What happens when you become more productive? Everyone knows that means you get more done in the same amount of time.
There’s a popular phrase, “time is money” and if any industry understands the importance of that phrase, it’s the legal industry! After all, attorneys increase their revenue when they have more billable time.
How to increase productivity
Eliminating waste is essential. Time wasted, is money lost and fewer clients to help with the same human resources. Consider this brief example: if 20 workers each waste five hours per week and each worker costs $100,000 per year in salary and benefits, then an annual quarter million ($250,000) dollars of waste is absorbed each year by that business.
Equation: $48 per hour x 100 hours per week x 52 weeks = $249,600
Lean principles and practices have been around for decades. The Toyota Production System (TPS) from 1948 – 1975 led by Japanese engineers Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda identified eight sources of waste in the processes of automobile manufacturing. The manufacturing sources of waste identified included: defects, over production, waiting, non-use, transportation, inventory, motion, excessive processing. Every industry has since benefited from this knowledge.
Lean concepts have since been applied to service-based businesses. Lean Six Sigma, Lean Office, Lean IT and so forth conceptualize the improvement of processes to maximize business benefits and costs.
Lean Office principles for your law firm to consider
- Visualize and optimize processes to reduce waste; thereby increase efficiency
- Standardize operations for stability and compliance
- Automate work to increase velocity for sustainable throughput
- Continuous improvement by focusing on value streams with maximum benefits for your customers
Think Lean IT
You may have heard of digital transformation. The dependency on technologies today in any business is undeniable. For law firms there is huge opportunity to benefit from the right mix of solutions and IT presence to help save time and increase billable hours as well as improve customer satisfaction. How your business operates has a positive or negative effect on the customer experience.
- Hardware – standardize on devices such as desktops, laptops, mobile phones, headsets, conference room equipment, etc.
Benefits: easy to onboard new hires; easy to troubleshoot issues; easy to replace or scale when needed for expansion and growth; interchangeable among staff - Software – besides the specialized law firm software solution; email; document management; standard productivity for word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, calendar integration and more are essential.
Benefits: standard software with common familiarity like Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) enables ease of use, sharing files, built in security features, bots, automation, easy collaboration. With high proficiency in software products, users have less stress and worry (the right training to achieve competency). - Infrastructure – servers, storage, network, Internet, cybersecurity, business continuity all of which has many possible configurations on premise, cloud, hybrid, and automation.
Benefits: the right solutions now and scalable migrations towards increased efficiency and reduced costs as your firm’s business strategies evolve.
Benefits: easy to onboard new hires; easy to troubleshoot issues; easy to replace or scale when needed for expansion and growth; interchangeable among staff
Leverage a law firm technology expert
Your law firm focuses on legal specializations to best serve your clients. Your firm’s business strategies, budgets and investment decisions are constantly evolving. How can you keep costs down to increase profit margins while ensuring growth and sustainable operations? How can you run a Lean Office to reduce waste and optimize operational efficiency? Are you interested in a better client experience, increased reputation, return business and referrals?
Partnering with an IT service provider who specializes and has experience working with the legal profession would be a great start! The benefits above won’t be achieved without guidance to strategize the best technical solutions today and scalable for your firm’s continued success.
The bottom line
Hardware, software, and infrastructure are typically outdated and/or underutilized all of which increase waste and cost your company in the long run. IT strategic planning, tactical optimizations, and regular monitoring of the efficiency and effectiveness of technology solutions for your law firm are critically important.
Make a smart choice on a professional and knowledgeable IT Managed Service Provider (MSP). AKAVEIL Technologies Inc. has internal resources combined with a SOPHOS partnership to ensure cybersecurity expertise with high trust for your law firm. AKAVEIL is a proud Microsoft partner specializing in Azure Cloud Services including Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams solutions. In addition, traditional hardware, software, network, and datacenter skills and experience exist in abundance.
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