Failing to research your options before purchasing.

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2 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 2 #1 Failing to research your options before purchasing. Many law firm managers simply buy the program that a buddy from law school uses or the program that they saw demonstrated at the last CLE they attended. There are many good Practice Management Software (PMS) programs on the market; however, each one has features that may be better than their competitors. You need to know what those features are and whether they are important to your firm. Most consultants will give you a decent amount of time (for free) to help you investigate the program they represent. Find a consultant with knowledge of multiple programs, so that you can get a side-by-side comparison.

3 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 3 #2 Ignoring hardware requirements. When you call the sales person for the software manufacturer, they are not obligated or even qualified to analyze your network and determine whether your hardware is sufficient in the context of everything else you run. It is your responsibility to check the minimum technical specifications to run the PMS. If you don t understand the technical requirements, ask someone that does. The tiniest of violations can have a significant impact on the performance of your program. Also, recognize that most vendors will offer both a minimum as well as a recommended set of technical requirements for their software. Too many law firms use the minimums as their goal only to find that the software ultimately doesn t perform as expected. If you double the technical requirements of any software program, you should then have enough resources needed for a successful installation.

4 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 4 #3 Ignoring integrations. So you re getting ready to install your new PMS. Upon installation, you realize that your current version of QuickBooks also needs to be upgraded on every workstation before you can configure the link. Linking applications together can often be one of the biggest time savers and justifications for a new practice management system. Without integrations, you are often left running several systems in parallel while you enter the same information into several different systems. Planning to ensure that the applications AND the versions of those applications will play nice together is time well spent. Without it you ll spend a lot of time, money and frustration getting it right. A list of third party integration requirements are available from every software manufacturer. Make sure that you, or your IT professionals, have reviewed these requirements thoroughly before you purchase.

5 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 5 #4 Not involving the right users in the decision making process. When the managing partner makes the decision to purchase a PMS, they usually don t know how the system will impact the workflow of everyone else in the firm. Power users and the staff responsible for the lion s share of the data entry should be involved in the learning and decision making process. Before deciding which PMS to purchase, set up a demonstration for the people who are required to use it. You may end up learning a lot about your firm. Often, processes that you did not even realize were in place come to light and you learn how the workflow in your office could be made more efficient.

6 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 6 1. What are you looking to accomplish? 2. What are your practice areas? 3. Is there a PMS designed specifically for your type of law? 4. What level of automation do you require? 5. What are your reporting requirements (internal & client dictated) 6. Can the PMS generate the same report? If so, can you create it more efficiently? 7. How many people will need access? 8. Will users need mobile access?

7 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 7 #5 Skimping on training. Training is the most important step in any practice management software implementation, yet is most often overlooked. Training should be mandatory, even for the managing and senior partners. Lead your support staff by example, and be sure the mandate to learn and use the program is clear. If you have people in your office that simply don t have time, investigate whether there are any public or online courses that can be taken at their convenience. Each attorney in your office can spend 6 hours at a billable opportunity of $200 per hour ($1200 loss to you) to try to teach themselves the program, or you can pay a consultant less per hour to come in a teach your entire staff the right way to learn the program.

8 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 8 #6 Failing to customize. Many law firms change their workflow to fit the software. The software should adjust to your needs in a way that improves your workflow, not vice versa. Depending on your firm size and number of practice areas, there might be any number of customizations that could improve use of the system, ease the adoption of new procedures and speed up the overall return on investment (ROI). How? Customizations will often make it faster and easier to find the information you need. This, in turn, makes it easier to focus on client facing activities. In other words, customizing your practice management system will allow you to focus on your clients (not your technology). Remember that some Practice Management Systems are more customizable than others so do your research!

9 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 9 #7 Failing to dictate consistency. In most firms, the procedures employed at any given time are the result of many years of combined procedures piled on top of each other. This isn t the best way to do things but it s the way we know how. Using a practice management system is a great chance to clean up all those processes. While there are multiple ways to do everything in a PMS, some processes and procedures should be dictated by the firm. Whether for calendaring, document management or contact management there are many different ways to ensure that you re capturing all the right information - provided everyone is storing that information in the same manner. Without this consistency, no one will know for sure where to find information and will no longer trust the system. Everyone will have an opinion on the best way to handle things. The firm s management should listen and then decide on the key procedures the firm will use. Consistency is key.

10 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 10 When I was practicing law, each legal secretary, paralegal, and attorney, had their own version of our fax cover sheet. So, if you received a fax from me, my paralegal, our receptionist, or the managing partner who originated your case, you might get four different fax cover sheets. When our address changed, or we added or removed attorneys, thirteen people had to update their fax cover sheet. This is a inefficient use of time, and the use of thirteen different cover sheets may come across as unprofessional. With a PMS, you can create a Fax Cover Sheet template and store it in a central location making it available to everyone in the firm.

11 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 11 #8 Failing to document processes for easy training. Your current staff knows how to use the system, but with each month or year that passes, certain parts of the process fall by the wayside. As new employees start, they get truncated training that skips half the steps. If these processes and procedures are documented, they are easier to pass on, teach to new users, and to enforce. Make sure to document your procedures in your employee handbook or in a separate manual. Adherence to such policies can be an element of employee reviews.

12 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 12 #9 Giving up too easily. When law firms fail to invest in training and a technical support resource for the new PMS, users often get confused when they don t know how to perform simple tasks, such as viewing another person s calendar or editing a contact. Little things like this build frustration, eventually leading users to abandon ship and go back to the way they did it before. Stay on course and the results will be self-evident very quickly.

13 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 13 #10 Underutilization. If you just invested $15,000 for a new PMS, and one year later you re only using the calendar and contact modules, you have wasted a lot of money. In order to gain the largest return on investment (ROI) for your law firm, schedule follow up training to ensure that all features of the program are being used. Or let certain users get advanced training and master additional features, so they can share the success with other firm members. Once others see how much time they will save by using the shortcuts built into a PMS, you will have a greater buy in and a larger ROI.

14 10 S LAW FIRMS MAKE WITH THEIR PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM // 14 A Practice Management System can be a tremendous tool for your firm. If you can simplify 5-10 time consuming tasks at your firm - imagine the cost savings and the increase in profits! But the simple act of purchasing a new PMS won t get it done. It s all in the way your firm USES it. If you re going to invest in a PMS, make sure you understand what you expect it to do, choose the one that can work best for your firm and follow through to ensure maximum utilization. You ll be glad you did.

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