Optimising Communication and Technology

Optimising Communication and Technology

If the office is no longer a physical place, how do legal firms start to choose the right communication and collaboration technology for their organisation to meet that new reality? And is it possible to get it right without having to undergo the usual time-devouring, resource hungry and expensive procurement process?

There is now a new way to cut through to the right result, fast, using an independent 'Trusted Technology Advisor' to support your decision making without incurring large consulting fees.

The combination of employee desire to 'work from home' and the potential positive productivity impact has led firms and businesses to consider hybrid models. Big corporates making announcements about adopting this approach include PwC, Lloyds, Barclays, BT, Aon, and Virgin Media. The bigger legal firms are not far behind.

After listening to feedback from its lawyers and support staff, Clifford Chance announced in April 2021 that they were to introduce a new, long term flexible working policy with the magic circle player set to allow its UK lawyers to work remotely for up to 50% of their time. This new approach follows similar moves by Freshfields and Linklaters and also Allen & Overy , which anticipates staff will work remotely for around 40% of the time once the pandemic is over. Other law firms to implement hybrid work policies include Norton Rose Fulbright, Taylor Wessing, Herbert Smith Freehills and Squire Patton Boggs.

At the same time, according to Gartner, there is an expected 8% decline in global IT spending with CIOs having to initiate "emergency cost optimisation". CIO magazine's COVID Impact survey confirmed that in 2020/21 Cost Control/Expense Management is now a top priority for IT Leaders. Customers and employees will still need to be connected - but at the right cost. Investing in and funding the right communication and technology tools is more critical now than ever before.

Smaller and Mid-sized legal firms are now also thinking more strategically on how to invest in technology to meet the workplace requirements of the future. Correct decisions made now can lead to an improvement in employee productivity and job satisfaction, reduce overall costs and most importantly improve customer satisfaction.

On top of all these factors, there are compliance issues to consider and address as quickly as possible. The constant battle to reduce billing leakage has become more intense and complex as income generating activities are now completed via several different platforms. Any defence against the threat of security breaches now extends beyond the traditional office space and needs to keep employees - and the information they manage - safe wherever and whenever they decide to choose to work.

In our recent conversations with CTOs and CIO's (at the bigger firms) and Managing Partners charged with this responsibility, finding solutions for hybrid working has been high on their agenda if not their #1 priority. Getting started is the difficult part.

If you are also thinking about this, there is a new way to get experienced help without paying a big consulting fee. Viv Williams Consulting has partnered with Move2cloud Advisory Services, an industry recognised Technology Trusted Advisor who can support with requirements analysis, market research, vendor shortlisting and vendor selection. Effectively, they can supplement you and your internal team with additional specialist resource. Their new approach to bringing customers and vendors together is faster and more effective than the traditional technology procurement process. It also ensures that you obtain the right solution for your firm at the very best price.

To understand more about how Viv Williams Consulting can help, book an initial call here VW Technology Initiative so that we can start to get to the bottom of your current communication and collaboration challenges and how to overcome them.