3 Reasons Law Firms Should Consider a Digital Transformation Strategy

 

In our last blog, we revealed three important questions every organization should ask themselves before going paperless and creating a digital transformation strategy. Automated workflow solutions and digital transformation have been on the forefront of many industry leaders’ minds as going digital becomes a widely-adopted trend for many offices.

A study conducted by McKinsey & Company, Competing in a Data-Driven World, found that data-driven organizations that invest in a digital strategy are 23 percent more likely to acquire new customers and six times as likely to retain current customers. As a law firm, this doesn’t mean that your transition digital transformation needs to happen immediately, or that it even needs to be a full-scale paperless office overhaul. Instead, it means that firms focusing on a long-term electronic document management strategy and software implementation are much more likely to exceed business expectations in the future.

1. Your Competition is Beating You

Overall, the legal industry is lagging behind the digital transformation strategy trend, with just 19 percent of in-house legal teams prepared to support digital efforts within the firm. But many law firms struggle with document scanning and electronic records management because they don’t know where to begin, they don’t know where to place resources, and they need a secure solution that meets industry requirements.

How prepared are firms and corporate legal departments to support digital initiatives? Not very. How will they competently engage with and compete for digital customers? Not well. That means the firms that are thinking ahead and investing in an automated document workflow solution and document scanning are your competitors – and they’re beating you.

Surprisingly, the legal industry’s overall lack of focus on digital transformation isn’t often discussed and it continues to be a very paper-intensive, manual profession. Many attorneys and corporate legal departments may not consider an electronic document management solution to be a priority. It’s easy to put it off until a later time – until you’re running out of office space due to all of the filing cabinets. Or perhaps you’re in need of immediate retrieval of a case file and realize that it’s been misplaced or accidentally destroyed. It’s in these moments that you’ll wish you had a digital strategy to give you an advantage over your competition.

2. You’re Vulnerable to a Data Breach and Don’t Have a Disaster Recovery Plan

Law firms can no longer afford to ignore the vulnerability they face regarding data breaches and disaster recovery. If you’re storing legal records in a self-storage unit, you’re leaving those records susceptible to water damage, insect infestation, and even theft. Would your clients feel secure knowing that their confidential information was being stored in a generic self-storage unit? Probably not. Incorporating document scanning and indexing, cloud storage, and electronic workflow automation, can not only save you the hassle of visiting a self-storage unit to retrieve information, but ensures client data is protected in the event of a disaster.

3. You Don’t Have Data Retention Schedule and You’re Wasting Money

The legal industry, just like others, has rigid compliance standards related to record retention — and the record retention requirements vary by state. A records management consultant or document scanning professional can help you asses your current inventory of records and create a record retention schedule. This includes identifying which legal records can be securely shredded, which should be scanned and uploaded to a secure electronic document management software, and which documents should be securely stored offsite. A digital transformation strategy doesn’t mean you need to convert all of your files to electronic format immediately, it simply means leveraging document scanning technology to make your firm more efficient and secure in the areas that are lacking. Implementing a record retention schedule is an integral part of any digital transformation strategy and can drastically reduce the amount of time and money your staff is spending on hard copy document management.

Ready to implement a digital transformation strategy at your law firm? Record Storage Systems located in Charlotte, N.C. specializes in document scanning and record digitization for attorneys looking to convert hard copy legal records into electronic documents where they can be securely stored and managed used automated workflow software. Transform the way your firm manages data and information, increase efficiency, and enjoy simpler, more secure attorney/client communication.

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