Digital White Papers

32 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Are You Your Vendor's Captive? How To Optimize Your Research Dollars For instance, users deemed to be low-risk received a simple email questionnaire as a follow-up to the survey, while higher-risk users were called directly. Personas helped to identify whether that call should come from the library, leadership or a senior member of the user's practice. Details of the user's content usage helped inform the interviewer before calling. Leveraging a customized version of HBR's SpendConnect (business intelligence dashboard) allowed us to understand individual usage at a glance, anticipate areas of concern and be prepared with tailored solutions on the call. This helped make each user feel heard and able to benefit from tailored solutions. Our users confirmed the adage "People don't fear change; they fear the unknown." Product familiarity was by far the greatest driver of usage. Sixty-five percent of survey respondents and over three- quarters of the people we interviewed cited familiarity as their top or only concern. Good training is important to managing change; equally important is allowing time for people to adopt new behaviors and ditch long-held habits. Engaging our users in direct conversation taught us about smaller operational or technical concerns that we could address and solve, strengthening our relationships with our users. This also provided us with another opportunity to communicate our mission and goals for the project. Enhancing the Toolkit As previously noted, one of our key goals was to ensure that users have the tools they need to be effective. Many new products aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of lawyers are on the market. Our ability to offer these high-demand products traditionally has been limited by budget. Once we secured our long- term relationship with vendor B, we could focus on enhancing our collection's value. Each law firm will find different value in the array of products out there. In our case, we added enterprise Bloomberg Law (our emerging Vendor C), enhancing access to practical guidance, news, analysis, data visualization tools and market data, and primary and secondary law sources. We also added other innovative research and analytics tools, including CARA by CaseText, Ravel Law and Lex Machina –– all at a fraction of the cost of Vendor A and at no cost to our clients. We knew, however, that fully leveraging these new research alternatives would require an expert team to guide and support our lawyers. Increased User Support Our optimization project was an opportunity, not only to introduce new research tools but also to augment our research team and promote services we could not previously sustain. This included embedding researchers within practice groups. We are also using the optimization project to market our library services more proactively, monitor product usage, provide just-in- time training, and more fluidly navigate the wide array of product options to assure access to the best information at the lowest cost. As Big Law increasingly finds itself competing with New Law, legal research is ripe for service transformation. An ABA survey and a study by Blue Hill Research both reveal that lawyers spend substantial time conducting legal research. While each firm OZ BENAMRAM Oz Benamram, as the firm's first Chief Knowledge Officer, provides White & Case, LLP with strategic direction on knowledge management and technology. He leads the knowledge management department in developing and implementing the systems and processes that enable the firm to use its collective knowledge to benefit its clients worldwide. Scope includes professional support, library and research, competitive intelligence, knowledge resources, information governance and records management. Oz is a globally recognized thought- leader and a frequent speaker on legal technology and knowledge management subjects. He has won numerous awards for the design and development of AnswerBase, an intelligent search system that offers lawyers and staff a powerful one-stop source for finding, understanding and using the vast array of information needed to serve clients. He can be contacted at oz.benamram@ whitecase.com.

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