time immediately. There is a workaround which requires using the timer, but that just adds two more steps for recording my billable time.

ABRAHAM KLEINMAN

Commentaires : HIGHLY RECCOMENDED

Avantages :

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT WITHOUT THE MANAGEMENT

Inconvénients :

DOES NOT YET HAVE ITS OWN WORD PROCESSOR BUT DOES LINK TO MICROSOFT WORD.

Better than some. I still prefer Credenza Software, not supported anymore.

Commentaires : streamlined billing and case management.

Avantages :

I like the integration into outlook. I also like the fact that documents are automatically spooled into the case mapping.

Inconvénients :

I don't like having to individually select events and make them billable. I'd rather be able to mass associate that. Also, I don't like that events calendar on my google calendar after the fact. I would rather they work internally on the software.

Beyond Customer Service

Commentaires : I have used HoudiniEsq for 2 1/2 years, and I'm sorry it took me so long to switch. I was a TimeMatters user dating back to 2000, and was very happy for the first several years. But once I switched to a Cloud Based system, I could never imagine going back to a server based.
But what sets Houdiniesq apart is it's customer service. Last summer I asked for a small change to the program - something new. The head tech guy contacted me, and the change was implemented in a few weeks! I really could not believe that I asked a software company to change their product and they did.
I haven't used the other products, but if you are looking for a case management system where you can communicate with the CEO and suggest changes that are implemented, HoudiniEsq is it.
Ricky Gallagher

Purchased in 2016. Tried to set it up. It never synced properly with GSuite and Quickbooks

Avantages :

It never worked properly, so we after investing time and resources, we had to abandon it. The company refused to refund the cost even though their customer service support admitted that the program failed to work properly.

Inconvénients :

It never worked properly, so we after investing time and resources, we had to abandon it. It didn't sync properly with GSuite and Quickbooks. It's automated billing was a nightmare. It added a lot of time, but it was based on the email subject line. So if there were 10 email exchanges under the same subject line, there would be 10 duplicative billing entries.

Awesome App! *****

Commentaires : I love this app. It really helps me and my staff stay on top of all our cases. It has an uncanny ability to streamline our workflow. Everything I need to do is always just a click away. If its a more complex task I can create a automated workflow that completes the task for me.

Avantages :

So many but the best thing is I can create workflow automations. No other Cloud based App can do that and many of the old school desktop Legal Practice Management Apps can't.

Inconvénients :

Needs a better mobile app but help is on the way. The new mobile interface in beta is really good and works on my key devices such as the iPad, Android phone, my PC at the office and my Mac at home

Fantastic Product and Great Customer Service

Commentaires : I am a solo attorney who just began using Houdini. I have experience with Abacus and other case management software. I have found that Houdini is quite intuitive, flexible and practical for my law firm. On top of that, the customer service far surpasses all the other support for the programs I have used in the past. Kevin answered all of my questions and was able to walk me through issues that I assumed would be incredibly difficult. He was great! I highly recommend setting up a conference call for an initial training before you get too far along with setting up your practice so that you can take full advantage of the program.