The Eternal Optimist: IT for dummies

I’m blessed that both my parents are still with me, but with that come the regular calls bemoaning that their TV, phone or internet is no longer working. There is almost no piece of technology too simple for them to misuse.

I have long since learned that all of their issues are in fact caused by “user errors”.

In this post-lockdown world we as a profession have come to rely more than ever on technology and the benefits it brings. There is no doubt that over the past two years we have jumped forward many, many years in our use and implementation of our IT systems. I do though hear practitioners bemoaning that their system still falls short of what they need or want it to do. I’d like to put forward a few simple pointers of things we can do to make sure that these issues are not down to the users.

Get on the map

I’m probably a little unusual as a lawyer in that I like numbers and computers. For anyone old enough to remember, I owned a Tandy TRS 80 in the days before even Sinclair Spectrums were popular. As a result I have some understanding of logic trees and process mapping, although neither are particularly complicated concepts. In brief they are just a way of breaking down a task (like a conveyance or a will) into its flow of the smallest constituent pieces or tasks, with choices at each decision point that will progress you along one of several different paths towards a conclusion. For the purpose of this piece let’s refer to these process maps as “the client journey”.

In order for our IT/case management system to do its job properly, we really need to understand what “the job” is. At some level we all of course do, but have you ever tried to write it down with all the myriad options and consequences as above? You could argue that all conveyancing transactions (as an example) are the same, but my own experience tells me that different firms have their own unique way of addressing all or parts of any transaction. While there will be key parts that we all need to comply with, there may be different twists and turns we take along that path, that client journey, that are unique to our firm. In some cases I’ve experienced, there can be differences even between colleagues in the same firm.

The starting point then is to map out clearly on a piece of paper (probably a pretty big one) each and every step of the client journey from first contact with your office through to the file being archived, with all the decision points and potential options along the way.

A huge task, I appreciate, and some of you I suspect are already thinking that you’d rather live with the small inconvenience of a less than perfect system. It’s worked for you so far, right?

For many it’s why the IT grumbles never really get fixed: the current pain point isn’t sore enough to deal with. So why go to all this time and trouble now to fix it?

Once you (and your colleagues) look at the client journey for your firm, you will be able to locate where the leaks and roadblocks are, and even any shortcuts or detours you could take.

Do you send out lots of fee quotes, with few instructions? Well, there is a leak needing addressed. Is work piling up at a stage of a transaction or on a particular person’s desk? We’ve located a roadblock.

Likewise, if you don’t obtain much additional work from clients, is there a detour that could be built in for cross-selling or recommending other services to them? The exercise, although time consuming, will allow you to look at your own processes and identify where they can be improved and adapted. It can be painstaking, and it does involve looking at everything you do along that client journey down to its very smallest parts. If you then add in feedback from your clients that you collect along the way, there are some pretty impressive improvements you can achieve.

From an IT perspective, you will then have something that fits with the way most case management systems are designed. You can start to work with your IT suppliers on how to automate many of these small parts and how to adapt your IT system to reflect as much of the client journey as possible. You can even build in extras such as the updates and feedback forms that we all need to improve that process further.

Staying young

To take it one step further, make sure you are maximising both your own and your staff’s use of training. The ubiquitous Microsoft Word and Excel have functionality that few of us ever access even a fraction of; how much less so then for our bespoke IT systems with their own quirks and styles? How many issues with your own systems come about due to a lack of understanding of what they are capable of and how to get the best out of them? Additionally, like learning a foreign language, the better you understand your system the easier it will be to communicate exactly what you need or any system shortcomings with your supplier.

Finally, don’t get old. Aging we can’t prevent, but try to remain young in your thinking or at least not fixed in your ways. New solutions for most challenges are being developed almost daily, and a healthy curiosity about what is available and how it might work for you will go a long way.

The number of little pieces of software that I come across to make my life just a little easier always astound me. Many are free or for little cost and well worth the time in locating and learning them. Moreover, while I don’t always love new IT, I try to remain interested enough in it that it doesn’t scare me.

I’m not for a moment saying that all IT systems are perfect, far from it – let’s just try not to be the user error!