How a Legal Advocacy Group Cut Costs and Boosted Workflow Agility

^Problem

A Scalable Intranet for a Nonprofit Mission

Legal Aid – NYC, a nonprofit legal organization serving communities in New York, sought a reliable and flexible intranet solution to replace its outdated SharePoint system. Their existing setup was cumbersome, lacked scalability, and didn’t accommodate their Office 365 environment well. The organization’s tight budget further complicated their search for a modern platform.

While they had over 200 employees, the actual number of users interacting with apps varied widely—some apps might have three users, others a hundred. Paying for every user wasn’t practical.

They evaluated multiple platforms like Airtable, Retool, Knack, and Kintone. However, most restricted enterprise features like SSO to higher pricing tiers and didn’t offer the flexibility or pricing model they needed. As a nonprofit, the lack of scalability and user-access control was a major blocker.

Q1

^Solution

Flexible Access, Real Results

SmartSuite offered a platform that aligned with Legal Aid – NYC’s needs: flexible access control, Office 365 SSO integration, and nonprofit-friendly pricing. They used SmartSuite’s ability to assign guest access roles—allowing users to view or interact with specific elements without requiring full licenses.

The platform’s intuitive, no-code builder enabled the Director of IT and Operations Manager to start building quickly. They could design secure workflows, develop internal apps, and control access with granular permissions—down to the field level. This ensured that users only saw and interacted with the information relevant to them.

SmartSuite’s vast library of pre-built templates provided a strong foundation for building out internal tools like IT help desks, asset tracking, and HR processes. “We probably could start every project we’re thinking of off of one of these and be like 80% there,” said the Director of IT.

Q2

^Results

Driving Digital Transformation on a Budget

Legal Aid – NYC now has a scalable, flexible intranet environment that allows them to centralize and automate dozens of internal workflows. The organization can securely manage applications for IT support, asset management, document access, and more—all within one system.

With SmartSuite, they’ve eliminated the need to pay for each user who simply needs to fill out a form or update a status. Instead, they can grant guest access or embed forms externally, significantly reducing costs while maintaining data integrity and security.

The ease of use has let their internal team start building apps quickly, with no technical overhead. “If we can get the login part set up securely and start from a template, we could be pumping out apps left and right,” the Director of IT noted.

SmartSuite has become more than a tool replacement—it’s a platform driving long-term digital transformation at Legal Aid – NYC.