Briefing LITL 2021 partner comment: Investing for the future – Cloud days to come are clear by CTS
This year’s survey shows a definite trend that puts automation, managed services, cloud and process optimisation at the forefront of priorities.
Investment budgets are not infinite. If people had more money, then AI, digital tech, emerging tech, robotic process automation, the lawyer of the future – these would all be at the top of the list owing to their importance in innovation (something else that remains high on the legal sector agenda). Does this mean respondents feel not enough of their current budget is available to invest in new tech and innovation, with too much focused on the ‘here and now’ and keeping the lights on? Have we hunkered down too much through lockdown and lost some of the appetite to invest in new ideas?
The year 2020, though, is the year that cloud’ won. Between 60% and 88% of firms now believe that a wide range of solutions will be in the cloud in four years’ time, with a real focus on document, client relationship and matter management. Covid-19 has pushed cloud migration into overdrive, and clearly the legal sector truly recognises that cloud migration is crucial when it comes to driving firms’ longevity and success. But will all the software vendors be ready?
The CTS model of providing legal vendor software in our own cloud infrastructure, with hybrid links to other SaaS platforms, is a clear direction of travel that most law firms are now taking. As more and more firms start on their cloud journeys, CTS continues to guide and support the legal sector every step of the way.
There’s also a big question around whether or not working from home is future-perfect. Over two-thirds say homeworking for two or more days will be a new reality, which is very interesting as two days is easy for most to agree to, but three days? Four or five days might be a bit of a stretch.
With over half saying they will have smaller offices and reduced leases, more homeworking may need to be a reality – but have firms acted too quickly and rashly here? There really is an immense logistical difference between working from home part of the time and working from home the majority of the time. Will some firms have trapped themselves into a remote working first model? Offering remote working is ‘easy’ now, but offering guaranteed office space when you don’t have it is hard!
This sponsor comment was taken from Briefing Frontiers: Legal IT landscapes 2021. To read the full report, click here.
