The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/448505
PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA business development interactions with prospective clients. Examples: Qvidian, xInovation CHALLENGE TWO PROCESS CONNECTIVITY Many law firms are merging because of rising pressures to deliver increased value to clients at lower costs. To gain efficiency and control operational costs internally, firms are pursuing ways to better connect their business processes and third-party relationships. To achieve this, firms must first review their existing technologies, policies and business practices to identify areas for improvement. Most successful merging firms have sought information about industry best practices to serve as a guide as they review and implement their new processes. APPLICABLE TOOLS AND RESOURCES • Process Mapping and Refinement (BPM/Document Assembly): It is long overdue for business process management (BPM) and document assembly to gain traction more broadly in firms beyond business intake. When combined with legal project management (LPM) practices, tremendous efficiencies can be gained from automating the standard components within a matter. Examples: K2, Microsoft, HP, OpenText • Matter Mobility Management: As the pace of incoming laterals and mergers speeds up, there is an increasing need to transfer client files into and out of firms. However, at most firms, this is a labor-intensive manual process as staff searches for, reviews, packages and transfers client documents (both paper and electronic). Matter mobility solutions help automate much of this process and free staff to work on higher-value, revenue- producing activities. Examples: Prosperoware, Pathway • Information Governance Analytics and Automation: Information governance technologies are increasingly a necessity as opposed to a consideration. Firms should greatly consider the key benefits of these technologies, which include automation of classification and management processes, a decrease in content volumes and storage costs, increased resources for attorneys, notable reductions in discovery risks and a decrease in HIPAA/security breaches. Examples: Nuix, HP ControlPoint, OpenText Auto-Classification CHALLENGE THREE ANALYTICS CONNECTIVITY Perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by newly merged firms is a substantial increase in metric and analytic oversight. Firm leaders must face the challenge of organizing these analytics in a meaningful way to drive business efficiencies and increase proactive decisions and actions. With an ever-increasing amount of data and analytics available, firms must determine which analytics should be a core focus and how they can utilize those data points to better align their decisions with broader strategic business objectives. APPLICABLE TOOLS AND RESOURCES • Expense Management Analytics: When a merger takes place, firms find themselves with new third-party vendors and contracts, which increase the volume of data and relationship connections that must be serviced. As a result, merging firms are pursuing technology solutions to better manage their oversight of supplier relationships and rationalize operating expenses. More specifically, firms are demanding technology solutions that are platform- agnostic, i.e., tools that will allow them to collect data from each merging party to ensure they are able to identity overlapping suppliers and pinpoint potential areas for cost reduction. Examples: Chrome River, SpendConnect • Matter Analytics: As firms are increasingly held to alternative fee arrangements and not-to-exceed agreements, the ability to have real- time insight into matter budgets, performance of actual to budget and other key performance indicators is critical. In addition to traditional technical and business systems, there are several new entrants into the market offering practice-facing dashboards to enable better decision- making. Examples: Helm360, TARGIT, Veritas • Predictive Analytics: Data scientists are looking at the practice of law to find areas where algorithms and quantitative analysis can predict outcomes and probabilities. Some firms are using consultancies with specialty knowledge in quantitative analysis to help with reviews of their patent processes or business plans, and others are turning to start-up technology companies with packaged offerings. Examples: Judicata, Lex Machina, Nuix CONNECTIONS AHEAD! Whether a merger is on your firm's horizon or not, connectedness should be on your future course plan. Read more about these technologies and consider how they could support your firm in becoming better connected to each other, your clients, your processes and your future success. 32 Data scientists are looking at the practice of law to find areas where algorithms and quantitative analysis can predict outcomes and probabilities. FEATURES