Digital White Papers

36 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Expertise Location and Social Collaboration: Three Case Studies on a Winning Formula GAIL BERGMILLER Enhancing Collaboration in a Collegial Environment A few years ago, the KM team at Ropes & Gray developed a client portal to give lawyers access to client and maer information from a variety of firm systems. The portal did not have a collaboration space for updates, questions or answers to colleagues' inquiries; global teams exchanged information by email, raising concerns about transparency, timing, documentation and accuracy. The firm hoped to establish a more open environment for sharing information among those doing work for a client. Introducing Neudesic Pulse social collaboration capability into Ropes & Gray's portal in a way that met the firm's security and privacy requirements has allowed aorneys to connect, share and post announcements about clients directly on the portal. This technology has created a purposeful space for sharing information without requiring that the knowledge-sharing be overly structured. For example, it is not necessary to cra a full email; users can post just a few comments. Combining the benefits of capturing real-time tacit knowledge on key topics with minimal effort makes this an aractive option for aorneys and staff. Director of Knowledge Management and Library Services at Ropes & Gray, an Am Law 100 firm with offices in the U.S., U.K. and Asia As Ropes & Gray continues to grow globally and its KM architecture evolves, firm leadership is focused on continued adoption of technology solutions. Technology supports the KM mission of connecting lawyers and making information accessible, enabling excellent client service. Client expectations are higher for global firms, and Ropes & Gray expects KM to add competitive value, particularly against the backdrop of client sensitivity to cost and increasing expectations for efficiency, speed and responsiveness. Clients expect counsel to be innovative in its use of legal technology and assume that any essential information can be accessed quickly, oen because of their own technology journeys. Our firm also wanted an easier way for lawyers to find information about alumni. Like many firms, we house our alumni data in a client relationship management (CRM) system that is not particularly intuitive and lacks key filters and search capabilities. The firm wanted a simplified alumni directory, with expertise location capabilities to facilitate business development efforts. To create the directory, we centralized alumni data from the CRM and HRIS systems, incorporating data from Dun & Bradstreet to supplement what was known about the organization where the alumni went aer leaving the firm. With new search and filtering capabilities, the firm's alumni directory now enables partners and alumni relations to offer beer client service. If clients ask for a recommendation for an opening in their general counsel's office, the alumni relations department can go to the alumni directory, search by company name, industry, geographic location or job family, and suggest several people. GAIL BERGMILLER Gail is responsible for overseeing the firm's knowledge management group, including the firm's intranet, extranets and applications development; records and information governance; and library services. Contact Gail at gail.bergmiller@ropesgray.com. GB

• Cover