Peer to Peer Magazine

19 WWW.ILTANET.ORG BEST PRACTICES Plug and Play and Succeed: Integrated Adaptive Legal Maer Management of supporting the entire life cycle of their business process, not discrete, fragmented or disconnected phases. Procure, engage, produce, close and learn encapsulate the major elements of the maer management life cycle. Early stages of the life cycle can oen be overlooked by focusing strictly on production requirements. For instance, technology solutions should allow access to other departments within corporations, while law firms need the capacity to drive new client engagements. Technology solutions should also be flexible in ways that accommodate process agility by adjusting to outcomes from previous learning experiences. Adaptable Technology Is the Key When an organization realizes the need for improvement, technology can make it happen. The appropriate soware ecosystem allows organizations to apply the most successful business principles, while scaling to meet their future needs. Modern soware technology can frame and automate processes in reusable ways. As unique circumstances arise, the best solutions will allow teams to remain agile, in context with their workflow. Efficiency relies on adaptation. Consider these points for an adaptable maer management solution: » An adaptable maer management application is the bedrock of your maer management life cycle. This application should provide a comprehensive yet flexible ecosystem to manage all aspects of an organization's work product. The maer management system should safely support legal maer and project management, while not isolating itself from meaningful integrations across the organization. This ecosystem will tightly thread information, automation, communication and all related business functions throughout the maer life cycle. » Tightly integrated business process automation will significantly improve efficiency. Automation processes will allow staff to focus on their expertise rather than on redundant mechanical tasks. A good process design will ensure both accuracy and timeliness by eliminating human error. Adaptable automation processes encapsulate proven business strategies in a way that differentiates your organization from others. » Team members need the ability to communicate and collaborate in context with key information (maers, documents, tasks, etc.) within the ecosystem. Aention should also be paid to the need to safely communicate relevant and timely information with customers and outside parties. » Avoiding proprietary technology is a good step in ensuring that technology is adaptable and remains cohesive. Business requirements oen cause organizations to customize and extend their system with support for integrating disparate information and other soware applications. Unique processes set organizations apart and should not be an obstacle to success. » Process templates can provide an excellent foundation for repeating success but should remain flexible. Strict processes are good for automation but can be obstacles to optimal efficiency. Staff should be allowed to manifest their human capital gained from training and experience. Predefined business processes should use automation where appropriate yet allow staff to adapt in areas where business conditions are likely to evolve. Executing the Vision Choosing the right soware technology is the key to success. Most law firms and legal departments will benefit by combining the tenets of maer management STEVE STOCKSTILL Steve Stockstill has been architecting and developing commercial software for over two decades. As product lead at AdvoLogix, he is responsible for the technical design, development and implementation of the company's software product vision. Steve is a former director of software engineering for LexisNexis and has enjoyed a rewarding career developing financial and legal practice management software. Steve was an award-winning consultant for his contributions in the Time Matters technology community and has previously published on various blogs, including practicebetter.com and legalstack. org. He can be contacted at steve@ advologix.com. Avoiding proprietary technology is a good step in ensuring that technology is adaptable and remains cohesive. P R OC URE E N G A G E P R OD UC E C L O S E LEA RN

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