Digital is sweeping across business and driving a step change in performance that is impossible to ignore.
Pressure is mounting for legal. The C-suite expects law departments to not just keep pace with the rest of the business, but to show leadership.
So, what is the state of the art for law departments?
80% faster speed to key evidence, with 50x greater accuracy.
30% reduction in eDiscovery costs; 95% data reduction average.
10% increase in IP portfolio value (7 to 8 figure revenue potential while preserving IP assets).
30% reduction of effort via automation and self-service.
45% increase in speed to contract and elimination of 6-10% revenue leakage.
How do I get there?
To digitise, the first instinct of law departments is to purchase software. According to a recent Gartner report, legal technology budgets will increase threefold by 2025.
But the legal industry lacks scalable software that covers all of their end-to-end needs – there is no SAP or Oracle for legal. Software needs to be configured and integrated, which is both time consuming and risky. And once those hurdles have been overcome, the challenge of driving adoption begins. There is no return on investment unless all of these challenges are overcome. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of failed initiatives.
Then there are managed service options. It would be unkind to describe these as “your mess, for less”, but there are genuine issues of lack of scale, facilitating work across multiple-jurisdictions and availability of industry and subject matter expertise.
To take a bullet train to legal transformation and bypass failure, take a contrarian stance:
Take a people first approach
Start with trained people who use established processes embedded in state-of-the-art tech. This combination makes legal transformation happen. Bring a transformation team in who can roll these skillsets out and get you up and running quickly.
Contract only for outcomes
Be highly discerning about what you pay for. You have better options than paying for inputs like licenses and time. Instead, contract for guaranteed outcomes that bake in your ROI.
Expect benefits from day one
The litmus test of any partner’s confidence is their ability to guarantee benefits from the outset.
Select technology for interoperability
Choose technology that is built for interoperability with your existing install base, and gives you access to all of your supporting data flows, internal and external.
Measure NPS and eNPS in everything you do
What you measure is what you get. Customer and employee satisfaction are gifts that keep on giving in every aspect of your business, and whose impact is felt way beyond the law department.
If you are contemplating transforming your law department, working with a partner who can deliver against these four principles will serve you well.