You would probably cook your dinner in an oven over a fire pit if given the choice. I can almost guarantee you drive a car to work rather than ride a horse. You may even read this blog post on a phone versus printed paper. Society has embraced technological advancements in every area. Now, you are seeing a new technological dawn through today’s legal digital transformation.

The advancement of AI and machine learning has put technological change into overdrive. Many companies and teams struggle with keeping up.

There is a way to catch up to the rest of your company in technology adoption and future-proof your legal team so you can quickly adapt to any new technological advancements.

Learn five ways to begin your legal digital transformation in 2023.

Key Takeaways:

• Most businesses have a digital transformation strategy.
• A digital transformation will benefit legal teams by boosting productivity, reducing errors, and streamlining processes.
• AI and the Cloud are fueling many legal technologies.

What Is a Legal Digital Transformation and Why Is It Important?

The digital transformation changes the way businesses and the world interact by introducing technology. It can refer to any tech adoption to transform how you regularly perform tasks.

A staggering 70% of organizations have a digital transformation strategy or have one in the works. If your business is one of them, you may have already considered how your legal team can be part of the transformation.

If you’re ready to join the transformation, you can expect it to take six months to a year to realize its full potential. However, the wait is worth the results because investing in a quality strategy will allow it to continue adapting to new technological advancements.

When legal departments use technology correctly, they can:

• Speed up legal processes
• Reduce costly errors
• Scale for future growth
• Save money and time

5 Ways to Use Legal Technology to Kickstart Your Transformation

Explore five ways to begin a digital transformation in your legal department through legal technology and updated processes.

1. Create Technology Roadmaps

You wouldn’t embark on an extensive (and expensive) road trip without a map. Your digital transformation should be the same way.

A roadmap allows you to:

• Know what your end goal is so you can invest all your time driving in that direction
• Find the fastest route so you don’t waste time and money along the way
• Identify potential obstacles

Your technology roadmaps work similarly. It ensures you have a goal for the technology you adopt, guides you on how to use technology to maximize your investment, and helps you quickly identify and fix any issues along the way. It works best alongside your legal roadmap.

Use your technology roadmaps to train employees on the latest technology to support team-wide technological adoption.

2. Migrate Data to the Cloud

The Cloud is a unified location to store digital assets. Having a centralized data hub allows other necessary parties to access that legal data. It also helps provide a gold standard of truth.

A gold standard of truth is the version everyone refers to, no matter how many other variations others produce. This standard ensures data accuracy and helps everyone involved in your legal processes to work with the same information.

When you’re ready to upload all your data and documents to a cloud, consider how you will perform data management. Data management controls who has access to the information, maintaining the privacy of sensitive legal information. It also keeps it organized and updated.

3. Use AI to Streamline Processes

Adopting technology in your legal team feels like switching from a VW Beetle to a supercharged Mustang. You’ll be able to perform tasks faster and with more accuracy.

For example, imagine how long it takes to read through 20 pages of legal jargon. Now, imagine uploading that document into AI and analyzing the content in the blink of an eye, allowing you to search and find exactly what you need.

You will be able to find information faster, analyze and detect patterns, easily predict potential legal issues, and perform quality control to reduce costly errors.

AI for legal teams also reduces your workload by performing repetitive manual tasks. For example, AI can also help with content creation. It can streamline drafting contracts and revising documents. Any task that uses a predictable pattern is a task AI could learn.

4. Keep Strategies Flexible

Houses in earthquake zones stand on flexible foundations. Engineers designed an intricate foundation that moves with the earth so that when a house’s foundation changes, the house won’t crumble.

The digital strategy you build should have the same flexible foundation. The term “agile businesses” is often used to refer to a flexible approach.

An agile digital transformation within your legal department will consider your current needs and make room for potential growth and challenges. You can adjust your strategy through an agile plan without all your hard work crumbling.

Some of the primary characteristics of an agile digital transformation include:

• Setting a clear goal first and working backward
• Regularly checking in and analyzing what is working and where to improve
• Setting rules but also allowing room for change when needed
• Being transparent with the entire legal team about what is expected and your goals

If your digital transformation is agile, you can quickly adjust to new emerging legal technology and change how you perform tasks as your company grows. The results will be about a 30% improvement in financial performance and a 50% in operational performance.

5. Track Results

Tracking the results of your digital transformation begins by setting benchmarks. Those benchmarks, ideally, would be part of the final goal you selected when creating a technology roadmap.

As you begin implementing those strategies and adopting new technology, you’ll continually refer back to those goals. They will tell you how effective your digital transformation is and where you might improve.

You will also be able to track customer interactions. For example, you can track the lifecycle of a contract to watch it pass through each stage and understand where you are in the process to ensure it is completed in a timely manner.

The more you migrate online, the more data you have to track and manage your processes to ensure you’re making the most from your digital transformation.

It’s Time to Digitally Transform Your Legal Department

Digitally transforming your legal team takes time and work. You may sometimes feel overwhelmed and like a fish out of water.

Our team is here to help.

We provide the tools and services you need to bring your legal team into the digital dawn through admin support, contract management, legal department optimization, and more. With our help, you can easily scale up to accomplish your goals sooner.

Schedule a consultation to discuss what services best meet your needs.