Managing Change

Due to the technology landscape changing, it can be time to look at changing you Practice Management platform, or one of your other platforms. How do you make sure your decision is the correct decision?

It is widely understood that the one project that firms dread is changing practice management solutions. It is not just the change of the software, it is the data migration, taking your team through a change process, keeping work flowing and minimizing disruption and making sure the whole process is worth it.

To keep your cool through the decision making and implementation processes is key, but what else should you think about when approaching this project? 

Changing Practice Management

The decision making process

If you are looking to change practice management  solutions, there are a couple of things to consider:
  • Follow a process starting with asking the question "What is important to us as a firm"? If you insist your data in held in New Zealand then that rules out a number of options. If you want to have a work environment where staff can work from home, then that decision will steer you in a certain direction. If you are looking to attract new and maybe younger partners, what will there technology expectations be?
  • Make sure you look at all of the options that are built for a firm of your size, culture, firm type and team structure. Some platforms are developing at great speed so even though you might have looked at a solution a couple of years ago, it might now be much more suited to your needs.
Happy Lawyer
Business meeting-1
  • Talk to firms who have recently changed systems and ask them what their experience was like, how in depth was their planning, migration, roll out and training. Make sure that the firm you talk to is similar to your own firm and you you ask questions like "What surprised you about the process?", "What would you do differently if you were to go through the process again?", and "What should we take into consideration before we go any further with our own decision making"? A lot of Law Firms have a collaborative culture and are happy to share their experiences.
  • Ask the different suppliers what their plans are for the future of the product. When you change platforms, you want to make sure you are not going to have to change again in a hurry so chose for the years to come rather than what it can do now.
  • If in doubt, hire in help, I assure you that it is worth hiring a consultant or outside professional who can manage the decision making project. Their job isn't to make the decision on which platforms you should adopt, their job is to take you through a comprehensive decision making process that makes sure your firm makes the right decision for your firm.
virtual-consultant

Questions for you to answer to get you started:

  1. What does our firm look like in 10 years? How many staff, locations, partners?? What types of law will you offer?
  2. What do you really like about the technology you are currently using?
  3. What don't we like about the technology we are currently using?
  4. Which processes could be done better/quicker/more effeciently by using technology?
  5. What are the top 3 frustrations you would like to eliminate in your firm?
  6. What systems have your staff used in other firms that they liked?
  7. Do you have a preference of where your data is held?
  8. Are you planning to cater for more staff to work from home?
  9. Will you need to move buildings in the near or distant future?
  10. What do you think the legal industry will look like in 10 years?
IT tech professionals
Practice Management questions

Questions to ask your potential provider:

  1. What size firms do you currently work with?
  2. What does your platform do well?
  3. What area's are you still developing?
  4. What future developments are you planning for your platform?
  5. How many law firms are currently using your platform?
  6. How long has your firm been supplying the legal industry?
  7. Do you have other firms similar to our form that we can talk to?
  8. If your platform is not a SaaS solution, what is your Saas strategy?
  9. If the solutions in cloud based, where is the data stored?
  10. What other solutions do you integrate with?

The most important thing is to not panic.

Take a breath, relax, put the process in place, and you will be fine.

Improve your business with IT Simply

Help our team understand what you need, so we can provide you with the right tools to run your business effectively