P2P

68 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 thinking about what it is they sell in the marketplace, from the means of production to how it is packaged and sold. In the post-Covid reset, strategic CIOs will align every aspect of the IT function to reshape and transform – for the better – both the practitioner experience as well as the client experience. But as with all righteously ambitious goals, this one says real easy and does real hard. Even the most committed and driven CIO faces many perennial – and seemingly insurmountable – barriers in leading change. The most successful CIOs will exercise mental agility and dexterity in thinking deeply about both old and new roles, such as technology, analytics, and pricing, within the legal ecosystem. The rise of multidisciplinary teams are to the good, but they do add complexity to the CIO's mandate. In too many law firms, new or emergent capabilities comprised of a few specialists get short shrift in technology support and guidance from IT departments that are overwhelmed with the mechanics of keeping lawyers productive. In a recent Legal Value Network survey of law firm pricing and project management professionals – a group we believe are critical to firms' ability to stake out competitive advantage – only 57% feel they have access to the right technology to do their jobs. Discussions about technology adoption aren't new, and they tend to myopically focus (and blame!) on the technology-shy lawyer. For a fresher perspective, we ventured beyond the law firm landscape for actionable advice from the vantage point of ALSPs, where technology enablement is part and parcel of a holistic value proposition. Ed Sohn, head of solutions and product for Factor, has amassed deep experience integrating technology into legal workflows, and he offers two pieces of advice, and both are interestingly counterintuitive: Sohn advises early, active, and sustained engagement with users to articulate and adapt those priorities. "To put it simply, give the people what they want, because success begets success. One deployment with enthusiastic uptake can create the right momentum toward a virtuous cycle that helps the entire organization build the necessary muscles to lean into change." That leads to the second piece of advice from Sohn: "Think creatively about your user groups. We're used to thinking about the user as the endpoint or destination, but some users are actually critical assets that accelerate and amplify adoption efforts." The search for adoption champions isn't new, but Sohn challenges law firm CIOs to think more laterally about user groups, both within and outside the walls of the firm. "Discussions about technology adoption aren't new, and they tend to myopically focus (and blame!) on the technology-shy lawyer." E X T R A S

• Cover