Where should your firm start its automation journey?
Process automation can offer valuable data insights, streamline client onboarding and save your firm valuable time, according to Gary Shaw, commercial director at Accesspoint, who highlights how your firm could kick off its move to automation-powered efficiency.
Process automation is on the rise, but many firms are still to see and understand the benefits, and fail to fully commit and invest in it as a result. Could not knowing where to start perhaps be the cause of this missed opportunity?
When evaluating what processes within your firm could benefit from an automation makeover, it is key to understand what your firm wants to achieve – be it capturing more data, speeding up work processes, becoming flexible, reducing costs, or anything else. Once this has been established, finding software that helps you achieve this can become easier and you may even find that the automation you implemented for one goal is not limited to that one thing – when done right, it can often leave you with various benefits.
For example, onboarding new clients is certainly an area that can benefit from effective and streamlined automation. The world is changing and so are consumer expectations. No longer can traditional face-to-face or drawn-out onboarding practices captivate potential clients from start to finish. Remember, this is a big opportunity to allow clients to engage with your firm from the initial stage, so making it as user friendly and appealing as possible will work in your favour and show clients what type of service they can expect going forward. Digital client onboarding that facilitates web forms, client-facing portals, and case management integration can offer a great client-centric approach to onboarding new clients, which not only allows clients to fill out their information in a secure and remote setting – at their convenience – but it can also ease the stress on your firm. Reducing manual data input and transferring details to case and practice management systems can save an immense amount of time and costs, all while minimising the level of errors made. Something like this can be useful in any area of law and can instantly offer firms multiple benefits and enhance a firm’s productivity and time management.
Another innovative use of legal automation can be seen in software that allows your firm to time record the process of gaining a new client. This is extremely useful as it tackles a major problem that many firms face when turning a prospect into a client – lost earnings. Keep in mind that not every prospect will turn into a client and the time taken is a valuable resource that many firms cannot afford to waste. Overlooking this leakage of time can cost your firm in the long run. In the past, many case management systems were unable to record the time spent when dealing with new prospects, leaving large amounts of work unaccounted for.
However, with the help of new modern automation, software is available to allow your firm to record time before the creation of a matter. This time could be for matter research purposes or simply to keep a record of time spent on early meetings or telephone calls, and the best part is it will all be recorded within your case management system. This type of automation can make a big difference for your firm. The time and money saved will be unmatched, while the level of data that you can collect using this type of software would be very valuable – as it utilises constant reports on time spent. Your firm will be able to maximise its analytical capabilities and as a result, guarantee smart, data-driven decisions are made to improve and benefit the firm and avoid missing out on potential payments from clients.
When exploring exciting new automation, consider moving with caution. Most firms usually make the mistake of tackling one problem at a time, sourcing their software and apps from various providers – creating a disparate environment where the solutions rarely work together within the law firm to ensure an interconnected environment is achieved.
The answer that has been on the table for the forward-thinking firm is a legal platform that can enable your firm to be more efficient with the use of application programming interfaces (APIs). This is possibly one of the best moves to make in this new digital age – since various automated apps and tools are built to work alongside each other, they can input data into the platform and output important and valuable information to your firm. This instantly creates a secure environment where it is easier for you, your firm and clients to retrieve important information such as matter updates, project statuses, knowledge, and insights about cases. It’s also useful in pulling billing information, documents, reporting and more from one place.
The true value of automation within the legal industry is still being uncovered as we speak. With innovations around every corner and ground-breaking alterations to the software and apps we have grown accustomed to, your new legal future is just a stone throw away.
