Modernizing your law firm’s technology: Increasing billable hours and staff’s productivity
Managed IT · Nov 25, 2024
Technology plays a crucial role in any law firm’s success. With over 27 years of specialized legal IT experience, we've identified key areas where you can transform your legal practice. When adopting new technologies, it’s possible to find increased efficiency, enhanced data security, improved remote work capabilities, cost reduction, better internal collaboration, client communication and higher employee retention. But how can your law firm get there?
There’s no shortcut to getting to all those improvements, but there’s a road you can follow to help you have a smoother experience. If we look into the last 20 years of change, we can see significant improvements in how we work.
- We moved from only working in-office to many law firms adopting a hybrid working environment. All because today, we use emails instead of only phone calls, we have virtual desktops, smartphones and many more devices that can help us stay connected to the business any time, anywhere.
- We have seen on-premise servers become phased out over time when compared tocloud-based servers and applications, as cloud computing offers more storage space, more processing power and it can be more secure.
- Additionally, we are seeing increased interest and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (Gen AI). While we can say AI is still in its early days when it comes to end-user applications, we can see the industry changing towards increased automation, where it can help with legal research and writing, automating routine tasks and supporting even deeper insights with data analysis. According to theABA 2023 TechReport, in 2022, a little over 15% of small firms and only 3.7% of solo attorneys were using or interested in using AI-based tools, and in 2023, those numbers went up to 20.7% of small firms and 14.6% of solo attorneys.
With those changes, we’ve arrived to today, where law firms are focusing more on modernizing their tech stack as they have a better grasp on how IT can be an important ally. It’s possible to identify four prominent features being more sought out by legal practices.
- Application modernization: Most firms still have one or more legacy server-based applications, but we can see them slowly moving to cloud-based options, even though there are limited options when it comes to Canadian data centres, as compared to the countless options available to US attorneys with USA-based data centres. A trend we’re seeing is that most cloud-based legal applications are built to integrate with general ledger accounting platforms, rather than incorporating their own general ledger and reporting functionality.
- Cybersecurity improvements: One of the most important features for law firms isdata securityas they deal with many confidential and sensitive documents. For that reason, firms are implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), to ensure that they have around-the-clock coverage in the event of a cybersecurity incident andsecurity awareness trainingashuman error is the main reasonbusinesses face cyberattacks.
- AI integration: We’ve seen an increase in AI adoption since ChatGPT’s release. For instance, since then, Microsoft has launched Microsoft Copilot and Apple launched Apple Intelligence, and more firms are implementing AI-powered tools such as legal contract drafting.
- Cloud migration & infrastructure: Law firms are shifting from on-premises servers to cloud solutions, implementing Microsoft 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop to enhance data backup and disaster recovery systems, which can improve remote work capabilities, scalability and cost management.
92% of Canadian companies already use some form of cloud computing
, and law firms are no different. The foundation of modern law firms is often tied to Microsoft 365, as firms are migrating from on-premise Microsoft Exchange email servers and Office 2013/2016 to cloud-based applications that can support specific types of practice (litigation, corporate, family, etc.), collaboration over email and accounting/billing systems, document management (ie. client files), practice management (ie. contacts & bring forward (BF)/calendering).Full cloud adoption
Transitioning to a fully cloud-based infrastructure is a strategic process that requires careful planning and execution. It can be a long road and a stressful one if you don’t have a suited IT partner to plan the migration with you. Here’s a list of steps to help guide your law firm through cloud adoption.
Following these steps can help law firms transition to a fully cloud-based infrastructure. Some of the expected results are enhanced efficiency, security and scalability while maintaining compliance with industry standards.
We’ve helped firms such as
JFK Law
successfully migrate to cloud-based applications. As a result they were able to improve security and compliance and benefit from a cloud-based backup solution to help ensure data can be restored in case of loss or system failure. MacLean Law
is another example. We’ve helped them update their primary application infrastructure, fully managing their day-to-day IT operations and vendors with an on-site IT support technician. We also helped them reduce overall IT costs and deliver a better help desk experience for their staff.When looking into the future, some trends are hard to ignore as they are becoming more popular as you read this blog. Here are the ones we find to be more interesting to law firms:
- Adoption of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboards: Law firms should start applying KPI dashboards to enhance productivity. A couple of examples to consider include tracking billable hours, work in progress, accounts receivable.
- Embedded AI: AI will be embedded in many applications and software used daily, from Microsoft and Apple solutions, and hardware to legal applications. To stay compliant when using AI, it’s important to monitor law societies’ advisories regarding its use.
- Making self-service client portals more widely available: This goes beyond invoicing and bill payments, which are now becoming more common, as consumers are growingly more interested in working more independently. This is driven by the desire to reduce costs -they are willing to pay for legal expertise, but not administrative tasks related to the services.
- Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software:Over 50% of law firms ignore client inquiries or don’t respond timely. Law firms can turn to CRM platforms to provide an improved customer experience. These solutions can also help lawyers and administrators better manage referrals, track their sources and focus on acquiring new clients.
The digital transformation of law firms can be considered essential for survival and growth in the modern legal landscape. Embracing technological changes will help law firms increase efficiency, enhance security and better serve their clients.
Why partner with TELUS Business
We are an award-winning managed services provider*, and, with our acquisition of BMC Networks, we have over 27 years of experience helping law firms modernize their operations. TELUS Business provides companies with day-to-day IT management and support, cybersecurity services, cloud migration and technology strategy. Our Virtual CIO team develops business-aligned IT strategies to drive impact and help you get a higher return on investment.
Take IT issues off your to-do list with TELUS Fully Managed.
*Recipient of Canadian Lawyer’s Readers’ Choice Award for Managed Security Services in 2024.
Authored by:
Brian Mauch
Legal tech specialist, Director of Business Development (Law Firms)
Brian graduated from UBC with degrees in Law and IT Management. In 1997, he founded BMC Networks, one of Canada's largest managed IT providers for law firms. BMC was acquired by TELUS Business in 2023, and is now part of our TELUS Fully Managed offering.
