Further, faster, smarter

Solicitors could be forgiven for thinking that they have enough on their plates just now without trying to get their heads round the latest IT developments as well. Continuing market uncertainty, credit restrictions, alternative business structures, new online competitive offerings – there are plenty of distractions quite apart from the question of being able to afford such investment.

The answer to that is twofold. For one thing, costs are much lower than in the days when a network meant having to install and maintain your own server in the office. For another, firms might ask themselves how they intend to compete in today’s legal services market without the ability to respond flexibly as client expectations change.

Clients, after all, are increasingly likely to have their own smart phones, iPads and so on that enable them to access remotely located data from almost anywhere – and to expect their professional advisers to be as well equipped.

And many lawyers are keeping up with them. Would they come and work for you? As Ronnie Paton of software company Peapod observes: “Demand for flexibility in working hours and methods means that office-based systems with no remote access are no longer suitable, and employees see no reason why they should not be able to use their device of choice, be it an iPad, Mac or smart phone to gain remote access when working from home or elsewhere.”

“The ability of legal service providers to deliver information and insight whenever and wherever it’s needed is becoming more important,” comments Gilly Grant, director at Thomson Reuters W Green. “Work habits are changing and our customers want to access content and services on mobile platforms such as their tablets, smartphones and laptops. Meeting this challenge will be a clear differentiator; you’re already behind the game if you’re not able to offer this capability.”

Some detect a two-speed profession, reflected in the rate of IT adoption. “The market is going through a dynamic shift,” Warren Wander of LawWare maintains, “contracting in terms of the number of smaller, more traditional firms, with mid-tier as the segment contracting the most, while growing in terms of the number of new starts and more specialist niche offerings. While the former are more IT reserved, the latter are more IT savvy and this is leading to a more technical and business focused practice profile.”

The former group, he adds, are the most likely still to view IT as a cost rather than an investment, “and in this day and age, it is perhaps a somewhat old fashioned approach”.

Windows fights back

What trends in IT are set to catch the attention over the next 12 months? Part of the answer lies in understanding what is happening as the global giants battle for market share. Apple has been making the running through successive versions of the iPhone and iPad, with Google responding via Android devices which run on open source (non-proprietary) software. The loser to date has been Microsoft, with its products targeted at desktop computers. Its response is the much heralded Windows 8, launched at the end of October, which allows users to choose between a conventional mouse-driven Windows device or a touch screen tablet. With it, Microsoft has produced its own tablet, known as “Surface”, to compete with the iPad, and a Windows 8 phone to set against iPhone and Android. For those who prefer a keyboard to the touch screen approach of its competitors, the Surface has a magnetic clip-on keyboard cover.

“Launching its own tablet has been a very controversial decision,” Wander comments, “effectively competing with Microsoft’s own partners, and the outcome of this is yet to be seen. Some say it will alienate other manufacturers, while others say it will raise the bar and lower prices, which is great for the consumer.”

In the result, he believes, we are set to witness “a convergence of technologies”, with each product range offering more mobility and flexibility, and cleverer interfaces, alongside better performance and reliability, and all priced for mass markets.

George Blair of Denovo describes the market as “coming of age” with the merger of tablet technology, its sophisticated web browsing enabling many additional applications to streamline a lawyer’s work.

Not only will devices become smaller yet more powerful: the internet will also become faster with the introduction of 4G wireless technology, now available in 11 UK cities including Glasgow and Edinburgh, which could significantly improve on current mobile speeds.

Up on the cloud

All this connectivity points to a further leap forward for the cloud – the family of providers who offer to host your office files, email, case management system and most other functions you care to choose, remotely from your office, storing your data in a secure environment while making it available to you wherever you happen to be – in office or out, and whether you choose a conventional or “virtual” office environment.

“We predict a significant increase in the number of firms adopting cloud technologies,” comments Brian Kenneally of Legal IT. “As solicitors become increasingly aware of the benefits of cloud technologies, more firms are adopting cloud products to help remain competitive and help improve their services. For many smaller firms, competing in the current economic climate is becoming increasingly difficult and they are looking to these new technologies to maximise their returns.”

As Matt Duncan of Net Documents adds: “It’s clear that most firms currently do not have an appetite for large IT-related capital expenditures. When it comes to IT, firms need to find ways to ‘do more with less’. More productivity and efficiency; less capital investment, hardware, maintenance and hassle. Modern cloud-based applications enable firms to achieve this, as there is no up-front capital investment, and firms pay only for what they use, when they use it.”

It is worth re-emphasising the advantages of the cloud from a cash flow point of view, as compared with traditional systems. Because the supplier hosts the data, customers avoid the large capital costs associated with in-office hardware – all you need is a PC with internet connection. Users do not have to worry about installing or updating software, as this is taken care of by the provider. In effect it is generally sold on a subscription model.

