The Importance of a Digitally Enabled Legal Workplace

Introduction

The legal digital workplace is a concept which stresses on digital transformation (DX), where legal business processes and employees are aligned with the use of technology to meet a law firm’s goals and enhance the operational efficiency. In other words, it is a virtual office space where different tools and software are used to take care of the various legal processes, office management, collaborations and interactions, complex cases, security, and more.

In the past, law firms were finding it hard to manage their legal data, leading to delayed results and client dissatisfaction. With a digital workplace, corporate legal departments and law firms are able to utilize their legal data in a more organized way that enables them to gain access to relevant data and meet client demands in real-time from anywhere and at anytime.

Top Digital Transformation Statistics

As per the PwC Law Firms Survey, 80% of law firms accept the fact that digital transformation is a critical factor when it comes to their business growth.
According to Smart Insights, 34% of companies are already reaping the benefits of streamlined business processes due to the adoption of a digital working approach.
35% of law clerical work and 22% of a lawyer’s job can be easily automated, explains Mackinsey.
As per The Legal Tech 2018 Buyer’s Guide, law firms invested almost $49 million in 2018 on the use of artificial intelligence.

Top 5 Digitally Enabled Legal Workplace Benefits

1. Entire Information comes under One Roof

Most of the businesses find it hard to manage the entire information related to their business processes, and this leads to confusions and frustrations amongst the team members. However, with the use of digital tools, all the information related to the legal work comes under a single roof, which includes access to files, calendars, referred information, contacts, and more.

When the staff is able to find the information easily, they are able to concentrate better on their important tasks and also, complete them quickly. Apart from this, an organised and user-friendly digital workplace helps the staff to view company news’ snippets, register for forthcoming events for training, have fast links for case openings, etc.

2. Team Members’ Specialties are Opened

When your legal workplace goes digital, your staff is able to take advice from practitioners who are more experienced and skilled with the help of a directory which has a list comprising of the specialties of every team member. This way, every talent in the workplace gets noticed, and their specialties are open to everyone for help related to different tasks.

This saves a lot of time as sending mass emails or running around the office for finding the best person for assistance is overwhelming for everyone. When the staff works in compliance with each other’s specialties, it does well in managing the overall legal tasks. Also, there are a lot of team members who are good at multiple tasks, and such vital information about the talent of a team member can benefit the team in a big way.

3. Repetitive Tasks get Automated

In every business throughout the world, there are repetitive tasks that the staff has to complete on a daily basis. The legal industry is no exception to this as a lot of law firm tasks are repetitive in nature, which wastes a lot of time and efforts of the staff members.

For instance, there are forms that need to be completed for new matters and annual leaves. When you opt for automated forms, you are able to save the time and effort required for the same, along with eliminating any scope of manual data entry. After the forms get filled automatically, they are sent to the administrators and managers for their responses, including approvals and rejections.

4. Superior Service to the Clients

In the past, team members of the law firms were unable to meet the demands of the clients in a timely manner, leading to dissatisfied service. With digital tools in place, the team members are able to save a lot of time on the tasks that can be easily automated, leaving them all available to serve the clients in a better and timely manner.

By embracing important techniques like analytics, mobile apps, collaborations, service education, a digitally enabled workplace is able to provide the clients what they expect from a law firm. The rule is simple; your law firm will grow only when your clients are satisfied and spread the goodness about your legal support services.

5. Increased Interactions & Efficiency

Irrespective of the business type, every team performs better only when the team members join hands with each other. This is only possible when your law firm workplace becomes digital as this opens up the communication channel and eliminates any kind of gap in mutual interactions.

When team members have a platform that allows them to communicate with each other, they are able to remove the nervousness and friction barriers, leading to a happy working environment. This further leads to increased efficiency amongst them, which benefits the law firms in a big way.

Conclusion

The above-benefits have clearly established the importance of having a digitally enabled workplace. This is 2019, an age of digitization and modernization, and it is imperative to move with time and incorporate the use of technology into the business processes of the law firms. There are a lot of challenges for law firms in the form of client demands and quick task competitions, which are met exclusively with the use of technology.

Apart from this, it helps the team members to bond well with each other, leading to an increase in work productivity. It is a known fact by now that no business can make progress if it fails to keep pace with the change which is for better and technology is the change that is making the business processes streamlined in every way. So, it makes complete sense to have a workplace which is digitally enabled and reap the benefits that come along with it.

Photo credits: eOffice

Cathrine Troyer writes about law office management, technology, and business law. She is passionate about teaching lawyers and legal professionals on how to renew their strategies and use technology in their cases and does so regularly for her clients at Cogneesol.