May 11, 2022
Ready for the future? You never know what is going to impact your business – a pandemic, political unrest, war, a recession or any combination of the above. As a legal services firm, investing in legal tech innovation can help you prepare for whatever is on the horizon.
What is Legal Technology?
Legal technology is a broad term that encompasses technologies that aid law firms in running a successful firm. Knowledge management, billing and accounting, tracking and reporting, document storage and creation, marketing, client relations – these are all components that help a firm remain competitive and efficient.
Today, legal tech innovation can apply to a wide variety of new technologies that may not be on the radar of traditional firms. These more cutting-edge technologies can give firms the leverage to beat out the competition to win more business.
Strategies like using artificial intelligence, implementing a top-notch security framework, being able to easily work remotely, and automating workforce processes are the most relevant examples of this innovation. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these and explore why they’re a valuable investment.
Automation will Drive Efficiency
Automation is any technology application that minimizes human input. It’s often used to complete simple, rudimentary tasks. In legal services, automation’s most common use is manage data and drive efficiency.
Consider how long it takes one person to pull information for a marketing/pitch asset like a tombstone. Generating this type of data-driven content requires grabbing and sorting your existing client data, formatting that data for visual appeal and then inserting it into a PowerPoint or Word document.
If you’re doing this manually, you must hand-sort your data - likely pulling it from multiple databases - and individually formatting it each time.
A transaction database, which is a common use for Pitchly, is designed specifically for law firm marketing teams. This can cut down the time it takes to aggregate data for tombstones plus proposals and pitches. Data used to create tombstones can be exported directly to PowerPoint via detailed searches that use easy-to-navigate filters.
Having a well-organized database and experience collection process can cut that time in half, while delivering detailed consistent data about client activities.
When you use technology to automate your marketing processes, you drive efficiency. When processes become more efficient, you gain time to focus on big-picture items like new business marketing strategies. And that is the most effective firm growth strategy.
AI will Handle Internal Legal Requests
AI or artificial intelligence is another legal tech innovation that more law firms will utilize in the coming years. AI is a branch of computer science that builds smart machines that are capable of performing tasks that require human intelligence. In the legal services industry, lawbots are a common type of AI.
Lawbots are virtual legal assistants. They can handle those requests that would normally consume a lot of time. While lawyers’ time is extremely costly, the cost of this technology is minimal in comparison. These AI-driven bots can help guide new customers by answering simple questions and directing them to specific calls to action, like scheduling a proposal. As such, lawbots are also a solid piece of legal tech to add to your budget.
According to Law Technology Today, lawbots are low-risk, moderate-reward products. Lawbots give legal firms an easy introduction to the legal tech innovation space. They are easy to develop, easier to buy, require minimal maintenance and can be tested in-house before presenting them to clients.
Increased Security
As law firms focus on tech, they must also focus on making sure their data is secure. Using cloud-based data with a remote workforce can put any company at risk.
An American Bar Association report stated that 26% of law firms experienced some sort of security breach in 2019. It goes without saying that protecting client data should be a top priority. But there are other severe consequences like loss of billable hours, having to replace hardware or software and loss of files.
One way to make sure your clients’ data remains safe is by using legal tech that offers some protection from cyber threats. The best technology providers should pursue accreditation to safeguard data. Pitchly recently completed their Soc 2 Type 2 examination and audit, which recognizes the ongoing steps it takes to ensure the Pitchly data productivity suite is designed to keep its clients’ sensitive information safe and confidential.
The investment in certifications of these kinds is becoming increasingly popular and necessary as data needs grow. Technology companies consistently reinforce their commitment to upholding strong privacy and security standards with optimized controls and processes for continued compliance and a security-first mindset for all applications.
Hybrid-Workforce Capabilities Will be Essential
A hybrid workforce is here to stay, according to 83% of IT leaders. But working in multiple zip codes comes with a whole host of challenges. Firms need to maintain collaboration and efficient work processes between teams. Luckily there is legal tech innovation that can help make a hybrid working environment easy for everyone involved. Remote technologies are only growing in necessity and popularity.
Aderant, a software that Pitchly integrates with, provides business support services for an agile hybrid workforce. Its technology can handle business and administrative services, including billing, time entry, knowledge management, and collaboration, no matter where employees are located.
Legal tech innovations should be embraced by all firms. When technology makes processes more efficient, time is saved for strategic planning that can help firms grow and ultimately make them more profitable.
Want to learn more about Pitchly and our data enablement systems? Contact us today!
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