The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 69 a deciding factor. The technology might be more of a factor if someone on the firm or client team knew exactly how the client could leverage the technology, which is typically for efficiencies or visibility and reporting. You can do a lot of technological glitz with legal project management software and reporting software, but a poll of some of my peers revealed they really don't leverage a client's technology very often. But I'll tell you what technology clients are really looking for — an extranet that shares what work the client has given the firm, who's working on it, the project's status and how much the client has been billed so far, demonstrating a budget to burn. Vincent: Time entry ties to task codes and budget planning; tasks and budgets are tied to the finance system. You want to make sure all these systems interact. Some clients want incentivizing efficiencies). You also need to be flexible. I'm tying that in with working the case/matter. In my role in gauging outside counsel, I can't put my hands on every single engagement (we have over 1,600 attorneys and 200,000 employees in multiple locations globally), so it's important we have attorneys or staff within a firm, such as a legal project manager, who can help articulate complex work. Perhaps they can break it down into work streams or process steps, so we can all understand the effort going into it. That's where internal processes are essential. Vincent Cordo: Internal processes can help a firm track quality and metrics that clients find important to their business. You can provide different satisfaction reports based on how you fared against key performance indicators (KPIs) you helped the client create and track. Traditionally, satisfaction surveys have been done through a series of questions and surveys to existing clients. I believe the work we do with pricing and project management should tie into KPIs and metrics important to clients. Then we can rate our work against those expectations. Those processes and stats are going to be invaluable in showing a client how you do as a business relationship partner and showing your firm how you fared on the deals you put together. How does a firm's technology play a role in providing exemplary customer service to clients? Chris: From a Six Sigma perspective, exemplary customer service is a timely response and a quality answer the first time. That being said, clients have very little exposure to or visibility into a firm's technology. A firm might pitch a particular business area and introduce their technological capabilities. It could sound compelling, but it's not going to be How can a firm's internal processes affect a client's level of satisfaction? Stuart J T Dodds: Clients are expecting law firms to have very efficient processes. They don't want to see inefficiency in their law firm providers' processes because they, as clients, have spent considerable effort to improve their own processes. It comes down to how well we manage matters, how we reuse materials, how we share those materials within our organizations and how we manage the clients. The client needs you to be responsive, to be very aware of their issues and concerns, and to work proactively with them through established processes to get the right result. Michelle Mahoney: Exactly how do you measure a client's satisfaction? If your client is unhappy with your service, you need to be able to identify whether it was due to a piece of the internal process or some combination of other things. Think of client satisfaction like completing a puzzle. If a piece is missing, the puzzle is not complete. It's important to invest the time to finish the puzzle and get your desired result. Ensure that processes that touch clients — some of those are quite obvious and some aren't — have quality controls and checkpoints in place. Chris Sweet: A firm's internal processes can affect three particular areas: billing, alternative fee arrangements and working the case or matter. Firms' billing structures vary, but there's nothing worse than having billing problems during or after an engagement. It's essential that you have (and even better to be known to have) great people who represent you in the billing department, processes that are sound and a product that is high-quality. Alternative fee arrangements need to be viewed in terms of processes so they can be effective, pain-free and a win-win (i.e., you're Vincent Cordo Vincent Cordo, Global Director of Client Value at Reed Smith LLP, has overall responsibility for creating business-value propositions for the firm's attorneys, legal professionals and clients. This includes organizing efficient and capable teams of professionals to align information technology with business drivers and assigning resources, tools and tactics to satisfy the firm's business and information technology needs. Contact Vincent at vcordo@reedsmith.com. From a Six Sigma perspective, exemplary customer service is a timely response and a quality answer the first time.