Posted by Callie Sierra
3 August 2017

With GDPR right around the corner, it’s now more important than ever for law firms to start talking to their clients about planning for compliance. GDPR will take effect in May 2018, and the consequences for noncompliance are immense. Firms that fail to comply with the regulations could face fines of up to €20M or 4% of turnover, whichever is greater.

Though GDPR presents many challenges for businesses, it also opens a world of opportunity to law firms. Last week, Phil Ayton presented a webinar titled The GDPR Opportunity: Re-imagining Client Service through Technology. During the webinar, he looked at how law firms can help clients proactively address compliance through technology. Advances in automation technology have made it easier than ever for firms to partner with their clients to assess risk and plan a detailed approach towards compliance. By partnering with clients early in the process, firms can create differentiation through innovative client service.

That’s why we’ve launched GDPR Go, an end-to-end, online GDPR planning tool that law firms can use to help clients plan their approach to compliance. GDPR Go brings together Sysero’s Template Builder and Business Process Designer to create an innovative GDPR assessment tool that enables clients to create personalised GDPR legal assessments and monitor their progress towards compliance. 

Law firms can customise the out-of-the box question set, which already includes all the necessary data that needs to be captured. Clients then complete a guided online questionnaire and provide information on how their organisation currently collects and stores personal data. A personalised GDPR assessment is automatically generated based on their input and includes a ‘GDPR’ checklist. Once work commences, clients can track and monitor their work with the firm through the same tool.

GDPR presents a unique opportunity for firms to expand existing business and establish themselves as value-added advisors. With GDPR Go, firms now have the ability to provide an effective resource to clients while simultaneously building their own confidence in advising on GDPR matters.

GDPR Go suits firms of all sizes, and is currently available at no cost to current Sysero clients. If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to reach out to Phil Ayton at phil.ayton@sysero.com.

Posted 24 October 2018

We’re delighted to be sponsoring this year’s iManage EMEA User Group Meeting, taking place on 29^th November in London.

Each year, the iManage EMEA User Group Meeting brings together iManage customers from across the UK and Europe in a collaborative environment to explore the latest product innovations from iManage.

This year’s event will take place at The May Fair Hotel, which is set in the heart of Mayfair, London. It’s against this stunning setting that attendees will learn about the latest iManage product updates and roadmaps and have the opportunity to network with and learn from their peers.

The agenda for this year’s user group meeting will feature engaging presentations and showcases featuring iManage Document & Email Management; Artificial Intelligence; and Security, Risk & Governance. Event attendees will also have the opportunity to learn more about and engage with iManage partners in the event’s exhibition space.

Be sure to stop by and visit the Sysero booth, where we’ll be showcasing our end-to-end document workflow solution, which iManage is deploying across its consulting, cloud services, customer adoption and legal groups globally.

Learn how iManage consultants and implementation partners are using Sysero’s technology to easily onboard new clients and automate service delivery by quickly generating tailored implementation-related documentation, deployment guides and contracts through the completion of online forms. Using Sysero, internal consultants are able to share the latest methodologies and best practice methodologies with iManage customers and partners to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date information they need to design and deploy the most effective solution.

Following the event, we invite you join us for the iManage Christmas Party, which promises to be the perfect end to a day full of insights and innovation.

The iManage EMEA User Group Meeting is a must-attend event for any iManage user, so don’t miss your chance to attend! The event is open to all existing iManage users. To register, please visit the iManage EMEA User Group Meeting event page.

We look forward to seeing you in November!

Posted 5 March 2019

Law firms and legal departments face mounting pressure to be more responsive and efficient, while still delivering high-quality work. One technology that’s helping firms meet this challenge is legal workflow automation. Workflow automation is transforming the way law firms do business by accelerating processes, reducing risk, and allowing lawyers to reclaim their valuable time.

There are many use cases for workflow automation within law firms. Here, we look at three core areas ripe for innovation within today’s firms and how to use workflow automation to drive greater productivity, client value and service differentiation.

