Law firm management teams have long acknowledged the need for operational change. So why is there often such variation in the pace of its adoption, firm to firm?
There are lots of reasons why, but many of them fall under the bracket of perceived risk. The price of failure (little or no change) is too high reputationally and financially, and for some, to deliver the scale of change required to have a notably positive impact is daunting. But, at Intelligent Office, we have seen time and again that in order for law firms to stay competitive, they must make change and make transformation an integral part of their operations. As Boston Consulting Group highlights, firms that want to endure must be skilled at transformation. On the inability to adapt, we agree with their view that, “often failure isn’t a matter of vision but of execution”.
In our experience working with the UK’s top law firms, the three factors for mitigating the risks of operational change are – vision and insights, capability and bandwidth. Even the most talented leaders and managers are unlikely to have sufficient reserves of all three attributes if they’re concentrating on their primary role of managing day-to-day operations. Which is why those who mean business when it comes to operational transformation and ongoing service improvement turn to external specialists.
- Vision and Insights
Management teams within firms often know they need to change but often cannot articulate a vision for a new support model, or don’t have a detailed enough understanding of the way services are provided today to make a successful case for re-engineering them. One key gap in this regard is data relating to the performance, productivity and tasks currently delivered by their support teams; so, although there is a raft of metrics associated with fee earner performance, assessing the output of secretarial and admin support services is harder. Successfully restructuring from a firm’s model today, requires the right insights to inform qualified decision making.
- Bandwidth
As the recovery from the pandemic commences in earnest, law firm management teams are busier than ever, with strategic priorities focused on future growth, whilst in the short term, coordinating the gradual return to the office and responding to changes to systems, processes, and fee earner needs. They’re unlikely to have the bandwidth to plan and implement large-scale operational changes in-house single-handedly whilst delivering their day-to-day roles at a critical time for the firm.
- Continuous improvement
Transitioning into a new services model with all the required change management work-streams is only half the battle won. Law firms must then deliver against the initial change vision on a day-to-day operational and management perspective. The pandemic has opened a unique window of opportunity for firms to re-engineer their support services creating something that is more flexible, higher quality and cost-effective, with a greater focus on productivity and underpinned by efficient digital ways of working. With new skills required in the market and to support changing fee earner needs in the new hybrid working world, law firms must have the ability to deliver and manage their support services on a tactical and strategic perspective. Ensuring the right tasks are completed by the right teams is critical for scale and to support fee earners in maximising their billable hours.
INTELLIGENT OFFICE – OUR COMMITMENT
If transformative operational change were simple and easy, many more law firms would have undertaken it already. As a customer obsessed business, we are committed to supporting law firms restructure their support functions and then deliver better service in the future through proven best practices, a constantly innovative approach, operational and management infrastructure and expertise.
As Rachel McCorry, IO’s CEO recently noted, “For most law firms the transition to agile working has centred around where people are working and how they are accessing systems. This, however, is only half the story, and to complement the ‘where’, IO have been delivering the ‘how’. Our innovative support solutions allow IO teams to work seamlessly, irrespective of physical location, with support tasks such as PAs, legal admin, billing and so on, optimised for the new hybrid working.”
With a range of tools and methodologies to drive insights, 800+ highly-skilled UK-based employees to service clients through peak workloads, and a team of subject matter experts who have been leading and managing change for law firms for over 25 years, trusting Intelligent Office to support operational change allows firms to de-risk transformation and empower fee earners to perform better.
To find out more about our approach, get in touch with Sam Nicholls, Head of Business Development at Intelligent Office.