If you’re a GC or a head of legal operations, then these stats from the Onit 2023 Enterprise Legal Reputation Report may resonate with you. Nearly six in 10 respondents (59%) don’t consider the legal team to be particularly efficient. Almost two thirds (65%) of non-legal respondents believe better communication, collaboration and streamlined legal processes are the most essential way legal can support its internal clients in this time of economic uncertainty. And efficient legal tech is believed to elevate legal teams’ productivity by as much as 51% and reduce time spent on contracts by 42%.
So, in-house teams know they need to perform better, and many are looking to technology to help them do it. But navigating the fast-changing landscape of legal tech isn’t easy. And the gap between understanding what you need to do, and knowing how to do it, creates some common challenges.
Here are five we regularly see – you may recognise more than one!
- You’ve invested in a technology solution, but it’s not delivering the outcomes you expected – and you don’t know how to fix it. Maybe you’ve had to increase headcount despite implementing a tool to improve efficiency. Or your tool has had low adoption because it doesn’t properly integrate with your other systems, or with the way your team is used to working. Sometimes it’s just that you’re having to wait eight to 12 months for an enhancement, and even then, it might not effectively address your main challenge. In short, you’re not getting the best from your tech.
- You understand the value legal ops can bring, but you can’t see how you’ll realise it without the internal approval to increase your headcount. For many teams, budget isn’t the main issue; it’s adding headcount to a cost centre that affects the revenue per employee ratio.
- You’ve secured the buy-in and budget to build a legal ops function from the ground up, but you don’t know where to start. Or you don’t have the internal resources to do it effectively.
- You’ve been extracting data from your tech, but the insights aren’t compelling. And you don’t have the expertise to integrate your data with that from finance, procurement or compliance in a comprehensive or insightful way.
- You’ve got a solid legal ops foundation, but you’re unsure how to properly map out your processes and automate them. Or how they would fit most effectively with the end-to-end processes of the wider business.
The real solution lies in systems thinking
The lesson of these challenges is that implementing an efficient, effective function means thinking about the people and processes, as well as tech. It also means considering how all those parts fit with the rest of the business. In other words, it requires you to shift your mindset from tackling individual issues in isolation to embracing a holistic, interdependent view.
We apply this “systems thinking” approach to help clients like you to build a coordinated, planned digital roadmap for transformation. And because we’ve identified five common challenges, we’ve developed a “legal ops-as-a-service” offer for each one. We’ve provided a quick overview below – you can find out more here.
- Optimise: We’ll assess if your tech is still future-fit, or if there’s something on the market today that will make you more efficient. And we’ll help you get more value from your data.
- Enhance: We’ll put a managed service in place for your core legal work – so you can get the outcomes you want, without the added headcount or management headache.
- Spark: We’ll build an industry-leading function that reflects best practice. You can then decide whether to take over its management or use our managed service.
- Insights: We’ll analyse your metrics, legal spend, contracting and compliance data for insights that are indispensable to your team and the business.
- Flow: We’ll use proven techniques to transform and automate your policies and workflows so they’re slicker and more joined-up, both within and outside of the function.
Are you interested in unlocking the full potential of your legal function by becoming more efficient, interconnected and valuable? Check out our scalable, flexible Legal Ops-as-a-Service offerings today
If you’d like to find out more or chat, please do get in touch