The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 55 PREPARE TO LAUNCH One natural idea is to conduct a pilot and see how the ESN fits into the firm's environment. That's fine if you avoid constraining the pilot to too small an audience or too short a time. ESNs gain power and value through the "network effect," meaning participation, so it is important to get as many people involved as possible. If you must conduct a pilot before a full-scale rollout, focus on targeting a large group with shared needs and challenges. ESNs need nurturing. When the decision is made to open up the ESN to the whole firm, you can't assume it will catch on all by itself. You should recruit organizationally and geographically dispersed champions to promote the use of the network to their peers. Focus on driving engagement and enrollment of users by using the ESN to support compelling events such as partner meetings, workgroup email-free days, contests and charity campaigns. The ESN can be used to extend and continue discussions that begin during face-to-face meetings. It is also important to publicize the little victories the ESN enables. Your champions can help gather these stories by observing issues that were raised and solved within the ESN. Firm leadership can retell these stories during meetings, and you can publish them in newsletters to get the word out. You have to give the inevitable skeptics a personally identifiable reason to participate. Once you achieve the network effect, your attorneys will be able to get that key piece of advice on how to structure their argument to win their case. Your helpdesk engineer will find the tried-and-true solution to that obscure problem someone else solved two weeks ago. Properly deployed, your ESN will bring the firm more delighted clients and more engaged and satisfied employees. Yammer includes a feature known as External Networks, which enables one organization to invite users from another Yammer network to join a partitioned subarea of their Yammer network. Within the External Network, users from two or more organizations can interact with one another via posts, replies, likes and shares. The users within the External Network can even share documents securely between the organizations. For any law firm that provides outside counsel to corporate clients, if both the client and the law firm are using Yammer, this capability — in combination with Yammer Private Groups — could provide a simple alternative or even a supplement to existing extranet arrangements. Inside and Outside Counsel on the Same Page with Yammer WITH OVER 25 YEARS OF INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE, GRM OFFERS AN ENTERPRISE-WIDE BLENDED SOLUTION TO LEGAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: • OFFSITE RECORDS MANAGEMENT • ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT • DATA PROTECTION • CERTIFIED DESTRUCTION • MEDICAL RELEASE OF INFORMATION • DISASTER RECOVERY PREPAREDNESS • IMAGING OF CLOSED CASE FILES • RETENTION, GOVERNANCE AND COMPLIANCE • RISK OF DAMAGE/LOSS/THEFT MITIGATION • PAPER TO DIGITAL MIGRATION • WORKFLOW AUTOMATION • CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY TRACKING AND AUDIT TRAIL CALL AND SPEAK WITH ONE OF OUR LEGAL INDUSTRY EXPERTS TODAY! 866-947-6932 | WWW.GRMDOCUMENTMANAGEMENT.COM