The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 61 is a four percent decrease from 2010 and an indication that ITIL ticketing tools are becoming more useful and more popular. SEE THE IMPROVEMENTS Whether trying out new ticketing systems, adopting ITIL best practices or fully committing to attaining ISO 27001 certification, law firms have a variety of tools at their disposal to improve user satisfaction and, ultimately, client service. same internal security standards, and not compromising established security measures. ITIL: BEST PRACTICES AT WORK ITIL is a globally recognized collection of best practices for IT service management. It is simpler to implement than ISO 27001, both financially and in the manpower required for preparation and testing. While ISO 27001 certification can be a substantial resource investment, many companies, including law firms and legal service providers, are now looking at the ITIL framework as a cost-effective methodology for streamlining processes and improving productivity. Because ITIL is a set of best practices, there are no fees for adoption — although users need to invest in ITIL training and ITIL-compatible software for services such as automation and tracking. ITIL views the core function of IT service as offering "uninterrupted and best possible service" to all users. When it comes to maintaining uninterrupted service, firms need a reliable service desk system to log, report, manage and resolve user support issues. As the needs of the law firm service desk have evolved, so have the available ticketing systems. The days of generic, one-size-fits-all ticketing software are over; a new wave of in-house and legal-specific technologies is helping user support staff follow ITIL best practices. Systems for legal service desks connect users through consistent and familiar taxonomies, as well as through incident and problem management processes they can follow and track easily throughout a support ticket's life cycle. One specific example of the value of adopting ITIL is described in a case study published several years back in the U.K.'s Computing magazine. Shoosmiths, one of the top 40 firms in the U.K., has made extensive use of ITIL. The firm first implemented ITIL in 2007 and saw marked improvement with an increase in first-call resolution rates from 60 percent to 76 percent and an increase in overall service levels from 80 percent to 88 percent in less than a year. In March 2007, the firm logged 2,500 incidents and had 500 classed as unresolved; by December, the firm was logging 4,000 incidents per month with only 130 tickets still open. Only 26 percent of respondents in ILTA's 2013 Technology Survey indicated they do not use software to help track, manage and troubleshoot service desk tickets. This About the Author Lance Waagner, Vice Chairman of Intelliteach, leads a 250-person team of legal support analysts, serving over 35 percent of the Am Law 200 firms with 24/7 helpdesk support, including after-hours support and full-service outsourced helpdesk solutions. He is an active sponsor of associations such as ILTA and HDI and frequently writes and speaks on legal helpdesks, staffing and service delivery. Lance is the recipient of ILTA's 2011 Distinguished Peer Award for Vendor Thought Leadership. Contact him at lwaagner@intelliteach.com. TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES FOR BETTER USER SUPPORT While the legal helpdesk cannot be compared to an Amazon or Zappos call center, new tools and techniques are emerging on the consumer front that will soon benefit law firm support: Combining desktop tools with predictive analytics. With analytics, law firms can find out which contact methods users prefer or which applications are causing users the most trouble. Using past ticketing data, this new approach better prepares service desk analysts to handle user questions. In addition, real-time speech analytics can gauge the feelings of callers. If a caller is particularly upset, the software alerts a supervisor, who can then respond quickly to the call and avoid losing a frustrated customer or firm member. Data mining. Law firm support and IT groups can reference metrics based on aggregations of millions of helpdesk tickets to determine which applications require more service, the time and resources to allocate for a big technology conversion, the days and hours when support will see especially high volumes, and which offices need more training on specific applications. See Intelliteach's latest "Guru's Guide for Legal Service Desk Support: Law Firm Specific Metrics & Key Performance Indicators" for more details. Mobility. With as many as 110 million Americans using smartphones, businesses are investing in mobile applications to better serve their customers. Companies, including law firms, are following this trend and using mobile service desk tools to help users in the same office or users who work remotely. Tablets and smartphones now make it easy for user support staff to stay connected with each other all the time, guaranteeing seamless support and service. Social media. Twitter, Facebook and other social media can help you respond to user issues or even, on the scale of a large firm, respond to external client inquiries and complaints. According to TechTarget's report "The Call Center in a Multichannel World," part of maintaining responsive service levels with social media means training contact center agents in their use. As stated in the report, "Just because a customer service rep uses Facebook in her personal life doesn't mean she is up to speed on how the forum should be used on a corporate scale. You have to make the investment in training her how to do this, while clearly establishing protocols for handling responses."