Appurity: Is MS Outlook for mobile enough for the modern fee earner?

sLegal firms up and down the country will be used to the turmoil that the last two years or so has brought to bear upon everyday working practices. Generally speaking, most firms will be operating under some kind of hybrid working model whereby at least 60% of their people will spend a proportion of time working in the office, some time working from home and whatever needs to be done on the road/travelling. At the time of writing, many firms are still not offering face-to-face meetings with clients with most consultations taking place over video conferencing or telephone calls. And so, technology has (once again) proven to be the saviour, notwithstanding a number of challenges that dealing with a remote workforce can throw up.

And so, investing in the correct infrastructure and technology is paramount if you want your firm to flourish seeing as many of your key people are spending time working from home, remotely or on the go – boosting productivity is key here. This is clearly an important strategy when it comes to your firm’s senior fee earners but is equally applicable to your firm’s back-office staff too. The right technology solutions keep the whole firm running in a productive, and secure manner. As your firm continues to adapt in the face of working conditions and as you formulate your strategy for the short to medium term, look at how you can increase workforce productivity, especially amongst remote workers, by investing in the right technology.

Reduce downtime to increase free time

So, what kind of technology should your firm be looking at? iManage and Rubus are designed to help mobile workers in the legal sector to be more productive whenever they’re away from the office. These technologies can significantly improve the work/life balance for everyone who uses them. By turning any potential downtime (travelling on trains, buses, taxis, working remotely etc) into productive time, your firm is effectively adding income to your bottom line. If you have the ability to allow fee earners to maximise their billable hours, then it’s easy to see how extra income can be made. For a simple way of working this out, look at our calculator and do some simple maths.

Rubus, the iManage connector for iOS and Android

Rubus is a native app for Android, providing an iManage Work like user experience including view of matters, briefcase, myfavourites etc. With the integration of the 9 Work for Rubus email client, users have the ability to send and file, open and send NRL, file from inbox. If your firm is more heavily invested in iOS then we have developed (in conjunction with 9Folders), Rubus for iOS which is built into the Nine Re:Work email app. Tasks such as send and file and file from inbox can be used with Re:Work or extended with the iManage Work app to include browsing of matters, open NRL, etc.

Boosting productivity with email

Your firm is probably well-versed now with the challenges that remote working brings. Consequently, you will have also experienced a much greater dependence on email. Technology can help here if your firm invests in an email client that allows your fee earners to be more productive. A productivity-focussed solution should allow anyone in your firm to send and file emails directly from their email app when they are working remotely, or spending time travelling, for example. Such a solution should allow for expeditious and efficient filing of inbox items to the right Matter. We have provided a link that gives a basic understanding of how downtime ‘costs’ your firm money – imagine how much time is saved when key members of your team are able to keep on top of all their inbox filing? And if they are travelling further afield and working from a hotel room, they can stay productive.

Rubus vs Outlook

Many legal firms need to provide apps and services to their users that are functional, secure but also aesthetically pleasing – the Rubus email client are all of these things. Some legal firms are migrating from native iOS or Android email, a containerised client but possibly defaulting to Outlook for mobile – but is this enough? Re:Work for Rubus is an enterprise grade email client for iOS and Android with features that can enhance the user experience including added services such as send and file, open NRL and file from inbox. With full Office integration, including Teams support, the Re:Work email client will provide features such as background push, category settings, Notes sync, Out of Office, change font and separate signatures.

The Re:Work client, with Rubus, will provide users with easy visuals for filed iManage emails that can include ticks and the luggage tag in the subject line. “Email is email”, but the additional features will increase productivity and billing.

With the right technology, productivity and time management are brought to the fore by using efficient organising and scheduling tools. By investing in the right technology, your firm can claw back time, critically valuable when you consider your senior fee earners. Giving them the power to file as they are probably the next best thing to them being in the firm’s offices. Filing Matters correctly, using an email client like Rubus, is certainly more productive than using MS Outlook alone. Isn’t it time you took a closer look?