Simon Elven at Tikit on the importance of transparency and trust to power SME law firms in 2020

What will it take to be a successful firm in 2020 and beyond? Trust will remain an essential component for firms that want to build longstanding and lucrative client relationships. What’s new is that, in 2020, technology will play a key role in building it. How so? Well, for example, the bedrock of trust in legal relationships has to be professional competency. Fundamentally, firms will still need good lawyers, but good technology will buy lawyers more time to do a good job.

In addition, technology can play a role in underlining the professional competency of the firm. Feedback mechanisms triggered by a system event (like the raising of a final invoice) can gather solid testimonials. Or, if a client is unhappy, firms can find that out quickly and trigger prompt action. If their issues are dealt with efficiently and effectively, detractors can become the loudest promoters. This is where a high-performing customer relationship management system will pay dividends.

Another way to demonstrate competency to prospective clients is by having the ability to supply case studies, testimonials and other information at short notice. It can be a key differentiator in the race to secure a prospective client’s trust in the firm’s competence. Firms should make a point of providing all clientfacing staff with the ability to quickly construct responses to requests for information. It calls for technology that deals with the storage of assets, the internal processes used to submit and approve such assets and their consistent branding …

This article was first published in LPM’s December/January issue ‘A tale of 2020’, click here to read the full article.