Does anyone really have their finger on the pulse? JoAnna Forshee at Envision Agency asked a group of media folks for their take on 2007. The answers were all over the place. Monica Bay of Law Technology News was so taken by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth that she now sees green at every turn. “Green law (use of technology to reduce facilities costs while being environmentally responsible) will screech to the front of the line, as more and more folks realize that we MUST pay attention to global warming — with a lovely byproduct that installing appropriate technology will actually reduce costs,” Monica wishfully explained. On the other hand, London’s Karen Jones of Citytech explained that firms are suffering from implementation fatigue and 2007 will be a year of small projects.
Of course electronic discovery will be important in 2007 as firms continue to figure out this brave new world and the bean counters have their sights on Business Process Management (BPM) systems.
My take on 2007 is based on the responses to the Juris® Law Firm Economic Survey and on the feedback I’m getting from face time with managing partners across the county. They want technology to help them manage the law firm. Their appetite has been whetted by a growing awareness of emerging alternatives to voluminous reports that are days, weeks, and even months old. In many cases, these new tools do not require disruptive implementation.
On the business intelligence side, managing partners tell me they want less, not more, and they want information about now and the future rather than the past. To put that in terms of buzz words, they want situational awareness—where are we right this minute and, unless we do something about it, where are we headed. They also want targeted information that is relevant to their area of responsibility. They want it in an instantly digestible form. It needs to be actionable information. Its need to be navigable-—you should be able to drill down or explode the information to obtain all you need to take action or make a decision. What are the technologies that deliver on those requirements?
-
Automatic information presentation technology that monitors activity and targets who gets what and when
-
.Net technology that collects information about activity and transactions occurring well beyond the traditional accounting input points
-
Dashboard technology that replaces yesterday’s reports with graphic and visual presentation of information usually against targets or standards
-
Drill-down and analytical technologies that provide fast access to underlying information as well as search and manipulation to refine that information.
Managing partners and law firm leaders have had a growing feeling of being chased by events rather than leading the firm toward planned targets and goals. Why? Because of an information glut—an increasing volume of information that has been declining in value, increasing less relevant to current events and the pending future. In short, they have been knocked out of the driver’s seat by systems that leave them drowning in information.
On the competitive intelligence side, automatic peer group benchmarking services like those from Redwood Analytics, Thomson’s PeerMonitor and the Juris Insight service can give managing partners a more timely picture, comparing their own performance metrics against those of relevant peers. The new services eliminate the duel job of responding to surveys and then trying to match survey results against those of the law firm. The new services extract law firm metrics directly from the information systems of the participating firms, eliminating the puffery and wishful thinking that contaminates traditional surveys. Another important advantage of the new automatic services is that they are more timely, giving the manager a current picture of the landscape. Traditional surveys are often 12 to 18 months behind the curve.
For 2007, no single technology emphasis will dominate.
-
Litigators will be concerned with litigation-related technology
-
Administrators will be interested in technology to improve processes
-
Law firm leaders and managing partners want back in the driver’s seat
-
Those behind the infrastructure curve will be trying to catch up
-
Monica Bay will be trying to get all of us to go green
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.
Related posts
Filed under Technology by Tom Collins
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Tracking for the Law Firm
Leave a Comment