When choosing a new Legal Technology solution, Legal Departments will need to take many things into consideration. As the number of legal IT solutions in the market grows, choosing a solution that will need the least amount of change management and result in the quickest teamwide acceptance will be critical to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of critical revenue-related activities.
What is a Change Management Roadmap and why my in-house department should have one?
One of the most useful project management tools when implementing new technologies or any other big changes is a Change Management Roadmap. And what it is, is a graphical, end-to-end overview of the change management deliverables and milestones that need to be achieved in support of a business change. A change management roadmap is presented on a timeline with a sequenced flow of the change deliverables.
A change-management roadmap or targeted adoption methods are now more important than ever as the tech transformation engulfs law firms and in-house legal departments.`
A key benefit of a change management plan roadmap is that you can use it to present a holistic view of change management deliverables to senior leaders of the company, project team members, project leads, sponsors and other key stakeholders.
Leaders, in particular, like to see a high-level view of what will be delivered, without all the extensive details. And, so using a high-level organizational change management roadmap plan enables you to better present and engage with senior executives.
Below you can download the template that your organization can use.
Download Management Workflow Template
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So what factors should your Legal Department evaluate in your roadmap?
A legal department may categorize instruments in two clear ways: according to financial constraints and the type of technological solution. However, there are several other characteristics that indicate how simple or complex a tool’s adoption may be, such as team training or whether it will likely result in a more seamless transition.
Working with various in-house legal departments and Legal Ops Executives, we have summed up some of the other vital factors to consider below:
1. Prior Experience with Related Tools
Imagine how much easier is to implement a product that you are already familiar with? Choosing a product that is more comparable to a tool the team has already, can reduce your training costs significantly.
This should be one of the first criteria used when deciding which solution to most rapidly integrate into a legal department’s workflow.Your legal team may be able to recollect tactics from the adoption of the original tool in addition to being familiar with the procedures involved in using a new tool.
This style of selection isn’t always possible; for example, if a team switches from a technological to a manual procedure, there might not be a frame of reference.
However, choosing technologies with comparable user interfaces and service platforms might minimize the requirement for “teamwide training” when doing so.The adoption is simple to do if it is identical. A grand majority of Legal Tech solutions now offer integrations to operating systems such as Google or Microsoft.
However, sometimes such integrations are not free or come with extra costs or a third-party solution may be needed.Therefore, picking a product that is already built with the technology and systems that you need should be your first choice.
Read more: Thread Legal – the Missing piece of Microsoft Office 365 for Lawyers
2. User interface simplicity
The initial screen a user sees when they start an application or log on is crucial when it comes to the adoption of a new solution.
– Is the user interface clear and uncomplicated?
– Are all of the [screens] depicting the end-workflow?
– Are the displays or app interface simple to follow and grasp, and do they foster trust with the end-user?
If the responses to these inquiries are affirmative, it is a good indication that a tool won’t need a lot of training to be accepted.
These technologies should be making the Lawyer’s life and work simpler by providing the information needed in a transparent and easy-to-read way. An end-user interface needs to follow a logical and understandable hierarchy. Indicators of how quickly a team could adapt to the switch to a new solution include a similar degree of “flow”.
3. The requirement for tool customization
Software solutions that offer a base product that can be altered to suit the requirements of the end-user are more likely to be adopted than those that do not.We live in a world of personalization, where the technologies adapt and can be tailored to an organization’s needs, and are the ones leading the way.
In the end, having access to a tool that can be customized for the particular requirements of each team can make its adoption much simpler by giving team leaders greater control.
While an off-the-shelf solution could look enticing and might be used more quickly at first, the department may later face additional difficulties with change management if it cannot be customized.
4. The Scalability of the tool, would it grow as you grow
Choosing a solution that you can’t outgrow and scale with your business, will save yourself some valuable time and money.Some solutions would be very limited on how far they can expand in terms of the number of users, data storage, connectivity, integrations and more.
Making a smart investment on a tool that you are happy with, has all the features you need and can scale at your pace, will reduce the time spent in looking and implementing new tools in the future.
5. The Effect of the Tool on Decision-Making
The intended use of the data is a good predictor of how long the change-management and training for the solution will take when using analytical tools that are designed to provide the team with data regarding internal processes.
You generally don’t need too much change management if you’re merely viewing data using the solution. However, you certainly need more comprehensive training if you’re gathering data from numerous areas, and you have to analyse it from divergent sources to make a meaningful business decision and help the firm move forward.
A solution that provides an in detail report over task, tracking time logged, financial performance, case statistics and more, would make the process of decision-making transparent, and easy.
In conclusion, to choose from the variety of tools available and determine precisely when to undertake the change, a team leader will benefit from having a mapped strategy and estimation of how long adoption will take and how much effort it might require.
Don’t waste your time on tools that are hard to implement and use, are not scalable and have few features.
If you are a Legal Department or a law firm using Microsoft Office 365 and need something extra to complete your document and case management, then Thread is for you. Built-in Microsoft Office 365, it gives you a practice management solution with software you already know. Thread is the latest case management software from eXpd8 Ltd, harnessing 20 years’ legal IT industry experience and specifically designed for lawyers and paralegals.
Thread was launched 3 years ago in Dublin, Ireland and has received tremendous reviews from both paralegals, barristers and lawyers. It has been described as disruptive, refreshing, easy to use and at €79 per user per month offers lawyers a very affordable solution to manage their firms’ business and clients. Thread is a brand-new cloud-based legal case management software, built-in collaboration with Microsoft which enables legal practises to free up valuable time, be more productive, increase profitability and truly digitally transform their firms.
80 percent of legal firms in the UK and Ireland. currently do not have a Case Management system in place. Instead, they are reliant on in-house developed systems that are becoming obsolete due to increasing client demands.
With Microsoft Azure as its foundation, Thread incorporates several Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Office 365, One Drive for Business and SharePoint. This enables Thread to provide law firms with the ability to manage their entire practise smoothly and efficiently whilst also ensuring government-level security, compliance and seamless connectivity. Thread brings together all the essentials of modern legal practice.
Growing legal firms need a capable, customizable, yet affordable solution to automate and optimize their entire business in order to survive and thrive in today’s competitive market. Thread can help them do just that.