Internal Know-How

According to a recent report, lawyers spend about 48 percent of their time on administrative tasks, such as reviewing and drafting documents. By automating document assembly and template management, firms can significantly reduce the amount time lawyers spend on these non value-added tasks.

Take for example, how leading Swedish firm Vinge transformed the way the firm’s lawyers work by implementing a customised automated document workflow designed to ease the lawyers’ workloads. Vinge’s document automation system, called Vinge Dox, allows lawyers to quickly and easily create new documents directly from the knowledge library. To create a document, lawyers simply select the type of document they want and fill out a guided online questionnaire. By streamlining the document generation and assembly process, Vinge was able to shift lawyers’ focus from drafting documents to client development and service.

Custom workflows can help increase internal speed and accuracy by automatically prompting responsible parties to complete certain tasks within defined timeframes. For example, in the context of document automation, a firm may choose to send subject matter experts a notification to review the quality of clauses or documents at specific internals to ensure automated templates stay relevant.

Risk-Based New Client Intake

Compliance is a complex and ever-evolving challenge for today’s firms. At the same time, firms need to be able to quickly accept new business and onboard clients. Fortunately, workflow automation enables firms to accelerate the acceptance of new clients, while quickly identifying potential risks.

We recently partnered with one of Sweden’s top law firms to design and implement a customised business inception process to streamline the firm’s client intake and clearance processes, while subsequently reducing the associated risk. The new intake process includes a client scoring system, which formalises the evaluation of new business opportunities based on a predefined set of rules determined by the firm’s priorities. Take for example, professional risk, terms alignment, and Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. A risk profile is created for each new client, enabling the firm to escalate high-risk clients for further review.

Compliance with AML, KYC and sanctions requirements continues to be a key focus for modern law firms. By employing automation to create a structured risk-based business inception framework, forward-looking firms can not only make it quicker to bring on new clients, but also proactively identify potential compliance risks with greater speed and accuracy.

Client Transactions

Another area ripe for disruption is the client delivery process. We’re seeing more and more firms turn to self-service client portals to drive efficiency and profitability, while creating service differentiation. Though self-service itself isn’t a new concept, the approach has only recently started to take hold in the legal sector. And it’s innovative firms in the Nordics that are leading the way.

Many leading Nordic firms have already started experimenting with client automation portals, with positive feedback from their clients. These client-facing portals use document workflow automation to enable clients to automatically generate firm-managed work product on a self-service basis. For example, a client could use the portal to access the template for a frequently-used document, such as NDA, and generate the final work product themselves by simply completing an online questionnaire. The NDA template would be fully managed by the law firm to ensure that the client is using the most up-to-date template at all times.

By giving clients immediate access to the documents they need, when they need them, firms are able to provide their clients with greater value, while also offering a broader range of services. At the same time, firms are able to increase their profitability for fixed-fee transactions and give lawyers back more of their time.

As competitive and client pressures continue to reshape the legal landscape, law firms must look for new ways to increase profitability, while improving client relationships and creating service differentiation. Join us for our upcoming webinar, From Library to Contract: Automating the Knowledge Lifecycle, to learn how firms are bringing these three areas of workflow together to automate the entire knowledge lifecycle - from know-how to executed contract.

Posted by Callie Sierra
9 May 2019

Technological innovation is a key driver of success for today’s legal sector. Law firms and legal departments of all sizes are engaging with new technologies to increase productivity, boost efficiency and more effectively collaborate with clients. Though technology itself can help solve some of these business challenges, implementing a successful solution can present its own nuanced set of complexities.

If you’re planning to introduce new technology within your firm, there are several key steps you need to consider - from carefully planning your project to gathering honest feedback. However, with the right approach, you can ensure your new technology is seamlessly integrated into the firm and adopted by lawyers and staff. Here, we share our eight-step guide to successfully implementing your latest legal technology solution.

