Tag Archives: PMS

Jan 06

Test Drive 4 Key Initiatives for 2013 – CRM, KPI’s, Lean Thinking, IT

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As we head into a second critical transitional year for the legal sector, there is a driving need to be pro-active in developing any legal practice to meet the demand from clients to “do more for less” and to also maintain and improve profits.  These are challenges we are helping law firms meet in a variety ways for firms at different stages of development and with varying priorities. 

They are aimed primarily at medium sized and larger practices, but items 2 and 4 (in particular) are as realistic and appropriate for smaller (up to 35 people) practices, although the approach to implementation is different. 

The 4 key solutions we are working on across the country that you might want to consider as part of your strategy include:

1.  On Screen KPI Dashboards and Automated Management Reporting - giving fee earners, heads of departments and the senior management team easy access to the key financial, marketing and matter information (Key Performance Indicators) needed to drive performance of the business.  It enables fee earners to manage their own performance, record more time, bill more quickly, get cash in more quickly, progress cases faster and can radically improve the impact of  appraisal and performance management initiatives.  This fills a significant gap in performance management and delivers a quick return on investment.  The solution can also be moved to support any new practice or case management system you move to in the future.

Contact us to ask for a free online demo

2.  Client Relationship Management (CRM) – where getting closer to clients and introducers is essential for survival and success going forwards.  A variet of different initiatives here, depending on where clients are starting from, ranging from market research, through workshops with partners to implementing new systems.  We talk direct to clients of our legal clients and introducers of business to identify new business opportunities and strategies. We implement CRM systems that create the structure and tools to be proactive in developing relationships, where the starting point is to get an agreed single shared view to work with. 

Contact us to discuss how we have used client feedback to develop new business strategies and generate new business for law firms.

3.  Introducing “Lean Thinking“ to reduce operating costs whilst also improving clients’ perceptions of value and reducing work in progress - where we have brought in specialists in this area from business sectors to work with law firms … and it’s working well.  Clients have achieved radical improvements in internal operations and cleint communications, learning to roll the initiatives started in one department across the rest of the practice.

Contact us to request a copy of our FREE introduction to lean in the legal sector, “Lean for Legal Staff – The 7 Hidden Wastes”

4.  Radical Improvements in IT -  Infrastructure, Integrated applications, Processes and User Adoption.  Initiatives range from selection of new PMS solutions to implementing Microsoft solutions that incorporate legal-customised SharePoint and CRM solutions integrated with Office and Lync on premise and also in an affordable, securely hosted environment, incorporating full business continuity as part of the solution. 

Contact us to arrange a free demo of a hosted solution to see what it feels like

You can’t do it all at once, so which of these initiatives would produce the best returns for your practice and what is the best approach to making it happen successfully?

To find out more, just call Allan Carton on 0161 929 8355 to discuss how they might apply in the context of your particular business – or email acarton@inpractice.co.uk to set up a time for a preliminary telephone conversation. 

To take any of these forwards, please contact us to:

  1. Ask for a free online demo of the KPI dashboard and automated management reporting system.
  2. Discuss using client feedback to develop new business strategies and generate new business.
  3. Ask for a copy of ”Lean for Legal Staff – The 7 Hidden Wastes.”
  4. Arrange a demo of a hosted Microsoft-based IT solution.

Allan Carton

Aug 17

Masterclass – Legal IT for the Non-Technical Manager

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Understanding technology is critical to how law firms can adapt and respond to meet the new demands of clients who want more value for less money; particularly with the increasing variety of legal services options available to choose from.

6 business-relevant CPD points for lawyers involved in management

Lawyers and managers in law firms now need to work hand-in-hand with IT to find new and better ways to improve and support legal services; then to work together to introduce new solutions to capitalise on the significant advances in technology that can open up many new and better options in delivering legal services.  This advanced level seminar will give you the opportunity to leap ahead of many competitors not yet prepared to take up the challenges and opportunities that technology can present.  Presented in layman’s terms, this master class will enable non-technical lawyers and managers to:

  • Evaluate and improve the performance of the current IT team;
  • Communicate more effectively with the IT team to improve results and shorten development time
  • Recognise and develop new opportunities where IT can add value
  • Review your IT strategy and its alignment with business strategy
  • Pre-empt obstacles in planning how best to introduce new IT supported initiatives
  • Work with and develop the right technology and IT team
  • Focus on outcomes – what solutions technology can support and deliver
  • Bridge the gap to integrate legal skills effectively with the IT team.
  • Integrate your IT team into a broader business development function

Who should attend: Heads of Departments, Managing Partners, Senior Partners, Practice Managers, Practice Directors, Business Development and other managers or anyone else with responsibility for ensuring continued improvement in the delivery of services, performance and productivity of fee earners in law firms.

What You Will Learn:  This seminar will cover the following topics:

  • Why the frustration with IT? – strategies, alignment of the business, piecemeal development, issues with suppliers and more;
  • Impact of New Business Drivers on IT – mergers/acquisitions, the role of IT, implications of external investment, secure hosted, cloud and managed IT solutions, demand for legal knowledge;
  • Key technology developments – Opportunities;
  • New priorities lining up – ISO 27001 – data security;
  • The Changing role of the IT team – managing the IT function, business development, recruiting the right team, focus on business process, understanding outsourcing, practical project management;
  • Redefining IT strategy into practice – where to start? Key components – infrastructure and applications, management information, CRM, workflow;
  • Getting focused on the best IT opportunities (practical exercise) – barriers and obstacles and how to address them and much more.

