TheKey saves 3,000 hours per year using PandaDoc

The challenge 

TheKey, the leading provider of premium in-home care in the United States, faced overwhelming document management issues as they rapidly expanded from 14 to 120 offices nationwide. With operations in 31 states, each requiring unique consent agreements, the company struggled with template proliferation, confidentiality concerns, and escalating costs using their existing contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution.

The solution

By implementing PandaDoc across multiple departments, TheKey consolidated and streamlined their document processes. They rebuilt all existing templates in PandaDoc and can now instantly deploy legal language changes. The platform’s user-friendly interface and robust features allowed TheKey to onboard 10 departments, managing documents for over 8,000 caregivers and 1,500 corporate employees and counting.

Navigating document complexities

TheKey, formerly Home Care Assistance, has been a leader in quality in-home care for seniors for two decades. As they experienced rapid growth, expanding from 14 corporate offices to 120 across the United States in just two years, they found themselves overwhelmed by document-related challenges.

Katie Buell, a digital product manager at TheKey, described the chaos: “Where are things? What direction are they moving in? How do we stay on top of it?” The company’s presence in 31 states necessitated at least one or two different consent agreements for each, due to varying local regulations for home health and home care agencies.

Their existing CLM solution, DocuSign, was making the problem worse. “Our struggle with using DocuSign was that we had Word documents for all these different agreements. Sixty different templates for the same thing, using the same language,” Buell explained. “Not being able to basically deploy a legal language change in an instant was a major pain for us.”

The inefficiencies were taking a toll on the team and the bottom line. “We were just drowning in work,” Buell continued. “We knew there would be some surprise costs [if we continued to use DocuSign] and that the annual spend was going to be absolutely massive for something that only about a third of our business was using.”

Moreover, misgivings about confidentiality and system management were mounting. “It was just very limited. We couldn’t onboard any additional departments. There was also concern about confidentiality. Nobody wanted to manage the system,” Buell added.

Embracing PandaDoc’s solutions

In the midst of their document management crisis, a timely cold email from PandaDoc caught Buell’s attention. “Was I interested? Yes,” she recalled. TheKey began working with PandaDoc in June 2022, embarking on a comprehensive overhaul of their document processes.

“We pulled every single thing we had from DocuSign and rebuilt it with PandaDoc templates,” Buell stated. “We just didn’t want to upload Word docs or .pdfs again.” The transition was time sensitive, as TheKey needed to switch from DocuSign to PandaDoc overnight to avoid any service disruptions with patients.

Since the successful transition, TheKey has onboarded 10 departments, including business operations, payroll, legal, and HR. Buell emphasized the scale of this undertaking: “[PandaDoc] is how we’re going to manage all our documents, especially with more than 8,000 caregivers and 1,500 corporate employees. It’s our source of truth for all documentation across all our corporate locations and departments. That’s a massive job for one platform.”

PandaDoc was more than up to the task.

Unlocking efficiency gains

Implementing PandaDoc yielded impressive return on investment for TheKey. Buell reported, “We’re saving 3,000 hours annually.”

PandaDoc’s centralized nature was a game-changer. “Everybody can just live in PandaDoc,” Buell explained. “I use this analogy where PandaDoc is the house and the workspaces are the rooms inside. It’s so clean, so straightforward and easy to understand. It’s our hub.”

The impact on document management efficiency in particular was substantial. “In the past year, we’ve been able to 10x our document management efficiency because of our partnership with PandaDoc,” Buell reported.

Beyond the quantitative improvements, Buell raved about PandaDoc’s customer support. “I’ve worked with a lot of different vendors across different industries and I’ve never been more impressed,” she said. “They respond to me in less than an hour, even if there’s not a fix needed. It makes me feel like they’re always there for us.”

Paving the way for future growth

By adopting PandaDoc, TheKey has revolutionized their document management processes across multiple departments. The ability to create and modify templates instantly has solved their previous challenges with deploying legal language changes. The user-friendly interface has enabled widespread adoption throughout the organization, from HR to legal to payroll to business operations.

The significant time savings — 3,000 hours a year — allows TheKey’s team to focus on their core mission of providing premium in-home care to seniors across the United States. The tenfold improvement in document management efficiency not only streamlines operations but also positions TheKey for continued growth and expansion.Ready to revolutionize your document processes and reclaim valuable time for your team? Book a demo.

This is how we’re going to manage all our documents, especially with more than 8,000 caregivers and 1,500 corporate employees. It’s our source of truth for all documentation, as well as all our corporate locations and departments. That’s a massive job for one platform.

Katie Buell

Digital Product Manager