P2P

18 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 P R I N G 2 0 2 3 compilations, or even an email with a straight from a lawyers desk embedded video (from home) featuring the lawyer speaking directly from the email to the intended recipient. Yes, embedded video in outbound emails was not new. But those savvy lawyers who worked with the marketing team to embed a personalized video in an email, were able to be seen and speak directly to each recipient of it. And that was new. And brilliant. Beyond content assembled and distributed by the marketing team, knowledge management teams transformed legal content distributed across the firm as well as outside the firm to clients on substantive areas of the law. Looking back at our program above, the memos written by associates pre pandemic, were now, during the pandemic, also being written or started by more senior lawyers often in with conjunction with members of the knowledge management team and client team members. Toward this end, the new virtual workplace included a broader use of legal technologies and software to enhance the speed and delivery to the client – spearheaded by the tech savvy knowledge management team. Together with marketing and the platforms being used within the marketing suite, collaboration between both teams became a powerful tool. During the pandemic years we also saw podcasting take off. While initially showing a slight decline in the early days of work from home as commuting and gym time halted, listeners started to find ways to fit podcasts back into their daily schedule. In fact, more people started turning to more podcasts during the pandemic resulting in a 42% increase in global usage (Burrelles, "Why Podcasting Has Survived and Thrived During Covid 19," 17 December 2020). As a result, many firms acquired technology, akin to the outbound email platforms marketing has long since called their own. And As We Approach 2024, What Is Next For Marketing and Legal Tech? • A greater focus on data and analytics. Firms will need to determine what pandemic efforts to keep, what to discard as last decade's programs, and what activities are deemed to generate the strongest impact at the lowest cost to add. • The growing prominence of Knowledge Management – now armed with technology acquired and invested in during the pandemic. Expect them to drive content creation which might put them at odds with the communications team unless collaborative measures are implemented. • Technology and people to not just implement a platform but maximize its usage on an ongoing basis. If you are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into something, recognize that you need an equal commitment for the right people to run it and use it. This is particularly significant with technologies and platforms that are focused on revenue generation (ok, Marketing and Sales Automation and CRM platforms) and client-based marketing efforts. Getting buy in from the top, including training for everyone throughout the organization who will use the technology, are both critical for a successful implementation. It is not just the technical integration. It is the usage throughout the organization (the integration) that will result in acceptable ROI rates (effective results). • AI within law firms is here (in fact it has been here). It is not a choice. It is a reality. Toward that end, we need to understand its limitations and its rewards, F E A T U R E S

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