The era of legal sector digitisation has arrived and could become a key source of business growth for the reseller community in the years to come. But only if they can provide the right solution.
For hundreds of years, large piles of paperwork became the symbol of the legal profession. But times have changed.
Over the past few years, firms in the legal sector have been going through some turbulent times. From enabling employees to work from home and developing infrastructure that supports disperse staff needs to tackling increased security risks and growing operational costs, there have been many challenges that made the firms rethink their traditional business operations and implement new ways of working and running their business.
Working from home and hybrid working environments have been a big shake up for the industry that always had a very strong office presence culture. Moreover, increasing pressure from competition and the rise of alternative legal service providers have put a strain on revenue growth, according to Thomson Reuters Institute. That made firms seek ways to innovate and invest into technologies that can help reduce operational costs and increase business efficiencies.
However, despite the best intentions to invest into new technologies, some firms still find it challenging to find the best solutions that can help drive their legal firms forward, especially when it comes to digital transformation and efficient, secure information management.
Technology spend on the rise
Reports show that 50% of legal firms have implemented document automation and only 45% have invested into collaboration platforms and tools1. But despite the low uptake, evidence suggests that legal firms are increasingly prioritising investment into new technology, recognising its importance on future business success: UK partners feel firms should be focusing and increasing investment in innovation (76%) and technology (74%).2
Given the expected acceleration in digitisation and infrastructure investment any IT reseller should seriously consider the legal sector as a growth opportunity in the years to come. However, not all the solutions are appropriate and only the best technology is good enough for the industry.
Canon works with hundreds of law firms across the UK, ranging from SMEs to top firms, including some of the Magic Circle Law Firms. With some, we celebrate partnerships that have lasted more than a decade and we pride ourselves in helping law firms achieve the following:
· Bridge the gap between paper and digital: we help improve business efficiencies when it comes to information management, making significant impact on the law firm’s bottom line
· Differentiate through innovation: we help improve employee and client experiences, positively contributing to the revenue growth associated with better firm reputation
· Reduce security risks associated with information management.
Bridging the gap between paper and digital
Lawyers process masses of information in many different formats through physical and digital spaces and with that comes certain challenges. For example, conveyancing involves archive searches and litigation involves compiling new evidence. This can come in a wide range of formats, including paper, pdfs, emails, social media posts and video, as well as texts, audio, pictures – all that needs to be transcribed and manually processed. All the documents need to be integrated, made accessible, searchable and distributable. For lawyers and partners, it’s essential to access and manage information in a timely manner where sometimes cases need to be resolved within 12 hours’ notice. All of this can be achieved through the following steps:
· Driving intelligent document management
· Embracing digitisation at scale
· Transforming traditional mailrooms into digital ones.
All of that comes with a clear requirement for new hardware and software products.
Canon is well placed to help law firms develop an efficient information management strategy as our expertise spans across digital and hard copy management. With our Canon imageFORMULA scanners, you can digitise your documents in bulk. To take things further, you can now equip your employees with portable scanners so they can digitise documents from any location as well as on the go.
Our solutions also ensure that incoming mail is processed efficiently and securely to make sure information is easily accessible, irrespective of type, format, or location. For end users, they reduce costs, increase collaboration and productivity, for resellers they assure high customer satisfaction and repeat purchase.
Reducing security risks
Keeping client information secure is the principal concern for law firms. Information inefficiency can lose cases, leading to loss of client and damage caused to the reputation. Failure to meet client expectations in the competitive market can mean loss of business. What is even worse, security and confidentiality breaches can be even more costly. Law firms simply cannot afford to do nothing when it comes to information security and compliance.
For some legal firm partners or IT leaders, every new investment into technology makes secure system integration a demanding subject. The business leaders can be concerned with the impact of change and the implications for change management. Luckily at Canon, our document management solutions integrate easily and securely with the legal industry-acknowledged systems such as iManage and Therefore. We also work with cost management systems such as uniFLOW, Copitrak, Equitrac and others. This means seamless change with no risks of disruption or data protection issues.
Canon has scalable solutions and a flexible approach meaning we can help clients of different sizes. We can also support our channel partners in identifying the appropriate solution as you explore the opportunities.
