Bringing in the new era of law firm technology

Gary Shaw, group commercial director at Accesspoint, says the future direction for all law firms will be using totally integrated secure cloud-based legal platform.

Such is the nature of law that the foundations of the legal industry have been built on traditional procedures to achieve the desired outcome for clients – only in recent times has the sector really started to become more attuned to what technology can ultimately offer and thus, made giant leaps to adopt and become more modernised.

However, it could be argued that this gear change has now resulted in a much more complex, and costly, journey – let alone maintaining being up to date. These challenges and desires have now backfired – creating a somewhat disparate environment. New applications, processes and software have been introduced into firms hastily over the years, and without sufficient time or procedures being allocated for the people using them nor for the firm to get to grips with them. Combine this with the lack of market choice for certain solutions and the fact that finding ones that integrate with existing systems hasn’t always been possible.

As new software continues to enter the market at a fast pace, how can SME law firms navigate through the wide range of applications that can be used across their departments without getting lost in it?

But law firms can already be maximising on the combined opportunities or efficiencies that are possible from a whole collection of disparate products currently being used.

The future direction for all law firms will be using totally integrated secure cloud-based legal platform. This concept is going to revolutionise the way all firms operate, by creating a utopia for efficiency, security, and reporting, and a network for the community.

The vision for these platforms is to allow firms to have a collection of bespoke, innovative and off-the-shelf products housed under one platform or ‘umbrella’, where the firm can pick and mix which products (all fully and truly integrated) they’ll need to best serve their staff and clients. This joined-up approach will greatly benefit the firm as the selection of tools and apps can work hand in hand with each other. They can handle case management, documents, finance, integrated communications, CRM and more, while automating data both in and out of a practice management system. Imagine the difference it could make to your firm – as the interoperability of the platform helps alleviate the current burden of workload, improves client relations through more meaningful and efficient processes – instantly taking your team productivity, reporting and workflow to a whole new level.

Consider the other benefits of this new era – there are many!

Cybersecurity issues will be less of an issue for sure. With recent data breach reports over the years showing increases in phishing emails by up to 250% and the average time taken to identify breaches reaching 279 days, we all need extra peace of mind. The sheer increase of various applications coming to market with the lack of interconnectivity could mean hackers have a better chance to exploit a firms’ current defence. With Christmas approaching, security threats are likely to increase, especially as more firms are now using more remote working methods.  Even with security training and testing in place, human error can still occur. These legal platforms will undoubtedly deliver a much more secure environment and combat the threat of hackers, which can cause serious damage to both the firm and client.

Email is perhaps the largest singular threat to security with daily traffic ever on the increase, together with the advanced and sophisticated approach that attackers now seem to be adopting. With a legal platform this will again, without a doubt, be minimised by the integration of all your communications generated via the platform (through portals built within or adoption of Microsoft Teams) – an instant big win!

Email is destined to become history within the legal world as we know it. Now is the time to talk legal platforms – they’re on track to change the face of the legal sector for good.