LPM LITL 2021 partner comment: Willingness to thrive by CTS
Automation, streamlining, workflow enhancements – these were some of the repeat priorities for IT and business process improvements coming out of the LPM LITL report this year. This was reflected again in project priorities if a magic wand could be waved or an extra £100K injected. Year on year the trends here have been quite similar, but this year, with the dramatic change to homeworking as the normal and a reduction in the classic support to fee-earner ratio model, the urgency to automate more of the administration of case and matter management is more pressing. Why? Two main reasons: firstly, fee earners are having to look after themselves more, especially around administration, and so anything that eats away at their productivity and billable time is a problem. Secondly, law firms and lawyers have figured out that a lot of the technology, software solutions and automated processes actually work, are cheaper than lots of support staff, are reliable and of assured quality and they don’t want to go back to the old model post enforced lockdown.
This means that there’s a greater willingness to embrace automation and workflow streamlining along with greater use of digital tools and online processes. The appetite for more client portal-based administration is also evident in the report, reflecting the same thinking.
We asked a secret question in the report: Agree/disagree: “Increased remote working has forced lawyers to become more self-sufficient, relying less on administrative staff and more on technology to manage their workload.” Of answers received, 75% stated they either agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. Therefore, the dial has shifted. Why would 75% of recipients want to go back now? Some might, but there has been a cultural shift to accepting self-sufficiency as the norm, albeit with the appetite to continue to invest in taking off the heavy admin load through aforementioned automation projects.
What is of interest is that some of this prioritisation is linked to magic wand wishlists; does this mean that firms either don’t have the funds or (not quite yet) the appetite to prioritise more progressive automation projects? Given that the world is about to unlock, but the same LPM LITL report states a majority of respondents are declaring homeworking will be the norm 50% or more of the time, it is clear that wishlists have to become to-do lists. Without it, more and more people may want/need to come back to the offices the majority of the time, and with it, the savings firms anticipate they can make would surely dissipate.
This sponsor comment was taken from LPM Frontiers: Legal IT landscapes 2021. To read the full report, click here.
