Modern productive: iManage on how SME firms can learn to leverage technology to their advantage
Today’s modern professionals demand easy-to-use, productivity enhancing tools that support new ways of working, the way they want to work. They require tools that empower them to create, manage and collaborate on all work product from anywhere, on any device, in a single user experience, turning lost time into productive time. This is a common thread throughout law offices of all sizes, but it’s especially vital for small to mid-sized firms with limited staff and stretched resources.
High-demand smart features
Average, run-of-the-mill features are no longer sufficient for today’s savvy professionals. They want smart features that eliminate traditional friction points in common tasks and increase productivity, allowing them to work the way they want to work.
Productivity enhancing features help today’s users cut through the clutter and make better decisions more effectively by leveraging AI, machine learning and big data analytics to eliminate traditional friction points in common tasks and anticipate needs based on historical data. Email filing keeps them ahead of inbox overload and more responsive to pressing client needs.
Today’s tech-savvy legal professionals are looking for a modern user experience. These professionals want flexibility as they are no longer bound by the confines of their offices. Simplifying daily workflows from document searches and email management to remote work takes the burden off the users – reducing the learning curve and increasing user adoption.
Cloud-based solutions offer benefits from continuous upgrades, extensive scalability and sustainable performance from anywhere. By moving to the cloud or starting from scratch in the cloud, users have access to all their important documents, emails and other files no matter where they are or what device they’re using. This makes it easy to ensure optimal efficiency, key for smaller or mid-sizedfirms that operate in a nimble fashion.
Document timeline, dashboard and analytic tools with a consistent experience across phones, tablets and desktops help today’s modern users make decisions faster and with more confidence as content is managed by engagement so users are never more than a few clicks away from what they want to see. Users are turning more and more to technical advancements to meet these needs and to give their firms a competitive edge with new levels of decisionmaking tools and enhanced quality of client service.
Busy legal professionals at small to mid-sized firms are looking for personalised search features to quickly cut through the clutter and locate relevant information in less time. Searches should beautomatically tuned to work style to easily find all work product, eliminating complex search forms and keywords, as personalised search is really all about getting the results most relevant to the user, helping them filter out the noise quickly and efficiently.
A mobile-first user experience ensures users can learn the software once and have a consistent experience across any device – phones, tablets and desktops – to stay productive on-the-go by turningidle time into effective worktime. The entire electronic project file can be easily accessed regardless of platform, location or bandwidth.
Seamless integration with the applications on-the-go professionals are already using makes emails that are typically isolated in individual inboxes part of the shared and governed engagement file, as busy attorneys don’t have time to dig through a complicated file structure to find what they need – they want it easily accessible at their fingertips. And it saves duplicative efforts, as the filed emails areautomatically flagged for all relevant users – no need to cross-check or clarify with colleagues.
When collaborating with stakeholders, modern professionals demand accountability, so they can manage client interactions more effectively. Being able to easily share, restrict and track all interactions while ensuring the content is governed securely end-to-end allows firms to provide clients with unparalleled peace of mind.
No IT department, no problem
Of all the newest smart features available to firms today, one of the most important for consideration may be the option to deploy a solution via the cloud. With a leaner team in place and limited IT resources, many smaller or mid-sized firms can benefit from a cloud-based solution as this will provide an easy mobile-first user experience that allows on-the-go professionals to easily search, find and manage critical work product from the courthouse, client meetings or remote office – anywhere, at any time, on any device.
It’s so incredibly easy to use that users easily adopt it for their daily workflow – IT departments are not required, because are, let’s be honest, who has time to sit through hours of training. The end game, ultimately, is to better serve clients.
Small to mid-sized firms around the globe are embracing new cutting-edge solutions that offer smart features, such as iManage Work 10 and iManage Cloud, to ultimately enable them to better service their clients, which is the end game for legal professionals – that’s what distinguishes one firm from the other. It’s really all about finding the most advanced solutions to enhance attorney productivity and enable them to find essential work product more quickly than ever.
This article appeared in Briefing May 2018. Read the full edition of Briefing May 2018: Feel the path here.
