Legal industry leaders share tips on using technology for entity governance
On September 9th, 2024, at Diligent Elevate (the world’s largest annual conference dedicated to governance, risk and compliance) in Houston, a panel of three legal industry experts in subsidiary management shared how they’ve leveraged cutting-edge entity management software, Diligent Entities, to streamline governance within their organization.
From boosting efficiency to navigating complex regulations, their real-world insights shed light on the transformative power of tech in managing large-scale entity structures.
The panelists:
- Scott Banks, Subsidiary Governance Liaison and Supervisor, Chevron
- Jana Silva, Senior Legal Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary, Canada Infrastructure Bank
- Savannah Washco, Corporate Paralegal, Barings
What are the biggest challenges in managing your subsidiaries?
Savannah: "Managing 1,200 entities, soon to be 1,300, is a challenge. I’m kind of a one-person team, so while it’s great that I know everything, it’s also overwhelming. The real challenge is making sure everything is accurate and up to date. But having Diligent makes it so much easier to store and access documents. Instead of navigating through a maze of folders, I can find what I need in one place. It’s been a lifesaver."
Jana: "It can be overwhelming because of the sheer volume of data, but Diligent helps us stay on top of things. We’ve gone all in — 10,000 entities, hundreds of teams — and it’s saved us so much time. We also use the Review Manager tool, which automates reminders and helps ensure that our information is accurate."
What are the key benefits of adopting a tech-enabled approach to entity governance?
Scott: "For us, it's helping us become more efficient. We don’t just manage subsidiary governance; we manage corporate governance too. Having a single source of truth that anyone in the department or enterprise can access has really helped us stay organized and work more efficiently."
Savannah: "Having everything in one place has made life so much easier. Before using Diligent, we had to search through different files or Excel sheets, which was really time-consuming. Now, we have a one-stop shop for all entity information, documents and ownership data, and it’s incredibly beneficial."
Jana: "I also find that it’s easy to facilitate communication between teams. We can customize fields and include additional information for legal, accounting, and other departments. It makes gathering information for different purposes, like transactions, much simpler."
How has the platform helped democratize data within your company?
Scott: "With Diligent, anyone can access the data they need via our intranet. It’s become such a critical system that when it’s down — because of internal issues, not Diligent — I get bombarded with emails from people all over the company asking what’s going on. It shows how much they’ve come to rely on it."
Savannah: "We’ve made a big push to encourage self-service. When people email us for information, we send them a standard response directing them to log into Diligent Entities. It’s saved us so much time, and more employees are now retrieving the information themselves."
Jana: "It’s funny — people initially resisted using the platform, but now they rely on it. At my previous company, finance teams didn’t want to adopt Diligent at first. But eventually, they started relying on it so much that they wanted control over certain parts!"
How are other departments, outside of the legal team, using Diligent Entities in your organization?
Savannah: "Initially, only the corporate secretary's office used Diligent. Now, it’s widely used across compliance, audit, and our KYC teams. When someone emails us asking for an entity’s address or a document, we send them to Diligent to find it themselves. This self-service approach has really taken off and saved us a lot of time."
Jana: "We had a similar experience. Finance teams were initially resistant but eventually came around, and now they want to have more control over the system. It’s amazing how quickly it became essential to so many parts of the company."
How are advanced functionalities, like Group Structure Visualization, being used in your governance?
Savannah: "Group Structure Visualization has been a huge help, especially for our KYC (Know Your Customer) process. We need to track beneficial ownership and ultimate control. Being able to customize charts — change the shape, color and even add country flags — makes it much easier to present the information in a clear way."
Jana: "We’ve been using group structure visualization to create highly customized reports. You can tweak the information that shows up, add or remove items as needed, and even adjust the formatting. It’s incredibly powerful for giving us flexibility in how we display data."
Q5: How are other departments, outside of the legal team, using Diligent Entities in your organization?
Savannah: "Initially, only the corporate secretary's office used Diligent. Now, it’s widely used across compliance, audit, and our KYC teams. When someone emails us asking for an entity’s address or a document, we send them to Diligent to find it themselves. This self-service approach has really taken off and saved us a lot of time."
Jana: "We had a similar experience. Finance teams were initially resistant but eventually came around, and now they want to have more control over the system. It’s amazing how quickly it became essential to so many parts of the company."
How has Diligent Entities helped you comply with regulations, such as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)?
Jana: "One approach we’re considering is creating a feature within the system to identify reportable entities, so when we run reports, we can easily see which ones apply. You can add notes, assign designated contacts, and track everything you need to stay compliant."
Scott: "We haven’t fully integrated the CTA into Diligent yet, but it’s something we’re working on. The CTA is like a hot potato right now — no one wants to own it. Eventually, I know I’ll be asked to track reportable entities, and Diligent will help us manage that information."
Savannah: "We’re in a similar boat, but we hope to integrate the CTA into Diligent soon. It’s being passed around between departments at the moment, but I know that once we take ownership, it will all be tracked in Diligent."
How do you leverage training and educational resources provided by Diligent?
Scott: "We use the Help Center and it’s great. The system is intuitive enough that we don’t need a ton of training outside of our department. For us, it’s mostly about looking up articles when needed."
Savannah: "We hold a weekly ‘Diligent Office Hour’ where anyone can drop in to ask questions. We also have access to a recorded training session from when we first implemented Diligent, but the system is intuitive, so most people figure it out quickly."
What challenges do you face when using the platform, and how can Diligent improve?
Scott: "One of the main challenges is bulk updating. We have hundreds of Delaware entities, and it would be great to generate all their annual consents in one go instead of doing it manually. Improving the review process would also help — right now, reviewers have to write out changes in a free-text field. A more dynamic, redline-style feature would save us a lot of time."
Savannah: "Some processes are still a bit manual, which takes time. AI is going to be a big help with that. For example, when you need to input new entities or run certain reports, more automation would make things even smoother."
A big thank you to our expert panel for showcasing the power of a well-integrated tech solution in simplifying entity governance.
Don’t just take their word for it! Arrange a demo of Diligent Entities today and see it in action for yourself.
