According to Thomson Reuters, digitalization and technology tops the list of general counsel priorities. Topping the list? Document management software to address litigation, contracts, and licenses.
By implementing a purpose-built, legal document management (DM) solution that stores all documents and work product in a single place, law department leaders can eliminate information silos, workflow bottlenecks, and time-consuming administrative tasks related to managing legal documents. This helps legal teams focus on strategic activities that deliver value—while driving business efficiency—to achieve its objectives.
Yet only 38% of global legal departments have adopted dedicated legal document management solutions. As a result, information and working environments are not integrated, files can’t be easily shared or collaborated on securely, data insights remain hidden in disparate systems, and efficiency is overtaken by content chaos.
For law department leaders determined to bring order (and a heightened level of security and protection) to their organization’s sensitive volumes of legal content, while addressing usability, adoption, and security, here are four critical factors to help you evaluate document management (DM) solutions.
4 document management considerations when building a tech-optimized, data-driven legal operation
1. Is the DM solution purpose-built for legal collaboration?
A legal-built DM should work the way you and your team does. Now, more than ever, employees are working on-the-go or remotely, with mobile devices. Despite the shift to remote work, one thing remains constant: the need for quick, easy, and secure access to protected work product and corporate IP that can be shared when and as needed. The DM solution should be your organization’s information center that can be accessed with a single click whether from the web, Office applications, Microsoft Teams, or a mobile/tablet device. And, as a content management platform it should provide a customizable, secure, lawyer-friendly working environment with a personalized dashboard that can be organized by legal, client or matter content.
2. Can it be customized for specific business needs?
Organizational needs vary, making it critical that DM solutions can be appropriately tailored to fit the needs of the team and the individual users. With the right DM platform, law department leaders can build a work environment that can suit specific business needs with add-on modules now and expand capabilities.
For example, does the DM provide the following functionality that can be added on as needs grow or change?
- Prevent email filing chaos by automatically filing emails alongside case content?
- Protect content from a data breach at the document level and with activity monitoring?
- Demonstrate regulatory compliance, defensible disposition, and the disposal of electronic and paper records?
- Instantly find internal subject matter experts, speed access to relevant information, automatically categorize documents, and uncover strategic insights from enterprise-wide data sources?
3. Is there a universal view into integrated legal and business information?
When the DM system is integrated with other business systems, such as matter and knowledge management, HR, and billing, users can find synchronized, relevant and the most current information quickly—from documents, emails and e-billing reports to deadlines, calendars, and personnel.
4. Can the solution scale efficiently and cost-effectively with the business?
Technically savvy GCs lead digital transformation with clarity and understand that business needs change over time. Ensure that the solution you are evaluating offers an upgrade path that provides the same instant access to a full set of capabilities, whether on-premises or in the cloud. Knowing that the solution offers flexible options based on an organization’s IT preferences, GCs can be assured that their needs will be met most effectively today and tomorrow.
Legal document management tools drive efficiency, user adoption and ROI
With the right DM technology, tech-enabled legal departments can streamline time-consuming tasks, focus on higher-level activities that will surpass client demands, and gain the competitive advantage.
To learn about OpenText™ eDOCS legal DM solution, visit our web page.
“The big change we saw when we moved to OpenText eDOCS was the ability to not only store everything together based on the client matter number, which was a big change and very useful for us, but it also gave us the ability to do full index searching. It has revolutionized our ability to find things.”
Chris Garrett, Assistant General Counselor, Office of General Counsel, City of Jacksonville, Florida
