Digitalization of Legal Sector – Innovating Firms and Empowering Employees for the Future of Work

The world around us is adopting digital innovations at a fast rate. And this momentum will only increase over time. This makes it vital that firms embrace digitalization and innovations to empower their employees and ensure business success.  

Talking about the legal profession, it is considered one of the noblest professions among others. But the extensive traditional history which it holds leaves a lot of room open for digitization and innovation. Implementing these can completely revolutionize the entire legal sector and also prepare its employees for the future of work as today’s generation doesn’t want to be tied to a fixed place for getting the job done

Ways to innovate your law Firm while also empowering your employees: 

Make A Clear Plan of Action– 

The first step of embracing innovation is building a clear plan of action for the entire organization. Setting up priorities based on quantifiable business data figures can ensure that the outcome of any digital innovation is rewarding. Make sure to take feedback and adjust the course actively. Utilize analytics software to gain statistics, trace progression and discover new means of working. As per a McKinsey survey, organizations with a clear plan of action for implementing innovation had 1.7 times more chances of surpassing the expected outcomes.  

Stay Open to Making Swift Changes-  

External factors can derail you from your plan of action and methods of working time and again. The reason being that technology is advancing quicker than ever before, so an external technological development may lead you to deviate from your course of action. Therefore, you must recheck your priorities repeatedly to ensure they remain unaffected by external and internal factors and do not cause any hindrance to the growth of the employees. 

Distribute Accountability among Employees-  

After setting up your plan of action, introduce a shared feeling of accountability in the firm. This will establish a sense of unity and develop a progressive environment. Because as per the McKinsey survey, shared responsibility leads to successful outcomes. Also, empowering people is not just about taking feedback from the people around you. You must also consider the tools to ensure open communication among employees. Software like Microsoft Teams allows you to access meetings and chats, host events, and share files to establish active coordination. But the essential factor for success in the future of work is to make sure your employees have the required skills. As you strive with more innovative and digital working methods, your employees must be skilled and confident enough to turn your business goal into reality. 

Optimize Operations – 

For preparing your team to co-op with the rapidly developing surroundings, you must leverage technology to enhance business operations. If you look back into the past of the legal industry, we can see that it has remained heavily paper-dependent. This can be contrary to the client’s growing demands of digital solutions as dealing with extensive paper documents can be tedious and hampers his flexible working manners. Shifting to an impregnable and competent digital solution like Dynamics 365 can interlink your data and files that generate a single view. By availing this means you can rise from a limited, isolated field of vision to a linked, dynamic resolution. And if you don’t have expertise in running these software or don’t want to do it yourself, you can always take the assistance of firms offering reliable & professional legal support services. They can take care of operating such software so you can freely concentrate on providing competent legal services. 

Ensure Top-Notch Security- 

Security is the most stressed aspect for the legal industry while utilizing any technology. The software or hardware should be completely safe and regulated, especially when handling delicate information, whether personal or professional. When searching for solutions regarding digital innovation, make sure they are built for optimum security and privacy and comply with regulations like GDPR. Softwares are present in the market with multi-layered Artificial Intelligent security, options to help you control user access, identify threats and protection against them, and store data safely on multiple devices, which is essential as most employees are working these days remotely. 

Maintain Work/life balance –  

As the entire world arises from the darkness of recession and is now starting to experience a shortage of employees with key skills, employers will have to rethink their perception regarding work completely. There is already enough evidence that proves that people are changing their jobs to improve their work/life balance. A big paycheck at the end of every month is no longer the desire of employees with rare skills. For them, time is as crucial as money once used to be. Therefore, they are getting attracted to work cultures where it is easy to have a personal life, and sacrifices of their freedom are not required for career growth.  

Allow Flexibility–  

The control has shifted to employees from the employer in the new approach to work. The individual is the controller of his own time in this new era of “smart.” It’s his decision when and where he will work, and their superiors trust him to do so. The assumption that tasks can only be completed at the workplace during the usual working hours is disappearing. Many people, specifically those with a knack for creativity, do their finest work outside the traditional shackles of time and place. So, why force people to work during those times when they may be least productive.  

Consider Changing Ideology– 

The most massive leap that the managers have to take is to lay off measuring the hours worked (input) and start measuring the outcome at completion (output). If the basis on which the worthiness of an employee is the net output he had provided, then the time and venue of the work are not much relevant. When you trust someone to decide for themselves how to do a job, they will understand the constraints and work within the required parameters. Therefore, the old working ways are being replaced by flexible working practices where individuals control their work methods. This has revolutionized the work culture. It involves a change from command methodology to a leadership approach that makes the employee feel empowered and motivate them to get the work done. This shows that employees are not being treated like mere followers, and they can make their own decisions to execute a task as per their needs and the employer’s needs.  

Consider Utilizing Temporary workspaces- 

Once the link between work and a fixed location vanishes, many workplaces with potential will rise. Some people may find it easier to work a fraction of the time from their homes. This can be highly productive if it fits in with the people’s personal lives and their work commitments. This saves time and struggle of daily commute and has led to a significant improvement in performance output at home versus office. 

However, most jobs require interacting with other people physically, but technology is changing that as well. Meeting are being replaced by virtual conferences or online discussions. Social media management teams are helping in building rapport. And in case there is a need to hold a physical meeting, the offices of the future will take care of this as well. These offices will allow people to meet and use only the required workspace on a “renting for a day” or “drop-in basis.” Such workspaces will enable people to work in the building as per the task they need to perform. After completion of the job, they no longer need to come to that place. And even if a requirement arises again, they can drop in for the required duration again.  

Conclusion 

Implementing new technology may create a big difference, but it is not the only solution to become successful in this new normal. It would be best if you focused on empowering everybody who is part of your organization to attain goals. A new shiny device can’t always be a key player in making you successful. It is realizing your main objectives and how you can complete them, allowing agility in business through statistics and analysis, and empowering employee and customer satisfaction as your primary focus. 

Author Bio:

 Cline Carol associated with Cogneesol Inc. as a paralegal and a blogger by hobby.She is passionate about helping lawyers think entrepreneurially—by implementing technologies and efficiencies into their practices, and by bravely looking forward to the changes happening all across the legal landscape. She writes about the technological transformation of the legal sector, helping legal professionals and law firms to manage their legal back office tasks and helping them to drive growth in the agile market.