Digital White Papers

26 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Get Smart: The Future of CRM, and the CRM of the Future egg" problem: aorneys wouldn't use the system because there wasn't enough valuable information in it, and information wasn't put into the system because no one was using it. To overcome this issue, some systems now offer a variety of features to capture and enhance information about aorney contacts and relationships with lile or no effort required from aorneys. Another past challenge was the time and expense required to deploy systems on-premises, which required regular updates and ongoing IT support. Now some cloud-based systems are being deployed that allow firms to benefit from enhanced system functionality with limited IT time and maintenance required. Features and Functions of the Future The main goals of a law firm CRM implementation should be to solve problems, automate processes, improve communication and enhance business development. To help accomplish these goals, in the last few years a variety of new features, functions and complementary technologies have been developed, such as: Emarketing: One of the primary reasons almost all law firms initially purchase a CRM system is to manage lists and events. While some people suggest this relegates the CRM to the status of "glorified rolodex," those people might not appreciate that in a law firm, time is money — literally. Having all aorneys wasting hundreds of collective billable hours reviewing lists can be incredibly costly. Even more expensive is the time spent creating articles, presentations and other information that, without a good contact list, might never reach the target audiences. To respond to this challenge, a variety of emarketing tools have been developed that can integrate with a firm's CRM system to facilitate list and event management. These tools allow firms to quickly and easily build and review lists, distribute email communications or invitations, manage recipient subscriptions and RSVPs, create related activities, track success metrics, and encourage follow-up. Mobile Access: Aorneys today are highly mobile. Even when they are in the office, they are oen accessing information on a variety of mobile devices. This need to consume information on the fly while on the go has prompted CRM companies to design new apps and mobile interfaces that allow aorneys to access the CRM data anywhere, anytime. Some mobile applications only allow aorneys to search and view contact information, while others allow mobile entry of contact details, activities and opportunities. Relationship Intelligence: Law firms are in the relationship business. But capturing and capitalizing on these relationships can be challenging. Enterprise relationship management (ERM) technology mines email traffic paerns to identify who-knows- whom relationships between aorneys and key contacts. Algorithms allow the strength of relationships to be scored based on a variety of factors, such as the number and timing of email messages flowing back and forth, all while maintaining the privacy of the information in the communications. Signature Capture: Some firms struggle with geing aorneys to share their contacts and relationships (it's those other firms, of course, not yours). The reason could be the effort required or what some firms call a "my client" mentality. Regardless of the reason, there are now CRM systems and other tools that can overcome the sharing issue by capturing information directly from the signature The main goals of a law firm CRM implementation should be to solve problems, automate processes, improve communication and enhance business development.

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