1) Define your project plan

First, and foremost, you need a plan. Technology implementations should be treated just like any other large-scale project, and as such, require a project plan. Take the time to develop a formalised document that outlines the project’s objectives, identifies key stakeholders, delineates roles and responsibilities and provides a general outline for approaching the project. Essentially, the project plan will serve as the blueprint for how you plan to implement your technology programme.

When drafting your project plan, be sure to consider:

• Why are you implementing this new technology?
• What do you hope to achieve with the implementation?
• Who are the main stakeholders?
• What are some of the identified risks?
• What core benefits will the new technology offer end users?
• What is your timeframe for implementation?
• How will you evaluate the success of the technology implementation?

2) Identify key practice areas

Technology can advance law practices in many ways. Consider the current needs and processes of each practice to determine which practice areas are best suited to your new technology programme. For example, if you’re rolling out a new document automation solution, you may establish Mergers & Acquisitions as a practice area that will most likely benefit from the programme.

3) Select a practice pilot

To ensure adoption, it’s important to include lawyers and staff early on in the process and get them excited about the new tools available to them. Once you’ve identified practice areas that will benefit from your technology programme, narrow it down to a single practice group with which to pilot your programme.

By piloting the technology with a single practice group, you’ll gain valuable feedback and input into ensuring the programme meets the needs of the firm’s lawyers. Your pilot group can also serve as internal champions, which will be advantageous in promoting the project internally and driving firm-wide adoption.

4) Employ iterative development

Your selected pilot group should serve as the starting point for your project. Work with the pilot group to identify potential use cases for the technology and identify key areas of concern. As you develop the technology programme, be sure to include lawyers and staff in the process to gain valuable input and feedback. By gathering this information and testing early on, you can proactively address concerns before you roll out the programme to a broader audience. An iterative development approach also can help you achieve quick wins and build momentum for the programme.

5) Market your technology programme internally

To help drive adoption of your programme, it’s important to build buzz and excitement leading up to the official launch. Consider creating an internal marketing and communications plan to build awareness, interest and engagement amongst lawyers and staff. Some effective marketing activities and tactics might include developing a brand for your project, sharing early success stories from the pilot group or hosting town-hall style meetings to preview the new technology tools.

6) Coordinate internal launch

Now that you’ve successfully developed, tested, and marketed your technology programme, it’s time for launch. Preparation and coordination are key to a successful internal launch. As you approach the launch date, stay focused on the execution and be ready to address any last-minute issues. Appropriate communication and training will be crucial to determining the long-term success of the project.

7) Establish ongoing engagement

Keep up momentum after the launch by fostering ongoing training, education and communication with lawyers and staff. As lawyers and staff learn more about your programme, they’ll discover new features and tools that can help them be more productive and efficient. It’s also good practice to provide channels and opportunities for lawyers and staff to provide feedback and input.

8) Evaluate programme performance

Lastly, it’s important to evaluate the outcome of the project. Consider holding a project de-brief meeting 1-2 months following the firm-wide launch to assess the success of the project and identify any risks. Refer back to the key performance indicators in your original project plan to measure the overall impact of the programme.

Once you’re up and running on your new technology programme, you can start planning for the future. Think about how other practice areas or departments might benefit from your technology programme. Share your successes with other practice and department heads and consider other ways you can leverage your technology programme to differentiate your firm.

Posted 8 August 2019

Over the last few years, automated solutions have become a key driver of efficiency and productivity in the modern law firm. Oftentimes, the day-to-day management of a legal practice involves a number of repetitive tasks - from client intake to document generation. By automating these processes and tasks with workflow technology, firms are reducing workflow inefficiencies, improving quality and limiting risk. 

Though automation offers a tremendous amount of benefits, practice leaders often struggle with the technology to effectively implement it within their firms. Starting a new automation project can be overwhelming, and sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to start. However, once you’re up and running, you’re bound to quickly realise results. 

