P2P

34 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 Competition / Innovation Business Rationale The business case here is fairly apparent. In today's legal operations environment, the name of the game is to accomplish more with less, be more efficient and effective, and how to reinvent your practice to stay ahead of the pack, in a proactive and thoughtful way. Clients are eager to see how their law firms, for example, are implementing forward- thinking tech such as artificial intelligence, improved workflow processes, data analytics and reporting and other leading-edge techniques to help analyze legal data and support improved outcomes. It's not hard to understand the appeal of all of this, after all, it's the driver behind all the legal tech startups, seed money, law firm technology subsidiaries and incubators and alternative legal service provider (ALSP) forays into the legal ops area. Financial Supporting Arguments For law firms, in my view, the key is to link projects of this nature to anticipated revenue streams or changes. Sometimes projects of this nature need to be put on the table to remain competitive and retain clients. In other instances, advanced capabilities can create new opportunities. But no matter what the scenario, attempting to forecast the benefit either in terms of retaining clients or developing new relationships is how to support lean-forward tech efforts. That's not easy to do, it requires one to make assumptions which might not be easy to support. Regulation / Administration Business Rationale There is a lot going on in this area. For example, depending on an entity's size and scope, compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is required, as might other regulations like the NY SHIELD Act and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Collectively, these trigger various requirements related to data storage geographical flexibility and practices, encryption. third-party verification and auditing/logging. Analysis to help define what the entity is in terms of data is also often required (Data Controller, Data Processor, Data Subject), as are other operational procedures such as defining organizational security contacts (CSO). What are some common approaches to responding to needs in this area? Clearly, moving to cloud-based architectures is one. As is securing formal certifications such as the ISO 27001 framework. Financial Supporting Arguments Maintaining an environment which allows a law firm or legal operations group to remain compliant with mandatory governmental regulations is, from a financial perspective, not dissimilar to the security area. Often times, efforts in this area are required to maintain a customer relationship or to steer clear of the prying areas of your friendly governmental regulatory agency. If retaining clients or staying in business does not do it for you financially, then we can move on to the second level of cost avoidance in this area, things like avoiding fines and keeping your organization out of the spotlight as a poster child of an entity who is not compliant with the emerging set of data-related regulations in our field. Productivity / Cost Savings Business Rationale Projects of this nature are completed, as the name implies, to save money. Thus, the economic impact here should be straightforward. Various examples of the types of costs one might typically slash with tech projects includes spend with vendors, opportunities to streamline functions which reduces required headcount, digitization projects which may reduce space requirements and the like. Financial Supporting Arguments One of the key aspects of this area, in my view, is juxtaposing attainable benefits in this area versus the value added in other areas. Are there tech projects which help to save entities money? Of course there are. But it is less clear that these are within the sweet spot the most highly skilled technologists should tackle. Security projects clearly should be top of mind. Keeping your firm competitive is a vital imperative also. And areas associated with regulation or client requirements cannot be tossed asunder. Thus, although I recognize the content of applying technology to reduce operating expenses is a time-honored practice, in today's environment it might be lowered a peg or two but other elements of an advanced I.T. implementation project list. F E A T U R E S

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