Articles
A Digital Strategy with Practical Know-How
Wouldn’t it be nice to design and implement a digital strategy in less time than it takes to get a Letter of Engagement signed?
In these days of SaaS platforms and instant access to online resources, it is unheard of that access to legal services still requires “paper”; “in-person meetings”; and (god forbid) “faxes”. We realize that with new digital businesses, clients need a law firm to go digital. Even larger clients have increasing demands to streamline their in-house legal processes.
Creating a Digital Law Firm
Today, information can be retrieved and acted upon without complicated technology involvement. It used to be that documents needed to be generated manually and then pushed into a CRM. That same data is then re-keyed into a practice management system. And finally, when accounting sends out the bill, the data needs to be re-massaged before it is sent out to clients. And if you want to integrate? Well, then in-house IT creates a 12-mth initiative to integrate these systems and processes.
In today’s business environment, why can’t a law firm provide a completely digital experience to clients right from the time of engagement to the point when the client is billed? Thus, allowing clients to work completely online without the need to print out paper or sign documents manually. None of this is new to industries such as financial services; travel and hospitality; and retail and consumer goods.
With the arrival of SaaS, software integration toolkits make connecting systems simple. Zegal has been doing this in-house since 2013; and it has applied its internal expertise to law firms who are looking to go digital. We have helped many companies deliver a completely digital experience to their clients.
Imagine providing a client experience that includes:
- Online scheduling of appointments and consultations
- Digital onboarding with near-instant KYC checks
- A library of precedents accessible 24 hours a day
- Electronic document management for all your clients
- Digital workflow and signature across valid across all jurisdictions
- Automated invoicing and collections with digital payments all online
Streamlining Your Back Office
An efficient back office also provides a welcoming client experience after the matter closes. It encourages follow-ups and streamlines collections. No client wants the hassle of repeat emails and calls about unpaid invoices.
Automated workflows can streamline the communications process and the ability to pay online allows clients to pay at their leisure. Late invoices make up for as much as 50% of all outstanding invoices. Alternate forms of payment delivery can help reduce that drastically.
It’s All About Your Data
It’s your data and why aren’t you using it?
Up-selling and cross-selling are fundamental concepts of most industries. Why not apply that to a law firm? Provide value-added services such as contract creation on an on-demand basis, and the client will come back if they need help in litigation.
Or, maybe the next person that is looking to sell their company might need a will to be written. Being able to mine your database to provide the right services at the right time can be a great experience for clients.
Use Case: Digitizing the Client Experience
As part of an initiative to digitize the practice, a Hong Kong-based law firm commissioned Zegal to recommend ways to help streamline the client onboarding experience. Because the firm had grand ambitions to scale, Zegal worked with the senior partners to develop a digitization strategy that could be implemented in 3 months. Within this time period, Zegal was able to review and implement
- A SaaS-based CRM to house all of its contacts and clients;
- A digital onboarding form that could b integrated to a KYC module to streamline client onboarding;
- An automated document automation solution for the most routine documents;
- And finally, convenient tools for lawyers to interface with clients to schedule meetings, record email communications for retention, and to request information from clients online.
The Zegal Digital Transformation
Zegal leverages technology and process improvements to help companies achieve growth and efficiency.
Companies that are connected to knowledge, their advisors, and use workflows to run their organisation, are smarter and more profitable. Our mission is to make this the new normal for millions of businesses across the globe.
Founded in 2013, Zegal is the fastest growing LegalTech company operating across Asia Pacific and Europe. Today, business users and lawyers across the globe trust Zegal’s software to solve legal problems in an affordable and efficient way.
Contact us today at info@zegal.com.
This article does not constitute legal advice.
The opinions expressed in the column above represent the author’s own.
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