As with any large scale technology implementation, a successful automation roll out requires a comprehensive plan coupled with a collaborative approach. In recent years, we’ve partnered with leading firms - such as Vinge, Castrén & Snellman, and Simonsen Vogt Wiig - to successfully bring automation to their firms. Every firm is unique, so their roll out plan is as well. However, there are a few things that every successful launch has in common. Here, we share some best practices for bringing automation to your firm.

Ensure Proper Support

One of the biggest hurdles to getting started with automation, especially document automation, is finding the time to automate the necessary documents and workflows. However, this can easily be overcome by dedicating the right resources and support. Consider adding automation as part of a trainee lawyers’ responsibilities and pair them with an experienced practitioner to ensure quality. This will allow you to kick-start your automation efforts, without expending too much valuable fee earning time or sacrificing quality.

Prepare your Templates

If you’re introducing document automation within your firm, it’s crucial to prepare your templates before you start automating them. At the outset of the project, conduct a template audit and refine and optimise the templates you plan to automate. 

Define your Processes

Mapping and defining your processes early on is key to a successful launch. Spend the time at the start of the project to outline the processes for automation, as well as the role of key stakeholders. This will lay the blueprint for your project moving forward. 

Start Small & Automate Incrementally

Depending on your automation project, it might be best to start small. More often than not, document automation projects can be derailed by complex and lengthy templates. To get started, begin with simple templates, such as an NDA, and build from there. 

Involve Lawyers Early On

For an automation implementation to be truly successful, lawyers must be bought into it. Engage with the firm’s lawyers early on in the planning process to build buy-in and source valuable feedback that can be incorporated into the final deliverable. 

Clearly Communicate Benefits

While the advantage of automation may be clear to you, it doesn’t mean it's understood by your lawyers. Spend the time to educate lawyers on the benefits of automation and they’ll be more likely to adopt it. 

For more insights and advice for automating your firm, download our Document Automation Implementation Guide, which provides a step-by-step plan for launching automation technology with your firm. 

Posted 19 September 2019

Today’s legal services clients want greater control, speed, and quality. One way that law firms are stepping up to the challenge is by tapping into the power of self-service client portals.

Self-service portals are a concept that has long been employed by customer service and support teams to provide immediate, on-demand service. However, the concept has recently started to make its way into the legal sphere - and for good reason. With service differentiation becoming a primary battleground for winning and retaining clients, more law firms are turning to self-service portals to provide clients with instant access to legal documents. 

This always-available model of service can provide a true competitive advantage for today’s firms. Not only does self-service save time, resources, and costs for the law firm, but it also empowers legal teams to create their own legal documents on-demand, without assuming any additional risk. 

Here, we look at some of the top advantages that self-service portal provide to legal clients. 

New services, no software required

As anyone who has worked in a corporate office knows, installing new software on your computer can be quite the challenge. With client portals, in-house counsel can easily gain access to digital legal services, without the need for additional software. They can simply log on from any computer and start generating legal documents. 

The cloud-based portals are hosted and maintained by the law firm, so clients can be assured that the documents they create are up-to-date and ready-to-use. Additionally, with a fixed, predictable fee, it’s easier for clients to project and budget across the services lifecycle. 

Enhanced data security and built-in compliance

As information security concerns mount, keeping data protected and secure is paramount for today’s organisations. Fortunately, self-service portals can come with enhanced data security and compliance built-in to the platform. 

For example, Sysero’s self-service portal ensures client data is stored, managed and protected in accordance to cybersecurity and compliance best practices: 

• Encryption: Personal data entered into a Sysero portal can be encoded and configured so that it is only visible to specific users. The encrypted data appears scrambled or unreadable to an individual or entity attempting to access the data without permission. 

• Pseudonymisation: The process of pseudonymisation adds an additional layer of security to protect sensitive data. The process involves replacing the most identifying fields within a data record, such as Social Security Number, with artificial identifiers. This ensures that even if stolen, data cannot be directly associated with an identity.

• Backups: Sysero’s client portals come with fully-managed, automated and secured data backups, which ensures that all client data is appropriately backed up and can be quickly accessed in case of down time. 

