The modern world of work revolves around technology, and businesses across all sectors are rapidly learning how to utilise it to get the most from their team. However, as a law firm, your sector can benefit more than most from what technology has to offer.
In the following article we will explore how comprehensive document management can help meet your law firm’s information management needs. By centralising all your information and linking it to activities and billing, you can generate insights to track your firm’s performance – this is all made possible by Cloud document storage.
Document management systems
Document management systems aren’t as difficult to understand as they might sound – they are a place for you to store, organise, and manage your documents.
Document management systems will help you to tackle some of those rigorous legislations you have to adhere to – obviously, there are endless rules regarding legislation within law firms due to the sensitivity of the information that they handle.
Document management systems in the Cloud – Why?
Case centric document management
Document management systems for law firms store all documents, emails, and files related to a client and case in a central place. When document management is case centric, it allows you to set permission settings a lot easier, and, by doing this, you can ensure only the right team members can access certain parts of the ecosystem. For example, management can give access to all the cases for a client, some, or only one, by location, type, relevance, or a variety of other factors that you choose to assign.
Microsoft 365 integration and templates
Document management systems shouldn’t be a chore to learn how to use and make life more complicated but should integrate with the tools that you are already using. For example, with an integration with Outlook, you can search your emails, attachments, and capture contact information. Also, by using document and email templates you can automate some of the repetitive, non-billable tasks (such as letter drafts and invoices) – this will save you a lot of time and allow you to concentrate your time on financially viable pursuits.
Secure, 24/7 access to case files
With the Cloud you have access to the latest versions of your documents, from anywhere on the globe! Having the freedom to work from home, in court, or from the beach is a breath of fresh air when compared to the traditional alternative of company servers or hard drives. This is all possible from a mobile device too, as the Cloud allows lawyers to upload documents and emails on the go, in real time, with no need for a computer or laptop. This, alongside the perks of unlimited – yes, you read that right – unlimited storage, disaster recovery plans, flexibility, and scalability, all with nowhere near the high upfront cost of on-premise IT, makes the Cloud a no brainer.
Secure file sharing and collaboration
Accessing documents from anywhere, any time, is only the half of it, because, with the right Cloud based solution, you will be able to track what changes have been made to documents, by whom, and when they made the change. Some send you notifications when documents are added to a particular file, when someone has added a comment, or when the comment has been answered/ completed. This all promotes and increases collaboration amongst your team both in and out of the work setting.
There are Cloud solutions on the market that allow you to share documents with your clients in a safe way. Some allow you to give access to your colleagues or parties outside of the organisation through a secure portal which will allow them to see, edit, and download documents – whilst you keep track of them in real time.
Analytical insights
With the Cloud the days of making decisions based on estimated guesses and hunches are over. With the tool you invested in managing your case files, monitoring activity, and logging time, this should be enough information to allow you to break down that information and perform some analyses. Several platforms hand you the ability to obtain expert insights that allow you to get a quick overview of the ins and outs of your organisation. You can generate tables and charts that are easy to navigate, edit, update and share, all of which will present data that matters to you – after all, we are all trying to achieve the same thing from our businesses, it’s just that all our businesses have different ways of getting there.
Using technology as effectively as possible now and going forward is essential for every law firm, with it you can take your practice into a far more productive, and capable future.
Are you struggling to manage your documents in your law firm?
Are you experiencing difficultly regarding the document management in your law firm? You can be confident that we will work together with you and your team to really get to the route of any problems with your existing IT infrastructure. We will work together to find a solution that fits you, implement it for you, and be there for you in case any changes need to be made to it. Get in contact with us now and see how, with the right tools, you can manage your documents safely and securely.
Please make contact with our team today to organise a free, no commitment discovery call to learn about your possible threats and our proactive approach to help you combat them.
Contact us for more information on 0203 096 2220 or hello@Exi-Go.com
