Peer to Peer Magazine

COMPUTERS SHRINK, AND FIRMS BENEFIT Powering Successful Business Development Retaining current clients and attracting new business are key goals for most firms. As a result, business development and marketing strategies are gaining a stronger hold within firms as they realize traditional rainmaking can't be the only way to bring in new business. This is where technology comes in, enabling firms to access systems, data and analytics, all of which can be used to support myriad efforts across the firm, including strategic client retention and growth plans. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a key technology that is gaining popularity as more firms find success using it to help grow their firms. CRM software not only helps identify and target effective marketing programs, but it also gives firms the ability to track the success of their business development activities to determine what people and activities achieve the best results and bring in the most profitable work. CRM solutions also enable firms to share the rainmaking activities among a broader group of attorneys because information is readily available. Need an example? Imagine riding in a cab to a client's office and being able to access key information about that client right on your iPad. In a quick dashboard view, you can see this client has an outstanding balance, is attending the charity golf event your firm is sponsoring and just started subscribing to your IP newsletter, even though they have only used your firm for litigation. When you meet in a few minutes, you can ask who does their IP work and perhaps gain additional business for your firm. Monitoring and Managing Business Stop for a minute and think about how pervasive technology has become. In our day-to-day lives, it seems like almost everyone has a smartphone or iPad — in fact, you probably see colleagues in your own office carrying around multiple devices. Your clients are no different. Consequently, their expectations are changing. Technology has raised the bar for clients — empowering them to seek out information for themselves. As a result, your clients now expect, and many times demand, greater transparency and access to data. In order for your firm to survive, the answer is simple — your firm must adapt to a new way of managing and monitoring the business … and technology is the way to do so. Take, for example, the process of taking on a new client or matter. In this scenario, the firm requires tools to help price the work, accommodate alternative fee arrangements or other fee structures and track the business to ensure that it meets the firm's established profit targets. By using matter-planning software to automate much of this work, firms begin to remove some of the risk inherent in acquiring new business. For example, by pairing the past history of similar matters with the ongoing monitoring of the current engagements, everyone — including the client — has an informed view of the work. If, however, firms don't choose to use any matter-tracking tools, they run the risk of overworking the matter and losing money on the engagement. By using the right matter-planning technology, firms will be able to identify areas of inefficiency before the work is completed, ensuring both the client and the firm achieve a positive outcome. Most firms are investing in SharePoint or cloud-based solutions as another way to meet internal information access and collaboration needs, as well as client demands. Access to real-time financial and case data along with attorneys' key performance indicators saves time, keeps matters on track and gives practice group leaders regular feedback on the overall health and performance of the group so that they can correct any problems and leverage any new opportunities that arise. They no longer have to wait for the end of the month, quarter or year to get a true sense of how they are performing. Information visibility and analysis tools enable everyone in the firm to work smarter and to become more flexible, competitive and accountable — not just to their clients, but to the partners and other firm leaders. There is a wealth of data in law firms that, when viewed through the right lens, can provide insights not possible to attain in the past. Streamlining and Automating Processes The effects of the recession have permanently changed the way firm leaders view their business and how they will succeed going forward. Today, firms are mandating that their staff not only work more efficiently, but that they also reduce costs. Luckily, technology innovations are delivering new capabilities that allow firms to simplify, streamline and automate processes, with the goal of becoming more efficient and responsive. With the right technology in place, firms can customize processes that not only meet their needs but also create repeatable, auditable results. Without the benefit of technology, bottlenecks can easily occur. In a manual process environment, for example, activities can get stuck at any point along the way for any number of reasons — the file might be lost or someone is on vacation or possibly too busy to respond. However, an electronic process can anticipate these situations and route information, alerts and approvals to keep the process moving. Plus, automated workflows can be created for a variety of activities within the firm, including client, matter and employee intake, vacation and check requests, billing, reporting and more. The benefits of configuring automated processes are endless — both from a staff and operational perspective. Firms experience improved employee productivity, increased efficiency and reduced risk resulting from greater adherence to firm rules. But they also experience a somewhat unexpected perk as a result of adapting workflows and other automation tools — the possibility of additional business. Because clients are increasingly requiring the firms with which Peer to Peer the quarterly magazine of ILTA 65

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