Further, the extent to which you adopt the cloud is up to you as customer: providers will offer a menu that enables you to choose which of your office systems to outsource in this way. As Peapod’s Paton explains: “A hybrid approach to cloud computing can be helpful to allow selected applications such as email to be hosted, while keeping practice management systems in-house. This approach allows the firm to measure the pros and cons of hosting, to help with decision making about future direction. The challenge for the legal software supplier against this background is to produce products that can be used in all these diverse circumstances and accommodate the mix of processing, storage and delivery methods that its user base will require.”

Working through the issues

Wander acknowledges that resistance to change remains an issue, perhaps due to firms having previously been “oversold” expensive systems that they have failed to make work properly. He insists that the cloud can simplify technology and overcome these obstacles, pointing out, however, that “the transition to the cloud needs a plan, a trusted partner and solid internet connection, which all forms part of an essential readiness assessment”.

Such investment, he adds, will mean a procedural and cultural change in working habits, with attitude to change and level of IT aptitude both being important considerations.

Data ownership, and data security, are also significant issues, and matters that cloud-based suppliers take very seriously. At the beginning of the year, the Law Society of Scotland published guidance specifically for solicitors considering whether to adopt cloud-based services. Described at Journal, January 2012, 30, and available in the Rules and Guidance section of the Society’s website (link: bit.ly/wlVVh1; download from menu at right of page), it helps you work through the various considerations in making a decision.

Kenneally recommends that prospective purchasers take up any offer of a free demonstration or trial. “Most companies now offer a free product trial, providing potential users with the opportunity to test the product and decide whether it might be beneficial before purchasing,” he points out. “Secondly, we would suggest engaging in conversation with the provider. In particular with cloud services, firms may have questions regarding security, data storage or even questions about the possibility of new features for the future.”

Further applications

With software increasingly capable of delivering integrated solutions, providers of other legal support services are working to deliver compatible products. “Doing more with less has become ever more important, and providers that can help law firms and solicitors achieve this are going to be instrumental,” Gilly Grant observes. “As an example, we’re already working to connect our legal content on products like Westlaw UK with workflow tools to increase efficiency; and, among our recent acquisitions, we added a business in the UK called Solcara. It offers federated search to legal firms, helping them search a variety of sources to bring back precise results.”

Nor is it just a case of delivering accessible files or flexible working. George Blair of Denovo asserts the potential also for more effective billing: “Lawyers are waking up to the fact that in these difficult times it is very important to maximise the profitability in each case by picking up all of the right charges etc. It is not uncommon for a legal firm to miss when billing those short incoming and outgoing calls, which if not properly accounted for can result in even a small firm losing hundreds of pounds per week.”

Other “intelligent” applications Blair suggests are a legal firm enabling a business partner or introducer (perhaps a correspondent firm) to interact with the legal firm and share information, or monitor progress on cases without the firm having to produce reports; or clients themselves having a portal into their own matter and being able to follow the progress of their case; as well as lawyers being able to interact with their office systems while on the move, for example on booking a court hearing date. “As well as being able to update their files on the move, there is a growing trend to be able to gain access to interrogate the file from anywhere at any time,” he comments.

Don’t stand still

These are just some of the features typically to be found in software now on the market for large and small firms alike. As is becoming appreciated by some, IT platforms now exist that enable small firms to link up in a network capable of providing a range of expertise beyond what any individual member firm could hope to – potentially putting them in a position to compete for work against much larger practices.

Lawyers in Scotland must also be alert to the growing competitive threat from those for whom IT is a way of life in delivering legal services, whether or not born of ABS. Grant believes that IT efficiency, particularly information management, will increasingly come to the fore as new businesses come into the market and legal firms look at new ways of finding cases to try and differentiate themselves from the competition. “Demonstrating clear and compelling value is going to be important,” he notes. “Legal service providers that can help firms get closer to customers, or offer sector specific information, will play a critical role.”

It is often said that a legal firm’s greatest asset is its people – which means first and foremost their knowledge and expertise. Firms “need to operate more efficiently and improve capabilities to leverage their key assets – people, knowledge and content”, Net Documents’ Duncan observes. “To achieve this they’ll need modern IT applications in place, such as a document and email management system with powerful searching capabilities.”

With new providers likely to rely increasingly on automated processes where there is little human contact with the client, the ability to offer personal service, even if as an addition to a standard process, may be a key selling point for a legal practice – but optimum leverage of its human talent will require a firm to adopt smart working practices to enable its lawyers to have the firm’s resources at their fingertips wherever they are.

Some of our respondents also point to the value of social media for legal practices, especially as a marketing or business generation tool, a subject which would require a separate article to itself. The likes of Twitter and Facebook remain a minority interest among lawyers, at least for business use, but many who have tried them in that context claim strong results. Given how little they cost to use, it might be thought surprising that more firms have not got the message. You can be sure that the new players moving into the market will not be slow to promote themselves in this way.

Relationship building with clients, widening your practice’s potential market through a law firm network, using this route to increase buying power and therefore cut costs, or simply strengthening your presence as a niche player in a particular market – these and other potential responses to new competitive pressures can each be made more effective through imaginative use of IT.

Whatever your response, the important thing is to have a response. As Warren Wander sums up: “The greatest danger is paralysis, not moving because you don’t know where to go or are too frightened to make a mistake.”