Changing supplier is a big decision for any size law firm. As with any change, there is always a level of expectation, which can often differ hugely from reality. With over 7 years of industry experience, our very own Aisling Hammond, discusses the expectation compared to the reality of changing legal case management system. Aisling covers everything from disruption, the need for training, and the expectation of a legal case management system being the fix to all problems.
- ‘There will be too much disruption’
Reality – with good planning and adequate allocation of resources within your firm for training, there can be a smooth transition to a new legal case management system. Keyhouse works with converting clients from multiple other systems and all data is transferred, users trained while software is installed and conversions can be done out of hours so there is little or no downtime. And we’ll be there on the other side to support you once you go live.
- ‘Training is not needed – we can work it out ourselves and save money’
Reality – if training is not done properly, users can pick up bad habits or not be familiar with many time-saving features of the software resulting in an unintentionally wasteful way of working. With users working on the system in different ways, the data retrieved for reports may be inaccurate and clients do not receive a good return on investment in terms of productivity.
- ‘I will lose all my current/historical data if I switch to a new software system’.
Reality – Most data can be converted into Keyhouse including but not limited to Legal IT, Opsis, Expd8, Practice Evolve, Cortbase, Leap and Clio. We convert all existing data into Keyhouse and run multiple tests in advance to ensure a smooth transition on go-live date so that you have everything you need on your new legal case management system (or your full practice management system if you choose to invest in an integrated Accounts system too).
- ‘Changing over is too expensive’
Reality – not changing over could be costing your firm money in terms of poor productivity and spending too much time on admin tasks which could be automated e.g. brief builder, workflows etc. Click here to see the time savings other law firms have made by moving to Keyhouse.
- ‘We are too busy – it will take too long’
Reality – with good planning, conversion testing can be done in the background with no disruption. The best time to convert to a new legal case management system is as soon as possible if you are not happy with your current system. As one happy client quoted: “there is no good time to do it, just do it“.
- ‘A new system will fix everything’
Reality – sometimes it is not the system that is wrong, but the lack of knowledge of how it works and investing in training to make sure the system is used uniformly and by everyone in the office, to get the full benefits of implementation. An integrated solution also makes the most sense as all data including accounts is available to all relevant users of the system.
Whatever the size of your firm, Keyhouse can help you begin investing in a new legal case management system in an intelligent and logical manner. To see if Keyhouse can help you begin your practice management software journey, call us for a chat on 01 290 2222 or email info@keyhouse.ie.
