Historically, in law firms, partners have known to be resistant to adopt some technologies for fear that it would disrupt the way they’ve always done business. A common concern is that technology (especially automation software) could reduce the time that the firm spends on certain clients, which might reduce hourly billing.
However, the overall benefits to the firm ultimately win out, as using technology will free up lawyers’ time to take on new clients rather than focusing on administrative or manual tasks.
Here are some of the most important steps to moving ahead with digital transformation in law firms:
Invest in strategic technology platforms
Digital transformation relies on today’s modern, functionally-integrated and secure platforms. By adopting these, law firms can ensure a consistent work environment and user experience, improved lawyer productivity, and the security of client data. In contrast, legacy systems rely on the disjointed experience of patching together multiple software applications to create a single business environment across the organisation.
Start small
Any stakeholder willing to transition to a digital technology should be given the opportunity to test on a small scale. Perhaps a certain type of document can be easily digitized for online notarization, or a certain type of case is a perfect candidate for natural language processing. With just a few tests, the team will get used to the new process and start to see for themselves how it could improve their approach at a larger scale.
Measure success
Whenever a new technology or online option is used, it’s important to measure the value to the firm. How much time was saved? How many new insights were gained? What level of error reduction occurred? Share these metrics with partners to ensure the firm is fully benefiting from the technology.
Pay attention to user experience
For digital transformation to be a success, users need to embrace ‘digital as their default.’ Modern computing platforms are designed to deliver the best user experience possible: they offer an intuitive experience, are secure, make users efficient, and improve productivity. To succeed, these systems must replicate in a work environment the experience and ease of use that people are used to in their personal lives, as consumers (e.g. shopping on Amazon).
Grow intelligently
As people become more aware of the benefits of digital transformation, it will be critical to prioritize new efforts and get everyone on board before implementing another technology. Introducing too many new processes too quickly can be overwhelming and ultimately have adverse effects on digital transformation.
The digital transformation process will have its share of challenges. As with any change, it’s likely that there will be resistance from those who don’t want to change the way they work. You may also experience difficulty getting budget for big-budget software, and there will inevitably be concerns about privacy, safety and security of important information as it’s moved from paper to online or to a new platform.
How Blue Car Technologies can help
The journey of digital transformation differs greatly from business to business however, it always starts in the same way, with a clear goal and plan to achieve that. Read our eBook to learn more about the importance of digital transformation, as well as how to define your business transformation goals and how to implement these technologies.
If you want to find out more about how your business could benefit from a digital transformation project such as eSignature and Document Management System integration, contact us today.
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