Does this sound familiar? You’ve spent months building a business plan for legal tech investment. You’ve argued your case to your FD and IT director, convincing them that it’s worth investing in a new piece of technology designed specifically for legal which will also benefit your wider business. You’ve met with several suppliers, maybe even sent out RFPs, and narrowed it down to the ideal solution. Next week, the implementation phase is due to begin.
You’ve worked hard to get to this point, and you feel great, right? Or are you actually busier than ever? The BAU work might be piling up, requests for support sitting in your inbox for days, and you’re fielding endless queries from your new tech supplier to help them get started. Perhaps it’s beginning to seem as though you’re not going to be able to do this alone.
Implementation is arguably the most important part of your tech project. If you don’t lay the foundations properly, it’s harder to make it work for your business and it’s never easy to fix when in place. You need to give it your full time and attention, but that doesn’t mean that something else needs to be sacrificed. There are plenty of options and you certainly won’t be the first in-house leader to seek extra help to get through this process.
Here are three ways LOD and SYKE can support you to get the best tech implementation experience.
1 Get admin work off your desk
One of the easiest ways of clearing some space in your day is to bring on an LOD paralegal to keep your admin running smoothly. Law grads and future trainees are looking for opportunities to learn how an in-house team runs. With LOD’s specialised approach to finding junior talent, you can trust that you will find someone bright and willing to help with any task, from filing to simple contract review.
2 Backfill the BAU (or outsource it)
Take on an LOD secondee – an experienced, in-house lawyer who has been in your shoes at some point in their career – to keep the BAU work ticking over. They can take all contracts off your plate and ensure that the business continues to get the support they expect. You’ll have peace of mind that sensible decisions are being made in a commercial way.
If you don’t have enough work to keep a dedicated secondee busy, LOD’s Managed Teams may be a better solution. Resourced with our excellent in-house lawyers and paralegals, you can outsource to the team on a contract-by-contract basis or in bulk. You’ll have confidence that all of the work you send them will be dealt with in a timely and pragmatic manner.
3 Bring someone in to drive implementation
If you decide that the best use of your time is to focus on your day job, you might consider bringing in a legal tech expert to keep the implementation project moving. The Legal Engineering team at SYKE have years of experience in driving clients’ projects for them. They work as a bridge between the client and the tech provider, ensuring that the project runs smoothly. They’ll bring their wealth of knowledge and prior experience of projects like yours to the table, ensuring that the essential foundations are laid well, setting your tech solution up for success.
So, it might feel like there’s no way everything can get done right now. And that your new legal tech project is stumbling before it has really got started. But there is a way to make your plans into a reality… you just might need to ask for a little help.
Marijke made the switch to NewLaw in 2017 after a number of years managing global client relationships in Big Law. She makes sure LOD clients are receiving the highest level of service and support, focusing on helping in-house teams find new and better ways of resourcing work.
