The legal industry is famous for being slower to innovate and embrace new technology. While the ‘if it isn’t broken…’ approach might have served law firms well in the past, the past year has shown legal firms (as well as many other industries), that embracing technology is a must for survival.
There are all kinds of tech solutions that can prove useful to law firms. Check out these essential tools your law firm should be using and get ready to make some positive changes.
Cloud storage and applications
At a time where more and more people are working from home, even law firms have seen their employees having to move out of the office and work remotely. Using cloud storage and applications can enable teams to work anywhere, while also working on projects in real-time, making it much faster to get work done. It’s worth exploring the best cloud solutions available for businesses to see which ones meet your business’ needs.
Data analytics
Using data analytics can bring many benefits to your firm. Legal data can help you see where your revenue is coming from, staff productivity and identify where leads have been generated. Using legal data analytics, you can get some valuable insights into how your firm is working, identifying where improvements need to be made. It may not have been something you’d considered before, but it will certainly provide benefits to your business.
AI (artificial intelligence) tools
Time is money for any law firm, and being able to save time on basic tasks could help you spend more time with clients, and dedicated time and brain power to more important processes. Using AI tools can identify errors in documents, automate processes and even make lighter work of research. While some people worry that AI can replace people, what it actually does for law firms is allow them to dedicate more time to the things that a computer simply cannot do.
Collaboration tools
Now that businesses have had a taste of remote working, it’s likely something that will continue even once the pandemic is over. For businesses, remote working can be a way of reducing business costs, but it’s only effective when the right tools and practices are adopted. Collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Asana, Basecamp and others are a fantastic way for colleagues to stay in touch and share projects, as well as being able to communicate with each other easily. With the right collaboration tools and a strong strategy for remote or flexible working, you can make this a permanent change for your teams.
Technology has the ability to transform businesses, with smarter tools being developed all the time. If your law firm could become more digital, perhaps it’s time to explore the different tools that are out there that could save your firm time and money.