Unlike a lover, which most will claim you don’t need any reason to love – businesses do need a justification to love legal tech, we want it to bring tangible advantages. There are so many benefits legal tech can give, and you will not be able to help but fall in love with it once you know about it. Let us be your legal tech cupid by taking you through the best of legal tech…
First, the most discussed advantage of legal tech is the increase in efficiency and productivity. Automation brought by legal tech can reduce manual work, human error and improve effectiveness.[1] For example, in one of SYKE’s cases, our client was hoping to implement a complex document management system (DMS) to improve data storage, data security and document automation. However, they are spoilt by the choices available (that is how wonderful legal tech can be!), and SYKE acted as the legal tech cupid; managing a discovery exercise to find the most compatible legal tech system for the client. The client has now rolled out the new platform across their firms around the world. It is proved to have achieved cost and time saving while ensuring data security within the system.
Legal tech is proven to allow businesses to remain competitive. We know legal tech systems such as Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) or legal matter management can improve businesses from the inside. Yet, what we should not overlook is the external impact that legal tech can bring to a business’s corporate image, along with the increased ability to provide better services for their customer. Consumers are inclined to trust a company with a more advanced tech system, including legal tech. That is why SYKE aims to help our clients to find the best suitable legal tech system through rounds of evaluation and follow-up post-implementation if needed.
Looking at another recent case study, one of SYKE’s clients was serving a larger business; but lacking the resources to handle a large variety of legal requests. To keep up with, and exceed, their users’ expectations, SYKE assisted them to implement a document automation system which ultimately granted more visibility over their contracts and allowed business users to self-serve a variety of requests. Seven contracts were automated through the creation, approval, negotiation, signature, and storage stages. The client is now able to extract business information from the new tool to drive future investment launched by their business, along with a better client image and better business and legal user experience. Another successful match!
Lastly, another commonly discussed benefit of legal tech is storing your documents in the cloud. If you already did, congratulations! Yet, you will be surprised how many legal teams are still storing documents locally in the office, on the desk, or perhaps in the drawer. They either have not thought about moving them to the cloud or are not sure where to begin with the seemingly complicated process. Notably, digital business transformation (including cloud, blockchain, AI and data analytics) can make firms future-ready and enhance average net revenues by 16% more than traditional firms.[2]
SYKE has also previously helped a client to shift all manual work to the cloud before the GDPR compliance deadline. The deployment of a combination of AI and document automation tools by SYKE assisted the client to remediate 2,600 contract files. The client expressed their satisfaction with the results and recognised how the cloud and other automation can help to save cost, get projects done on time and adhere to legal compliance. Is calling it a match made in heaven torturing the metaphor too much…?
I could go on and on about why legal tech is so lovable with all the benefits it can bring. However, we know the importance of keeping things short and sweet. Fallen in love with legal tech already? There is no need to bring flowers and set that date up, legal tech will return your love and trust by bringing you all the benefits discussed in this article, and if not more. It is safe to say, the answer to whether ‘to love of not to love legal tech’ is a firm YES.
Soh Yee is a Junior Legal Tech Consultant at SYKE. She is a master holder of the MSc Management Consulting degree and a law graduate. She is passionate about solving challenging tasks and finding the perfect tech solutions for her clients. Prior to joining SYKE, Soh Yee gained experience as a covid swabber, linguist, and sales associate; meaning she is equipped with strong communication skills. Lastly, her experience as the team captain of the Leeds University Women Basketball Club has shown her ability to be a team player and leading the team.
[1] Holly Urban, “Save Time, Money, and Aggravation by Automating Manual Processes” (LexologyJanuary 29, 2021) <https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a0acde4e-5e5c-44a2-8587-b22db504cd83> accessed February 7, 2022. [2] Weill, P., & Woerner, S. L. (2018). Is your company ready for a digital future? MIT Sloan Management Review, 59(2), 21–25.