publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/535467
ILTA WHITE PAPER: JUNE 2015 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 36 Data and Content: With your assessment of infrastructure costs complete, turn your attention to the data and information that really make up the value-add proposition. Start by determining what information you need for your project to succeed and how you can simultaneously minimize the amount of time, money and people required. Do you need information about your clients to segment them, to mine information about past work or documents, or perhaps to combine internal and external data sources to deliver insights? Make a simple table to represent this. One possible approach is shown below. The top row lists high- level types of data, information or content needed for your project. Identify whether cost is determined in time, people or money and make this a topic of discussion with your project team. The rest should be simple yes/no answers. Integration services and application program interfaces (APIs) are increasingly available to help save time and valuable IT resources, connecting data sources more easily with sophisticated triggers and alerts. EFFICIENCY CHALLENGE: PRIORITIZE PROJECTS THAT DELIVER MORE VALUE For structure and clarity, map infrastructure projects to stages in the client engagement cycle. One model would be to map three stages in the client life cycle: Prospective engagement, when lawyers and the client discuss possible problems Active matter engagement, when lawyers and clients work to resolve problems Post-matter relationship management Consider impact as you draw your map. Take note if a system runs across all three stages. You might find that small improvements in many areas can provide great value at low cost. With your map in place, see if a system is already on your map that can meet your project requirements. If so, your project might have low infrastructure costs that incorporate only the administrative time needed to get you up and running. You want to quickly quantify costs in terms of time, money and resources. Avoid adding to your infrastructure unless it is necessary. Can you extend something already in place to meet your requirements with minimal cost? If you have to add on, research an off-the-shelf product or use SaaS to add good technology to your client service map with minimal time and people required. Include a range of options in your project evaluation document if there are different approaches with different costs. High-Level Types of Data Needed List of Data Needed Anticipated Cost of Project Required for Project? (Y/N) Fit for Purpose? (Y/N) Integration Needed? (Y/N) Client Demographics Work Details /Documents Internal Data (People or Resources) External Data or Content Try not to get too granular at this stage in your project plans. This project evaluation is meant to help you decide how to allocate firm resources, so do not waste time if the project does not add sufficient value.