In order to overcome the challenges associated with operating in our digitized world, in-house legal teams and law firms must deploy the latest entity management software. By doing so, legal teams can better meet the demands of modern clientele, reduce misspent funds, and increase billable hours.
Below, we examine the challenges facing modern legal teams. We also summarize a series of case studies that outline how several organizations have overcome these barriers by investing in a leading-edge entity management software.
There isn’t a shortage when it comes to challenges facing private law firms and in-house legal teams. A few of the most notable barriers to profitability and productivity include the following:
According to a recent study, 87% of general counsel report that their department spends too much time on repetitive tasks, such as legal entity compliance. This redundancy of processes has a negative impact on a legal team’s billable hours, which thereby hinders profitability.
When a large percentage of staff members are assigned to completing compliance-related tasks, the client experience can suffer. This can diminish the legal team’s reputation and may even result in a termination of the partnership.
Another significant pain point for in-house legal teams and private firms is a lack of efficient document tracking capabilities.
When paralegals and other support staff are unable to promptly locate vital documents, it can create a cascade effect that negatively impacts the entire team. When this is the case, attorneys cannot be as responsive to client requests.
As of 2021, approximately half of legal departments considered strengthening their entity management capabilities to be a top priority. In the same study, researchers found that 65% of legal teams were already using some form of entity management software. However, 96% of these respondents were experiencing substantial challenges with their existing tools.
While the researchers did not identify the root cause of these challenges, they are most likely due to clunky user interfaces and outdated technologies.
The legal teams of several organizations across various industries implemented Athennian’s entity management software. An series of case studies were conducted in order to gauge the overall impact that Athennian’s solution had on operational efficiency.
While the exact scope of each deployment varied, all clients experienced significant benefits by implementing Athennian. Top reported benefits included:
As a cloud-based entity management software, Athennian’s technology is significantly cheaper to maintain than on-site legacy systems. In-house legal teams and private firms that adopt this solution can eliminate operating expenses related to supporting on-site hardware.
Transitioning to cloud-based entity management technology will also reduce the burden on in-house IT staff, as the cloud services provider will handle all maintenance processes.
Clients experienced a significant increase in collaboration capabilities. The cloud solutions included in the product empowered teams to work together seamlessly, regardless of their geographical location. This capability has become increasingly important in light of recent events.
These technologies allow teams to collaborate in meaningful ways. They can upload documents, work on the same client file simultaneously, and much more. All of this is facilitated by a secure cloud server that is designed to protect confidential client data while also supporting real-time sharing of information.
Since this emergent technology is cloud-based, it is rapidly scalable. Cloud services can automatically scale up or down in order to accommodate a sudden change in demand for technological resources. This eliminates the need to purchase additional hardware, which results in further cost savings for an organization.
While the cloud entity management software provider offers extensive training and implementation assistance, the entire platform is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. Every team member — from senior partners to inexperienced paralegals — can quickly familiarize themselves with the technology and its suite of tools.
By facilitating a seamless deployment, the provider paves the way for a rapid return on investment for the client. The entire solution can be deployed in weeks or months, which is drastically faster than the years that may be required to implement an on-site solution.
The most apparent benefit of this cloud-based entity management software is that it provides superior accessibility. Authorized users can connect to the platform and view key data from anywhere at any time. All they need is a modern web browser and an internet-enabled device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer.
By enhancing accessibility, the clients examined during the case study were able to increase the productivity of their entire team.