P2P

57 I L T A N E T . O R G are asking for this. They want their existing software vendors to build partnerships and integrations, so they don't have to go to the market." Those sentiments were repeated again and again by legal operations professionals at this year's CLOC Global Institute in Las Vegas. You must be prepared to connect to other systems, processes, and partners. Bonus points if you can find a way to connect to an existing system (like your DMS) in its current state, without forcing your professionals to dramatically change all at once. The benefits of integrating your existing systems are innumerable. For your professionals, you remove the obstacles and wasted time spent switching between different systems. In many cases, you'll drive increased adoption amongst your existing tech by integrating systems. Imagine if you could improve your DMS usage by making it more accessible from within other firm systems! From a management perspective, integrated systems and tools increase productivity and often reduce overhead. Pro Tip: Integrating systems will become more prevalent as our collective expertise with APIs and similar technologies improve. An API, or application programming interface, allows you to pass data and information between applications, allowing you to use your time and matter data to influence decision- making in other systems or applications. Consider investigating whether you might have or need some expertise with APIs, robotic process automation, and other technologies which support integration. • Meet people where they are today. Legal professionals aren't hostile to change, despite what our perceptions might tell us – they're risk averse. Our industry isn't particularly supportive of failures, whether perceived or real, so legal professionals want to be sure that accepting the change you propose won't negatively impact their work or reputations. The best way to do that? Meet them where they are. Thinking specifically about your collaboration strategy, do you know what is working today? Look small pockets of people, teams, or practices that feels very connected to one another regardless of what geography they live or work from. Find out why what they're doing is working well – maybe it's because they share a common love for the Peloton bike and have formed a team. I'm not suggesting that your approach should be to buy Pelotons for everyone, but instead look at what has connected them as humans. A common passion or interest. Perhaps "The benefits of integrating your existing systems are innumerable."

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