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6 Reasons Now Is the Time for Law Practices to Embrace Technology

Technology is changing the world around us in ways that many would have never imagined. In the past few months, the world has transformed: most of the touchpoints with businesses shifted online or shortened dramatically while customers’ need for trust, care, and predictability has grown. Businesses that embrace technology to adapt to the changing dynamics of the business-to-client interactions will find themselves at an advantage over their competitors. Those who delay incorporating them risk falling out of touch with their customers and losing the race. Here are 6 reasons your law practice should embrace technology today.

Automate Workflows to Minimize Costs

Does your firm have standardized processes to follow for each type of case that comes in? Do you or someone in your firm need to manually push the case through each step of the process? Are your clients (secretly) fuming and valuable information gets lost along the way? That does not have to be the norm! You can use technology to automate those workflows and reduce the amount of manual labor required to work the case files, as well as save significant costs.

Imagine that each time a new client signs up, an email is automatically created and sent to them welcoming them to the firm. At the same time, you receive an email with all pertinent case details. Each time an update is made to the file, the appropriate people within your firm are notified as well as the client. Just think how many calls from the client this could eliminate just trying to get a status update!

Data Protection and Security

Security of client data is of utmost importance to most firms out there today. However, keeping personal information on pieces of paper or local hard drives is not the safest way of maintaining that data. Now is the time to consider secure cloud-based technology that allows you to fully encrypt and store sensitive client, IP, and financial data.

Most attorneys are not cybersecurity experts. Fortunately, you can outsource this expertise at a much more affordable rate than hiring an in-house IT with cybersecurity experience. By working with a third-party security firm, you can rest easy knowing that yours and your clients’ data is fully secure and protected. It also gives your clients peace of mind as they hand over sensitive information to your firm.

Case File Organization

An organized office runs so much smoother than a disheveled one. Various sources show that anywhere between 36% to the staggering 55% of data breaches within law practices happen due to human negligence. The risk becomes even more pressing now, when everyone in your office is juggling an extra load of responsibilities, struggling with anxiety and uncertainty, and is readjusting to working remotely.

Your chances of success on any given case are also higher if your case file is organized and everything is contained in the file where it should be. By utilizing practice management software along with automation, you can keep your firm organized and running on all cylinders. Easily place documents into the proper file, and you can even access them on your mobile device from the courtroom or anywhere else you may need to read them. No more sifting through stacks of paper trying to find that doctor’s report. You can have everything you need right at your fingertips.

Improved Client Experience

A client’s experience with your firm is often the driving factor in whether they will become a repeat client or refer other business your way. If their experience is effortless and seamless, they are highly likely to tell others about you. By using customer relationship management, or CRM, software, you can make your client’s experience an enjoyable one.

This piece of software allows you to maintain a record of each client contact, and anyone in your firm who talks to that client can see their entire history. This prevents the client from telling their story over and over again each time they talk to someone new within the firm. It also shows the client that your firm knows who they are and is familiar with their case. It makes your firm appear much more professional, and it keeps the client happy and satisfied.

Increased Visibility for Your Firm

If clients do not know about your firm, then your phone will not be ringing. This is a bad thing for your business. Successful firms today have a large online presence, and they use technology to make it easier for potential clients to find the firm. By setting up a proper website, maintaining a social media presence, and producing SEO-related content, law firms today are doing everything they can to get in front of potential clients. If you have not done this yet, now is the time to start! This is an absolute must as the landscape is becoming more competitive.
Don’t feel like maintaining them manually? No problem, multiple tools allow you to scrape the web for useful content to bring value to your followers and raise your profile.

Ease of Compliance

The legal field is highly regulated by the Bars of each state, and there are many rules that attorneys must follow. Keeping up with each rule can be difficult. There are different lengths of time a case file must be kept, different ways that money must be handled, and even rules about the contents of advertising. However, with technology, it can be much easier to ensure compliance with these rules.

For example, you can automatically set retention schedules for your case files based on the type of case. This eliminates the need to manually keep up with that schedule. You could automate many of your accounting functions, ensuring that client money is kept in the appropriate accounts. With compliance rules only becoming more complex, now is the time to consider embracing technology to help with some of these tasks.

These are just some of the ways a law practice of any size can take advantage of technology today. You don’t need to go all-in: starting small can be a good way to see incremental improvements and justify spending’s with all partners and stakeholders. Look for an MSP who focuses on personalized scalable solutions and packages, not one-size-fits-all systems. Call your dedicated IT expert at 3nom to get started today.