• Data Sanitization: One of the key principles of GDPR and data security in general is to not hold data any longer than required. As part of Sysero’s portals, data can be assigned an expiration date to ensure it’s removed once it’s served its purpose. The same concept can also be applied to documents and transactions to comply with regulations. 

Maintain greater control

Self-service portals provide clients with instant access to legal expertise, guide users through specific legal processes, provide options for different scenarios and offer a centralised platform for managing transactions. Many of our law firm clients partner closely with their clients to determine how their portal looks, works and integrates with the rest of the business.

Each client portal can be completely customised to suit the unique requirements of in-house legal teams to facilitate greater internal efficiency and enhanced collaboration with their firms. 

The potential for self-service legal portals is endless - for both law firms and their clients. Forward-thinking firms are already approaching clients to collaborate on customised self-service portals, and in the next year, we expect the trend to continue as client demands evolve with the pace of technology. 

To learn more about your firm’s clients can benefit from self-service client portals, get in touch with us or check out our client automation portal demo. 

Posted 10th March 2020

For today’s law firms and legal providers, knowledge is everything. Think about it - almost every client interaction from your firm relies on some form of knowledge, whether it be legal knowledge, client knowledge or organisational insights. The success of your firm is intrinsically tied to the specialist knowledge it holds within its walls. However, all too often, these invaluable insights and tacit knowledge assets leave the firm with the lawyers that possess them.

As an entire generation of senior lawyers and partners rapidly approach the age of retirement, firms are ushering in a younger generation empowered by high levels of mobility and a desire for innovation and transformation. According to the most recent PWC Annual Law Firms’ Survey, today’s firms face high staff turnover rates driven by short-term contracts, employer competition and concern over opportunity for advancement. At the same time, an Altman Weil survey found that partners age 60 or older were responsible for at least a quarter of law firm revenue at 63 percent of firms. 

The legal workforce is changing faster than ever before, and today’s firms must find new ways to effectively capture, maintain and distribute the expertise of their lawyers. While many firms struggle to sift through imposing amounts of data, those that can quickly access, search and manage proprietary knowledge from across the firm will prove stronger competitors and client partners. Here, we look at best practices for ensuring your firm retains its knowledge to drive continued growth for the future. 

Define KM from a Forward-Thinking Perspective

A decade ago, Knowledge Management (KM) was focussed on work product retrieval and reuse. Today, it may be the key to creating a competitive advantage. In the context of the digital age, KM goes beyond just organising, sharing and effectively using organisational knowledge. It’s about surfacing the right information, to the right people, at the right time. In forward-thinking KM, the need is to be able to capture and organise explicit and tacit knowledge from across the firm and empower lawyers to deliver better, more consistent service and quickly solve complex business challenges. 

Choose the Right Technology 

Technology is crucial to closing the knowledge gap created by lawyers’ departures. Fortunately, robust knowledge management systems coupled with workflow automation can provide a strong framework for capturing, managing and sharing expertise across the entire firm before critical partners retire or valuable staff depart. Further, solutions like Sysero, can integrate internal and external knowledge into a custom know-how repository that your firm’s lawyers can easily search and manage. You can also make use of contextual search tools, which help optimise the search experience and quickly surface the content most valuable to the individual users. 

Shift Firm Culture

Law firms traditionally are individualistic, as lawyers are often sold on the idea that their knowledge is their most important asset and it shouldn’t be shared. However, to effectively prevent knowledge leakage, it’s critical to cultivate an organisational culture built on collaboration and communication. While it’s no small feat to shift the collective mindset, it’s a crucial step toward encouraging partners, lawyers and staff to openly share insights and experience and ensure future success for your firm. 

One proven way to begin the shift is to include lawyers in your KM initiatives. For example, when Castren & Snellman collaborated with Sysero to develop a comprehensive knowledge management system called Transformer, the KM team was mindful to include lawyers early in the planning process. As such, the team piloted the programme with the firm’s Mergers & Acquisition team, which lead to early quick wins and programme advocates within the firm. 

