Key Considerations For Modern Document Management
Here are a few questions that legal operations specialists should ask to ensure they are picking the right document and email management solution for their in-house teams.
Over the past decade, the role of legal operations has grown in strategic importance by embracing digital transformation. Legal operations professionals have successfully leveraged digital technologies to bring efficiency and innovation to corporate legal processes. Their efforts have played a critical role in guiding organizations through the disruption and uncertainty associated with the COVID pandemic. As organizations look to the future, legal operations will play a vital role in delivering efficiencies in the delivery of legal services.
According to the 2020 Annual Law Department Operations Survey, the greatest challenge legal operations professionals are currently facing is around delivering measurable business value. The top challenge that survey respondents expect to face over the next three years is “cost containment and savings or managing the budget.” In light of this, selecting technology partners that will deliver what they promise and provide value to the organization has become even more important.
One of the core legal technologies that legal departments invest in to improve efficiency, productivity, and security is document and email management. 37% of the survey respondents will evaluate or implement this solution for their in-house teams in 2021. With so many competing priorities and options in the market, it can be difficult to get started. Here are a few questions that legal operations specialists should ask to ensure they are picking the right document and email management solution for their in-house teams.
Top Questions When Evaluating a DMS:
How does legal document management differ from enterprise solutions?
Modern document management solutions are designed to meet the specific productivity, collaboration, and security requirements of legal professionals. For example, legal DMS solutions organize information by matter, with metadata and security inheritance so that information can be tagged appropriately.
Can your solution help me manage all my emails as well as my documents?
A modern DMS should enable legal professionals to manage their emails as effectively as documents, in the same folder structures and workspaces. The solution should provide a single repository for all communications and documents relating to a matter, enabling professionals to quickly find the information they need.
How does your DMS help improve my ability to search documents?
Finding and applying the right information at the right time is critically important for any legal professional. Modern document management includes more powerful search capabilities that save valuable time, leverage precedent more effectively, and makes more efficient use of information resources.
Download a 15-question DMS Checklist for Legal Operations here: http://imanage.com/legal-ops-checklist
Clint Crosier is General Counsel and Privacy Officer of iManage, a Chicago-based technology company that transforms how professionals get work done by combining the power of artificial intelligence with content and email management. Prior to joining iManage, he was a corporate attorney at Reed Smith, where he advised clients in transactional and general corporate matters. Clint can be reached at clint.crosier@imanage.com.
