Putting the I.T. into profit

I have been dealing with legal firms of all sizes for seven years now and it never fails to amaze me the reaction to those two little letters I and T. It starts with a flush of the face followed by the subsequent draining of their entire colour and the big finale when the eyes totally glaze over!

I have often delved into why it causes such a reaction and find it is usually related back to the purchase of a new network or case management system or software accounts system that was going to revolutionise the firm to the extent where you just had to press “Enter” and it would do it all for you. Partners could work half days, you could reduce staff to a part time cleaner, and this would all be yours for just £50,000. Fantastic!

So what happened? It did not deliver the golden egg laying goose, it did not make things easier, in fact it didn’t do anything that was of the remotest use to your firm at all. It cost a fortune, and the money is lost!

But that was then and this is now – time moves on and so should all of us. Those firms that got over the early setbacks and have embraced technology are the ones who are now streamlined and suffering less in difficult times, they are the ones that realised that IT, when applied correctly, provides the best return on investment you can get.

I cannot tell you what IT to use in your business – there are 100’s of products in the market place and all have their own application within a business. However I can provide you with one “Do and Don’t” that I hope will help you –

DO – use an IT supplier who has experience of working in the legal sector. The legal sector is unique within business and things such as case management systems and accounting software need to be understood in terms of the technology and more importantly in terms of how they make you business function. Your local IT support firm based a few doors down does not have this expertise.

DON’T – assume that it will cost a fortune and that you need to find an enormous chunk of money just to get the project started. Nowadays more and more suppliers are appreciating cash flow concerns of firms and enabling payment to be spread over a period of time, if the supplier cannot then despite the economy there are still lenders who will assist you.