The current growth in the legal industry can be partially attributed to technology. Integration of technology in everyday activities has helped many businesses save time and money, enhance productivity, and secure long-term growth.
Even as current global events shape the future of business, technology remains the key driver in making this shift. To reap the benefits, business owners must have a comprehensive understanding of how technology can improve operations.
If you have been looking to revamp how your law firm uses technology, here are a few business operations to start with.
Marketing
Digital marketing presents countless opportunities for law firms to reach hundreds of thousands of potential clients on the internet.
Initially, lawyers relied mainly on word-of-mouth referrals and print media to obtain new clients. While these methods are still effective from time to time, technology accelerates how fast this happens and to a larger audience. It also makes it easy to track progress and rectify marketing campaigns through measurable analytics.
Attorneys can begin by creating a law firm website to introduce their services professionally. The website at Greenstein & Milbauer law firm is a perfect example of how attorneys can use content and the right web elements to convert visitors.
Some other digital marketing strategies that law firms can execute for increased online visibility include search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing.
Data Storage and Management
Data is a core component for law firms’ business operations. The nature of data collected during a single case is both sensitive and in high volume. Technology provides the right tools to collect, store, analyze, and manage this data.
While looking for data management software, look for features like data sharing, remote access, security, back-ups, and file archiving.
The cloud is an advanced option for storing law firm data. It eliminates the constant headaches associated with IT servers, enhances data security, and allows attorneys to access the data from anywhere.
Collaboration
As the business world continues to shift due to current global events, businesses have had to adapt to remote working. Collaboration tools are in higher demand than ever before.
Lawyers still need to communicate with colleagues, plan cases, submit documents, assign tasks, and track progress for junior employees.
It is also important to remember that a law firm is likely made of two groups: legal experts and those who see to the daily business operations. Technology can enhance the collaboration between these departments, which is crucial for the firm’s success.
Research and Training
Where’s your first stop when looking for information on a particular subject? If you are like 88% of the world’s population, then your answer is Google.
More and more people are turning to the technology-enabled internet to look for information, and lawyers are no different. A few years back, an attorney had to scour mountains of pages to research a single case. These days, it’s as easy as typing in a search bar and getting a wealth of information within seconds.
Additionally, online training materials are easily accessible, and sometimes even free! Lawyers are now in a better position to learn new skills and courses.
Customer Relationship Management
Simply put, clients keep the wheels turning in law firms. Without customers, attorneys have no cases to solve or settlements to negotiate.
This explains why client acquisition and maintenance in the legal industry is crucial. Legal CRM (customer relationship management) software streamlines all client-related processes so that lawyers have an easy time managing them.
If you are shopping for your firm’s CRM software, consider features like sync and integration, reporting, analytics, contact management, forecasting options, and lead management.
