Despite the never-ending promise of how software will help transform your legal practice, most attempts at such modernization still fall short.
In fact, bringing on new technology without an adoption plan is often worse than doing nothing at all.
That’s because “legal innovation” is not always about technology; it’s about a change in practice that improves the delivery of legal services and provides better value to your clients. While technology is often a component of such innovation, it doesn’t always have to be.
As the VP of Customer Success at Matter365, it is my role to ensure that every new customer gets the value of a fully integrated legal practice management system.
In my experience, the following steps will help ensure that the adoption of any new technology is truly helping to drive the types of changes you want to achieve.
Take the 30,000-Foot View
Before you even start looking at any new shiny technology, ask yourself: What are you trying to do better? What new thing are you trying to do?
If the process in your firm is broken, chances are technology will not make it better. You will just be automating a broken process.
And if the thing you are trying to do better can be improved, you must assess whether the new technology can accomplish all of this or only parts of it.
If you break down the process to its various “moving” parts, you may have an easier time finding the right technology for each part, rather than finding the perfect technology that “does it all.”
Lastly, consider what other processes will be impacted by any technology. If you are automating one part of a process, will the other non-automated parts adapt to the new workflow easily, or will the new technology create a new bottleneck in your process?
Don’t Forget Compatibility
Chances are, there will be more than one new piece of software that will fill your needs.
When making choices on which to try or buy, consider which technology does this best versus which technology does this well-enough AND integrates well with your other current systems.
If your new piece of shiny new tech does not play well with systems your team already uses, it will be hard to get widespread adoption; worse, it might create further inefficiencies in your processes
Get Buy-In Before You Buy
If you’re considering bringing on a new product, you should first identify all of the users who will be using the new tool — and get them involved in the search, trials, and purchasing decisions.
A piece of shiny new technology might impress a group of lawyers, but if their clerks and assistants don’t like it, it’s not worth the investment. However, also beware of internal blockers — those who automatically cling to the old way of doing things.
If you get users involved in screening new technology, they will be more invested in the outcome. And if users know why and how the improvement will occur and have input along the way, they are less likely to resist.
Top-down requests — demands? — to adopt new systems? These generally do not work.
Finish the Follow-Through
Consider the printed owner’s manuals that come with most appliances or electronics. They start with “Congratulations on the purchase of … ” and then outline how the new thing works.
With most new legal technology and software, you rarely get such a guide. After you sign up, you are lucky to get a set of video “tours” of the systems and a link to the support page.
This self-help approach might work for some users and firms, but spending the time — and money where needed — to get all your users trained adequately on the software is the quickest way to achieve the full value from your new technology.
Just as necessary as onboarding and training is getting follow-up training after 30-60 days to ensure that everyone on your team is maximizing the use of the new tech.
You can use these follow-up sessions for diving deep into how your users need or want to use the technology or get answers to nagging issues. Any provider that is unwilling to spend the time with you to solve your problems and maximize the value of their product shouldn’t get your business.
At Matter365, we provide initial onboarding and training. We also follow up with customers at regular intervals with offers of ongoing training and support.
I believe these steps are critical to ensuring that all firm members have the skills and knowledge required to effect the change promised by the adoption of a new piece of technology.
Rohit Parekh is a Registered Trademark Agent and practices intellectual property law. In addition to the practice of law, as the VP of Customer Success at Matter365, Mr. Parekh develops and implements processes and workflow solutions for legal services to maximize efficiency and value.