P2P

27 I L T A N E T . O R G D eep down, there's only one question that the various members of law firms have when the firm rolls out a new piece of technology: "What's in it for me?". Firms needn't fear this question if they have already subscribed to the notion that getting value out of the technology they purchase is dependent on a deep understanding of how their legal professionals work. Taking the time to do a deep dive on business workflows doesn't just ensure that the firm has a clear and compelling answer to "what's in it for me" – it helps ensure successful adoption, which in turn helps optimize business outcomes. So, what are some best practices that firms should take to make sure that their users are never in doubt about "what's in it for them" when new technology is introduced? Know Your Users Sounds simple, but in order to have a good answer when someone asks you "what's in it for me?", you first need to have an in-depth understanding of what their daily workflows are like. What tasks and activities do they live and breathe on a daily basis? Where are the pain points? What's working well from day-to-day, and what isn't? The answers to these questions are going to vary widely amongst the different professionals throughout the firm. Legal assistants have a different set of wants and needs than the junior associates, who in turn have different priorities than the senior partners. If a firm is considering rolling out a new document management system (DMS), for instance, the firm needs to be able to tell each of those groups how that technology is going to in some way make their lives better or easier – in essence, telling them exactly what's in it for them. What does success look like for each of these groups? For the legal assistant, it might be the ability to quickly file emails alongside related documents in the matter file. For the junior associate, it might be the ability to easily retrieve precedent material that can serve as the starting point for drafting a new contract, rather than having to start with a blank page. And for the senior partner, it might be the ability to sleep soundly at night knowing that sensitive, privileged client content is tightly secured and governed. The "Why" Matters Lest law firms fail to see the forest through the trees, they need to focus on the big picture "why": Why is the firm implementing a specific piece of technology? How does it tie into the business outcomes of the firm? This is a question that too rarely gets asked, with the result that technology gets implemented just for the sake of implementing new technology. But technology is not an end in and of itself: It is a means to an end. It is a way to help bring about a certain desired business outcome, like greater efficiency, enhanced productivity, or increased profitability. Within a law firm, these outcomes can be translated into any number of specific goals. Maybe a firm wants to reduce costs by cutting down the amount of time that it takes to review contracts as part of a due diligence exercise for M&A activities. Alternately, maybe they want to decrease lead time for new business opportunities by speeding response time to stakeholder questions or RFPs. Or maybe, in the midst of a historically tight labor market that's been made even tighter by The Great Resignation, firms are simply looking to improve employee satisfaction. That way, they can retain the employees that they currently have and not have them jump ship for other organizations – in the process, ensuring that their billable hours and revenue projections for the quarter don't take a hit. These are all valid business outcomes for a law firm to shoot for; however, what matters most is that firms understand how the technology that they're purchasing ties into the business outcomes they're homing in on.

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