Software Analytics Company New Relic Ups Its Proxy Game

Xiao Liang, Senior Legal Counsel, Corporate at New Relic, was skeptical when the software analytics company changed how it would produce its proxy. She was accustomed to working with a printing company on time-sensitive documents like an 8-K or Form 4. Making last-minute edits with the printing company could be frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive, so she wasn’t sure whether using a cloud platform would be as reliable.

But New Relic was already using the Workiva SEC reporting solution to produce 10-Qs, 10-Ks, and earnings releases. General Counsel Thomas Lloyd asked Xiao to bring the production of New Relic’s 8-K, proxy, and Schedule 13G for the CEO into Workiva too. 

Above all, the New Relic team wanted to streamline their process for making last-minute edits. They had been working with external counsel who would relay changes to the printing company. Instead, New Relic's legal team wanted to see if they could work solely with Workiva, since its cloud platform simplifies reporting processes that require multiple contributors and sources of data: teams can use it to produce, edit, and update documents, then file directly to the SEC, even while working from home.

"I haven't had any issues,” Xiao said. "I actually think it's more efficient.” She no longer has to wait for a printer to process proofs for a change to be made. "I can basically update the docs directly and file within minutes of the update,” she said. "Reviewing proofs and having to wait for that to come back was probably the largest downside of [the other vendor], other than how expensive it was to process urgent edits.”

The SEC team and legal team, both in the same platform

Director of Financial Reporting Steve Fagundes said the SEC reporting team also wanted to streamline processes when it decided to start using Workiva.

Everyone with the right permissions can work on the same document at the same time and see updates in real time. They can create their own blacklines to quickly compare how the document looked at different points in time. They also can mark milestones so they can later reference what has changed over time.

Teammates regularly leave comments for each other in documents. The comment threads offer transparency into what questions have been asked answered.

“Just having the centralized platform for everyone has made things go a lot smoother, especially working from home,” said Senior SEC Reporting Analyst Abbie Zingraf. She also likes being able to compare a prior year document side by side with the current year within the Workiva platform. 

The New Relic team’s advice for other teams? “The big thing is trying to get as many people as you can to use the software,” Steve said.

For them, the benefits are clear.

"If I have a last-minute update, I can basically input it myself any time before we file,” Xiao said. "We never used to be able to do that.”