Presenter: Allan Carton Solicitor, MBA, MD at Inpractice UK. Inpractice UK is a multidisciplinary team of specialist consultants working with a wide variety of legal practices to develop new business opportunities, where most initiatives, that range from HR and IT to client experience management, benefit from the more effective development of IT introduced in this seminar.

Book Direct with MBL Seminars HERE

Oct 20

How good to not fret about IT – today's experience

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I just got back to the office before lunchtime today to find that I couldn’t access our CRM system, which sits pretty much at the centre of our business, but is hosted off site with all the rest of our applications.  Inconvenient, but I can relax because I know there is a team already working on it.  More resource with more expertise and clout with suppliers to address this problem than we could ever expect to muster with an in-house team. The interim report back …

“HP are continuing to work with our engineers on this issue.  Essentially … [outline of the problems] … there are two lines of work being conducted to restore services as soon as possible for each customer.  We have an HP engineer on site and two HP engineers who are known as HP best dialled into the SAN from Japan and The Netherlands.  These engineers can see what is causing the [problem] and are working through three steps to try and bring the drives back on line …  in parallel we have a separate team of our own infrastructure engineers who are configuring a new file cluster and have initiated [ outline of steps being taken as a fallback].”

We all know IT breaks sometimes – so how good it is to be able to relax and know that I can be assured it’s going to be  up and running again within a reasonable time.  The issues and resolution may not be as straightforward as they suggest, but they have a big incentive to get this all fixed very quickly

I’ve got plenty more work and business to get on with, so that’s enough for me and I don’t need to fret!

Allan Carton

Jun 24

Making the right decisons on PMS?

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Improving the use and outputs from practice management systems is increasingly on the agenda, where we can streamline the review and selection process (allowing the in house team to get on with their work, making sure their views are heard) and help senior management to make sound decisions relatively quickly with confidence because we start with knowledge and experience with a wide variety of  potential options.  This recent response to an enquiry from an IT Director will give you a feel for how we operate to support IT Directors and Managers in developing the business case when considering a change of  Practice Management System (PMS).  

” … we aim to develop an interactive working relationship with you and your team.

Our approach varies from firm to firm depending on resources and skills available and the current environment in the firm.  For example, the extent to which the project also involves change management; helping lawyers and support staff who use the systems to be a part of the selection process, so they have a better understanding and take more ownership of the systems that arrive on their desk.  Sometimes it is needed; other times it is not – but also, sometimes partners are prepared to pay for it; other times they are not.  Variations also relate to the extent of detail wanted in evaluating the tender responses (to generate like-for-like costings and scoring of solutions as an aid to making decisions) – and the extent to which we are involved in managing the demonstration process.  Also the extent to which you need to develop a business case to justify the investment in different areas of the business.

A staged approach is usually best, within a framework with timescales to work to.  Key stages are:

  1. Evaluation of the current situation and requirements, involving interviews with people at all levels – the extent of this varies, with politics often playing a part in how this can be used to maximum effect.
  2. We can develop the business case/s to justify a) investment and b) a defined level of investment
  3. There will generally be discussions at this stage about IT strategy, exploring options to improve productivity and returns from IT investment generally.  
  4. Identification of potential (infrastructure and) applications providers – with preliminary discussions 
  5. Development of a specification of requirements (level of detail varies and a more pragmatic approach can include a focus on key differentiators)
  6. Demonstrations where our involvement varies
  7. Evaluation of tenders – generating like for like numbers can be a challenge – filling gaps, advising on best options based on user feedback etc
  8. Shortlisting – presenting the business case to the management board if needed 
  9. Negotiations 
  10. Involvement in some aspects of project management if needed

However, the first stage is to get in and do a preliminary evaluation of the current situation and requirements – so we can begin to consider options.  In some cases our role in selection can stop there if any particular route is a “no brainer” in which case we focus on helping manage a transition.

The team here gives you access to the best range of appropriate expertise would involve Damian Griffiths (strategic), Allan Carton (user requirements and supplier options) and Richard Blasdale (detailed analysis and evaluation). ”

If you are considering your options on developing your IT systems (PMS and beyond) and have any questions, call Allan Carton on 061 929 8355 for a preliminary discussion, with no obligation.

Nov 05

Lexis Nexis announce new Microsoft PMS / ERP Solution

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Lexis Nexis launched a new partnership between their Enterprise Solutions Group (which includes all the Streamline, Axxia dna, InterAction, LexisCheck, Visualfiles, Solcase and Redwood Analytics products) with Microsoft at their annual user conference this week.

This will see them launch a new Microsoft-driven ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution for law firms built on Microsoft Dynamics AX which ensures tight integration with the whole Microsoft stack of applications that law firms have always used – and those where use is increasing e.g. Microsoft SharePoint, CRM and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

12,000 businesses use Dynamics AX already, so Microsoft’s investment in this product to date  ensures that it comes with rich features and funcionality built in.  The Lexis Nexis solution will be built on the newest version – AX6 – which is due for release in 2010 and will go a long way beyond traditional legal practice, case and document management systems. 

Having worked on Dynamics AX, we have an understanding of the capabilities here, so we see this as a radical development in the legal technology sector.  There is due to be an early adopters programme during 2011, with the fully developed product widely available in the UK and beyond from 2012. 

Allan Carton