Provide the Right Training

To effectively capture and share knowledge, today’s firms not only need to demonstrate the benefits of knowledge sharing, but also educate and train lawyers on how to effectively share their knowledge. When implementing new technology or processes, consider hosting several training events for your lawyers or launching a series of on-demand training tools, which could include instructional guides and videos. As lawyers learn more about your initiative, they’ll discover new tools and features that can help them be more productive, efficient, and deliver higher quality service. 

To learn more about using technology to effectively harness and protect your firm’s knowledge and expertise, get in touch with our team.

Posted 9 July 2020

During the past several years, entrepreneurial law firms have started experimenting with flexible working practices. However, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition from traditional ways of working to agile working practices for law firms around the world. More lawyers - whether in-house or at a law firm - are now working from home, and it’s already becoming evident that this could be a continued trend even long after the pandemic has subsided.

While the recent - and rapid - transition to remote work in the past few months proved challenging for many firms, others have successfully adapted and are now reaping the benefits. Studies have shown that people working from home are on average 35-40% more productive than their office counterparts and produce work with 40% fewer quality defects. 

For law firms and corporate legal departments, this move to more flexible and agile working practices has become more than just a value-added benefit for lawyers and staff. It’s become a crucial step in adapting to the new legal ecosystem and ensuring business survival. Here, we look at three reasons every law firm and legal department should consider adopting flexible working practices, powered by technology. 

Increased mobility & scalability

As working practices evolve, it’s imperative to provide lawyers and staff with the ability to access key information, data and documents from anywhere, at any time. Lawyers and staff are becoming increasingly mobile and spending more time away from the office due to a variety of factors. To maintain productivity and business continuity, law firms must adapt to their mobile workforces and ensure they can stay connected to the office at all times.

Fortunately, technologies like email, cloud storage and cloud-based workflow automation have made it easier than ever to conduct everyday business transactions away from the office - whilst also boosting productivity. Take for example, how law firms like Vinge have adopted legal workflow automation to automate and streamline everyday processes. Through it’s custom-built Vinge Dox solution powered by Sysero, Vinge enables lawyers to easily access commonly used documents and generate contracts and transactions via online web forms. 

Law firms can use workflow automation to streamline a number of everyday processes and make them accessible in the cloud, such as contract creation, negotiation and legal service delivery. One area where we’ve seen a rapid uplift is e-signatures. Not surprisingly, considering that many law firms and legal teams still rely on physical signatures, which holds up 42% of processes, which on average adds 3.1 days to most processes. Using an e-signing tool like Sysero can significantly speed up processes, whilst also making it easier to keep business moving while away from the office. 

Enhanced client service

It’s not just law firms that are transitioning to remote work - it’s clients as well. Law firms that are well-equipped to advise and work with clients remotely will come out much farther ahead than those that still rely on traditional ways of working. 

One way that forward-thinking firms are adapting to the new world of work is by empowering clients to access on-demand legal transactions via self-service portals. These cloud-based self-service portals give clients the flexibility to access frequently-used legal documents on-demand by simply filling out a guided web form. A great example of this is Bates Wells GetLegal self-service portal for charities and nonprofit organisations. 

The documents are all managed by the law firm, ensuring clients only have access to the most relevant documents. By streamlining client transactions via the web, law firms can continue to provide high quality legal services and advice no matter where lawyers or clients may be working. 

It’s the new normal

While law firms and legal teams may have renewed interest in agile working practices and legal automation, it’s not something entirely new for the legal industry.  Leading Nordic firms have long relied on automated and agile practices to drive legal innovation and create differentiation in the market. Flexible work is quickly becoming the new normal, and firms that fail to keep pace with competitors will just as quickly fall behind. 

For more information on how your law firm or legal department can enable flexible, agile work practices using legal workflow automation, please get in touch with us.