P2P

45 I L T A N E T . O R G A s more law firms and corporate legal departments move foundational systems to the cloud, the ability to seamlessly integrate new and existing applications becomes increasingly critical to achieving desired functionalities, ensuring usability and adoption, and laying the framework for future enhancements and scalability. In ILTA's 2021 Technology Survey, from the respondents that indicated their firm would not use a cloud-based document management or enterprise content management system, 27% flagged "integration with third party tools" as a reason why. This is less a reflection of the cloud and more a response to the reality of integrations: there's a long way to go. Let's pull back the covers a bit. What does a truly native integration mean for users? How should legal IT properly vet system integrations? Identify the right questions to ask so your firm can take advantage of the power of integrations. Got Integrations? The Questions You Should Be Asking When your firm decides to move something like a document management system (DMS) to the cloud, increase your "wow" factor and with it user adoption by ensuring it integrates well with the other technologies people use daily. But how do you grade the quality and efficacy of a service provider's integrations? Here are some points to reference: 1. API Access: Many vendors offer their clients and other business partners application programming interface (API) access to begin the integration process. Find out if the available APIs are complimentary, are "pay-to-play," or have other specific usage terms. Be sure to understand how intuitive and easy to use the APIs are. And ask if you can access documentation if you decide to go with a "DIY" approach. It's important to understand if setup and use requires third party professional services. 2. UI/UX: Design is all about how you can achieve an optimal user experience, and your firm's chosen application integration path is a big part of the UI/UX end product. With big name workflow applications, for example, it's common for a specific tool to dictate the user experience – which can be advantageous to users, especially if it simplifies the overall flow. How will your integration path influence the overall UI/UX? 3. Integration with Other Tools: Does the integration seamlessly meet people where they work? Adoption will be low if legal professionals need to leave the applications, they're already using to complete their work. Regardless of the integration, you are trying to enable better, more efficient workflows. 4. Target Audience: Take a step back and think about the integration and who it is meant to serve. Law firms and corporate legal departments have vastly different needs, as do industries, practice areas, and teams. How will the integration serve its intended audience, and can it facilitate better collaboration with other areas of the organization or with clients? 5. Business Goals: All integrations go back to the fundamental question of "what do you want to accomplish?" The argument for a specific type of integration (e.g., cloud-to-cloud native, versus via third party connector, etc.) should be settled based on what your users need. The integration needs to deliver

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