Project management and collaboration forms a large part
of a law firm’s operations with lawyers having to constantly share, collaborate
and communicate information with internal teams and clients. Subsequently, project management and
collaboration tools are fast becoming an important platform to drive
competitiveness and efficiencies. In fact a recent survey shows that 43% of top
100 law firms are looking to use or adopt legal project management technologies
in the next 5 years.*
Whereas in the past client
extranets were only for large firms with big budgets, primarily due to cost and
site management, this no longer holds true.
Secure, encrypted, easy to use extranets can be set up by users in a few
quick steps, offering teams a private and secure network for all their workflow
requirements.
7
ways in which extranets enhance productivity and efficiency
Collaborate 
Extranets provide a central area
for team members and clients to store, share, edit and view matter or project
related documents and folders – a place where ideas can be exchanged and where
documents can be stored, accessed and reviewed in an efficient and streamlined
manner. Document updates can be tracked enhancing accountability and
productivity. Ultimately it allows teams
to stay focused throughout the entirety of the project or matter.
Share
Large documents and case files
need to be shared between teams and clients.
With email accounts having file size limits, lawyers often resort to
using consumer based file sharing solutions which are not developed with
document security in mind. Searching for
relevant information within emails is also time-consuming.
Extranets allow teams to store
and share all the information for any given project or team – including all
versions of relevant uploaded documents – is in one, single place. It also allows the seamless and secure
transfer of documents from their Document Management System, be it single
documents, a set of documents in a folder or the whole matter which in turn
makes the workflow processes smoother.
Communicate
Extranets provides users with a
strong forum to exchange information, resources, comments, announcements, ideas
and group feedback with colleagues, clients, counsel and suppliers from within
a centralised area. It reduces
miscommunications as messages are communicated to all members of the team,
simultaneously. At the same time,
extranets allow teams to communicate up-to-date management information to
clients about their matter, enhancing trust and improving the overall customer experience.
Knowledge
As
lawyers work on a case or project, a great deal of knowledge can be
amassed. Often firms lack the means to
capture this essential information which could be valuable for current or future
use.
Extranets
ensure that all essential knowledge about a matter or project is captured centrally
for teams and clients to tap into and access at all times. This helps leverage
a firm’s existing experience and expertise and even help set benchmarks to
provide the highest levels of services to clients.
Integrate
Extranets provide the ability to
integrate with various systems within a firm’s existing work environment. For instance integrating an extranet with a document
management system allows for a pain free creation of sites and easy document
sending. Integrating with finance systems enables firms to give up-to-date management
information to their clients – all of this, from within one single
location.
Security
Personalise
In the competitive legal
environment, having a seamless and professional corporate image is an increasingly
important differentiating factor and can give your company an edge over your rivals.
Certain extranets allow for full
branding so that the portal is seen as an integrated part of the firm’s
technology through the use of customisable templates and through the use of
colours, logos images and ‘widget’ placements.
Not only does this flexibility help build a working environment that
teams are comfortable with but it also increases user uptake which is key to
the successful implementation of any technology.
Although many technologies exist
for lawyers and clients to collaborate, communicate and share documents,
extranets offer a powerful means to bring all these elements together. By offering a single, centralised ‘hub’, productivity
can be streamlined and enriched through better communications and efficient
document and knowledge sharing.
Additionally, through the integration of other systems and processes, it
ensures that users gain a holistic view of all the information related a
project or matter. Not only does this
help improve client relationship overall, but it also helps cut overheads, improve
workflow efficiencies while maintaining high level security over sensitive
documents.
*LSN Research Legal IT Landscapes 2015 - http://www.legalsupportnetwork.co.uk/sites/default/files/Legal_IT_Landscapes_2015.pdf
** White & Black corporate technology lawyers - http://www.wablegal.com/e-bulletins/trade-secrets-european-commission-adopts-proposal-harmonising-eu-law 