October 11, 2006
Law Firm Workflow Systems–Are They a Good Investment?
Workflow is one of the hot new buzz words driving technology investments in the AML 200 circles and among the global 100. In a recent article in The National Law Journal, Kevin Berry wrote “One of the fastest-growing trends in the legal technology is the business-process management. Known in wider technology circles as BPM, this approach is more commonly called ‘workflow’ in the legal market.”
Unfortunately in many cases workflow investments are in reality little more than jerry-rigging to make legacy or poorly designed functions work in harmony with the flow of work. I was talking with a Juris specialist the other day who was telling me about her recent visit with a 100+ attorney law firm. The law firm had paid their existing business software vendor (a Juris competitor) for an automated client input form. Why? It turns out that setting up a new client or a new matter in the software was so cumbersome and required so many different steps that it interfered with the logical flow of work.
Before you invest in workflow software, broaden your view and look at replacing your business system. Workflow investments that are overcoming weaknesses of your exiting system can be the wrong move—one that prevents you from taking advantages to current and future advances in technology. You are likely to find that updating your business system will eliminate the need for the layering on an additional workflow system and, while you are at it, gaining important performance increasing benefits that have become available through newer technology.
The value of that new technology came home when I read the comments of the Juris CEO in a recent e-mail to Monica Bay. Monica is the editor-in-chief of Law Technology News and had requested his comments regarding an article appearing soon.
Why move to a newer business system rather than pour money into projects that keep the firm dependent on its older systems? That question is partially answered by some of Stephen Collins’ e-mailed comments:
“With today’s advances in software and communications capability, managing partner and working attorneys can take advantage of dashboard technology for continuous situational awareness over their area of responsibility. Today’s systems can track activity and events automatically alerting the appropriate individual when their attention is required. Rather than digging through traditional reports, busy attorneys can now receive just the actionable information they need in instantly digestible forms. Today’s mobile attorney has a lot more capability than just e-mail, contacts and time entries. Ipsos-Reid, one of the top 10 research firms in the world, reported that surveyed firms averaged 53 minutes per day of recovered productive time using mobile devices like the BlackBerry™—almost an hour per day per fee earner! For an attorney that is billable time—previous downtime that is recovered because of the anytime/anywhere convenience of going mobile with calls, e-mails, appointments, time tracking, etc. Fifty-three minutes, almost an hour, per day is big money.”
The message is clear. Taking advantage of current technology business systems can increase partner income and client satisfaction. Look carefully at workflow investment proposals. If its purpose is to overcome weaknesses in you current system, look first at moving to a more modern business system. Making a move can put money in partner pockets rather than take it out.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
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Filed under Technology by Tom Collins