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4 Secrets to Implementing Software Programs In Law Offices
The implementation of new law office software programs and other technology investments will often come with big promises of cost reductions, improvements in efficiency, risk reduction and increased profits. However, not all technology implementations go as planned. In fact, more than 50% of IT projects miss the mark.
For those looking to implement new law office software programs or technology in order to drive improvements in how they run their practices, it is critical to understand how the project is implemented, who is involved, and what gets focused on after the installation. This is just as important as the technology itself.
Investing in new legal office software or tech and don’t know where to start? Read our blog post “6 Essential Investments In Technology and Software Programs For Law Offices”.
Successfully implementing an IT project isn’t always easy. It requires time, effort, training and buy-in from your staff and your firm’s lawyers. If the software isn’t implemented properly or your employees are never effectively brought on board, then the time and money invested will be wasted.
If you are considering an investment in technology or implementing a new software program in your law office, here are 4 key things to consider to ensuring a smooth and successful project.
1. Establish Fit First, Not Price
As a provider of software for law offices, the first question we frequently get from prospects is: “How much do your software programs cost?”. When evaluating a software program for your law office, price is an important consideration. That being said, trying to flush out price before there is an understanding of business objectives, needs and issues can be problematic.
Most software vendors don’t like to provide pricing unless they are able to establish a strong fit between a client’s needs and the benefits their software provides. Simply stated, if there isn’t a fit, then the price is irrelevant. Doing so can often lead to a prospect using price as a primary comparison tool between competing solutions. In these situations, solution fit and value can be overshadowed by price in the decision-making process, which can have negative consequences for both the client and the vendor in terms of building a long-term business relationship.
If a buyer is not willing to have a meaningful discussion about their needs, then it signals to the vendor that they may be price shopping and not really interested. This can be a missed opportunity for both parties. Vendors need to do a better job of guiding the prospect through the decision-making process by taking a consultative approach, and buyers need to be open to investing the time to engage with vendors to understand how a solution will address their needs and fit with their current and future workflow processes.
2. Engage Your Whole Team
Introducing new software for your law office means change is coming. Managing change in organizations is challenging and your employees’ response to that change typically falls into three categories: those that embrace it, those that will fight it tooth and nail, and the passive aggressive bunch who won’t squawk, but also won’t adopt it.
Getting feedback and involving stakeholders from across your firm in the early stages can help drive significant improvements in adoption. Communicating why the change is needed and aligning it with your firm’s strategy and goals is critical to improving the success of your firm adopting the new software programs.
Involving user groups from different functional areas of your firm and different practice areas is also crucial to flush out how new software may enhance or impact existing workflow processes. Enlisting their subject matter expertise and allowing them to have input into the decision-making process will also promote buy-in for your new solution.
Take a survey of your employees and find out who is on board and who is not. Try to engage the “not-on-boards” directly in a healthy debate to break through misconceptions. Like any good salesperson will tell you, handling an objection before it gets raised is an effective way of managing issues and builds trust and credibility with your team.
3. Customer Success Isn’t Just a Buzzword
These days, software companies have hip and fancy titles for many of their employees, such as Vice President of Stuff, Wizard of Lightbulb Moments, and Chief Project Meanie. Some of these are attempts to shrug off convention, establish a unique corporate culture, or institute a lack of corporate culture for that matter. While the title “Customer Success Manager” has a similar ring to it, this one should not be overlooked. The Customer Success Manager is typically tasked with one two goals: to implement programs/initiatives to drive adoption with a software solution by its customers, and implement systems to measure adoption and success rates.
When selecting a software vendor for your law office, make sure that customer success is embedded in how the vendor engages with clients, from onboarding through the entire customer lifecycle. Identify the resources that the vendor has available for customer support, training, and learning management to ensure your employees have the tools to drive success. Understanding how the vendor measures success and how that equates to customer retention rates can also provide insights on how effective they are at delivering on their customer success objectives.
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4. Integration. Integration. Integration.
How well a new software solution fits with your existing workflow processes and other systems is a make or break situation. For law firms looking to improve efficiencies with legal document automation software, it is critical not only to understand how documents are created today but what systems are involved in these processes.
Thirty years ago, document creation efficiency was akin to how many words per minute you could type. Today, we have document management systems, automated templates and intelligent documents that can automatically pull matter and file information directly into variable content fields in a legal document.
Determining the degree of integration you want between the applications you rely on to run your firm and how data in those systems can be enabled into your document creation process can help with evaluating the differences between competing law office software applications. The questions you ask about integration will also help qualify the vendor’s expertise in the marketplace and how scalable their solutions are as your firm evolves and grows over time.
Infoware Legal Document Software Programs For Law Offices
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