Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/37773
focus on different practice areas within the firm. If you have not taken a comprehensive approach to implementing an extranet strategy, it is important for you to realize that your firm might be exposing the firm to risk by relying on email and traditional methods of communicating information to clients, as well as missing out on important marketing and client perception opportunities. Even if your firm currently offers extranets at some level, you might want to rethink your approach: How you choose to deliver extranets to your users will have significant ramifications for how successful your firm will be with extranets long term. What follows is a road map for successfully delivering extranets in your firm. STEP ONE: EDUCATE AND TRAIN First you’ll want to create a proactive mindset among your users with respect to extranets. This requires education and training. Extranets are a client service tool and a marketing tool and offer an easy way to add value to a client relationship without a lot of cost or effort to the firm. Whether or not your users realize it, there is latent extranet need in the firm that awaits discovery. Unfortunately, many law firms don’t understand this and respond to extranet demands reactively, only implementing them when there is an immediate client demand. This is unfortunate because the firm loses out on a marketing opportunity to confidently and proactively present a firm-branded solution to the client before being required to do so. The reactive approach forces the IT department to hastily find a solution to accommodate the immediate demand. If the firm is fortunate enough to win the client’s business, the IT department generally has insufficient time to perform the due diligence required to find a solution that will work long term across the enterprise. Conversely, firms that are proactive will anticipate the firm’s extranet needs across the various practice areas and find a solution that can accommodate these needs. An additional benefit from this proactive mindset is that your users will become creative in finding new ways to use the extranet with clients, which adds value and creates strong relationships. STEP TWO: FIND YOUR FIRM’S BEST EXTRANET Next, determine what attributes of the extranet system will be critical to the long- term success of your extranet initiative. Most extranets today offer varied functionality around documents, calendaring, discussion boards, email notifications, contact sharing and other collaborative features. It is up to you to determine the requirements of each of these features. However, independent of specific features, there are several critical attributes that I have identified as a requirement for a successful extranet implementation in every law firm. These are: • Enterprise Solution. To be effective in the long term, your firm should have one extranet solution with a single login page that allows your clients access to the extranet workspaces the firm has established for them. The only way to accomplish this is to implement an extranet system that is easily adaptable to the needs of your different practice areas. For example, your litigation attorneys will use an extranet quite differently than your corporate attorneys, and it is important to have a solution in place that can adapt to meet the needs of each of these www.iltanet.org Portal Platforms 7