The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/43128
CASE STUDIES "The best feature of the new intranet is that we are able to link the documents on the intranet to the firm's document management system." TAKING OWNERSHIP To be successful, this project required ongoing commitment, primarily from technology and marketing, but also from every member of the administrative team. This meant that the technology department had to commit the time and resources to working on the back end while the marketing department had to commit the time and resources necessary to assist technology and to gather additional content and material from other administrative team members. Our technology department set the structure so that each administrative department is able to update their portion of the site. Not only does this encourage buy-in from all the departments, but it also spreads the responsibility for updates, so that the burden does not fall exclusively on any one department. Additionally, it encourages each administrative function to take ownership of their section of the intranet. It persuades them to constantly build on and refresh the data that already exists in a timely manner. Each function within the administrative team was able to contribute content for posting. Before we knew it, content was going up: check request forms, publication circulation lists, benefits information, attorney headshots, instructions on how to use different technology software, and more. 40 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer EXECUTION AND LAUNCH Once we had a respectable beta site up and running, we invited the administrative team, who had dreamed up this intranet, to preview it. Collectively, they provided instrumental feedback that we used to make additional changes. Within two months, we felt we had a site strong enough to go live. In order to generate excitement within the firm for the launch of the intranet, administration hosted a competition to name the new site. At our firm, any competition goes over well. A small panel of judges reviewed the 15 submissions and determined the winner, who received significant acclaim. The day before we launched the intranet, we hosted a lunch-and-learn to showcase the new capabilities. We also circulated an email announcement, communicating what employees would find on the new intranet. It was important for us to highlight that this would become our one-stop, go-to resource for all firm-related information. On launch day, we sent users a welcome email to alert them that they now had access to the intranet, along with a link to the new site. In order to increase visibility, we strategically made each user's home page the intranet.