Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/30285
ASK THE EXPERT: UTILIZING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE WITHIN THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT can provide. The technology is definitely in place to support this, and I think it’s only a matter of time until they’re comfortable that safeguards are in place to relinquish ownership of their BI data. John: There’s no doubt SaaS is where the world is rapidly heading, and law firms, like other industries, clearly see its cost-saving advantages. But not having control of your data is a major concern to security- minded IT folks. So I think firms are headed toward a middle ground between a traditional software deployment and SaaS deployment in the form of private clouds. These are clouds and they’re hosted off-site, but they remain under the control of the firm. Do you have any final comments about business intelligence and its uses in the legal environment? Josh: Generally speaking, BI is becoming a much more cost-effective solution, and the adoption rate is increasing considerably among attorneys. BI has been around for a while, but the number of attorneys willing to adopt it, rely on it and use it as a BI toolkit in the form of dashboards and self-serving portals is definitely growing. The ROI is becoming clear in regard to firms using BI, and the bottom line here is that they’re able make better decisions and manage their practice. John: Well, there are a lot of solutions out there — each one is unique and benefits firms differently. How a firm wants to roll out a BI project and how they want to use the information is always particular to the firm. It behooves folks who are just starting to delve into this space to take a look at all of them; they all have www.iltanet.org Financial Management 41 their pros and cons. It all comes down to what’s the best fit for the firm. Mark: We believe really advanced BI should permit better decision-making on such questions as: Are my expected outcomes realistic? How much will it cost to achieve the expected outcome? How long will it take, and should I settle or litigate? Many of our customers utilize BI to answer such questions, and I think that’s the trend for business intelligence in legal. ILTA Listen Online Listen to these experts and find other recorded podcasts of interest. www.iltanet.org/podcasts