There is no doubt that technology has vastly improved the efficiency of every law firm.  Familiar tools such as e-mail and word processing software are much faster than the letters and typewriters they replaced.  Yet there are times when technology still seems more like an enemy than an ally.  It can be complicated, cumbersome and repetitive.  Law firms run on dollars and deadlines.  Users do not want to spend hours entering and rekeying information into all the different systems that are needed to track it.

The problem is not with technology itself; it's the way it's being used.  Data is trapped inside multiple systems, unable to cross boundaries among applications.  This often means using tedious manual processes that add nonbillable time and expense to the firm's day-to-day business operation costs.

Separate Systems Slow Overall Performance
More than ever, speed and efficiency are key to a successful operation.  Many firms are looking for a solution that can expedite monotonous or repetitive tasks.  Two of the most prevalent tasks are new business intake and human resources provisioning.

When a new timekeeper joins the firm, information about the person is required for both the HR and time and billing systems.  A network profile has to be created, and applications the individual will use need to be updated.  Having separate systems with different information input requirements can cause these initial procedures to take much longer than desired.  In some instances, the new timekeeper cannot begin billing for services until the entire process is complete.  Alternatively, a work-around can be used until all systems are setup, and this may create more work in the long term.  Either way, it wastes valuable time and money.

Integrating Data Systems
There are several technologies that actually break down barriers among information silos (disparate data collections).  One of them is business process management or BPM.  Often referred to in the legal market as "workflow," BPM is a broad term encompassing a number of different activities at the technology, business and end user levels.

At the technology level, IT personnel need to manage the flow of data across systems.  At the business level, managers must track processes in terms of measurable results.  Managers need to know how long a process takes, how much it costs and if there is a more efficient way to do it so more billable time can be gained.  At the end user level, attorneys and others need to review, change and approve data within the business process.  BPM vendors with a single business  specialty have tended to focus on managing human interactions, sometimes at the expense of technology.

Data integration toolkits or appliances are at the other end of the spectrum.  These offer strong capabilities in keeping data synchronized among different systems and provide easier access to relevant information.  The process integration offered by these solutions focuses on removing complexities and disparities among systems as well as making them globally accessible without changing the underlying infrastructure.  What often is missing from these systems, however, is the concept of human interaction and dynamic user interfaces.

Equilibrium Between Humans and Technology
In a legal environment, human interaction and data integration need to be given equal weight.  In order to keep this balance, many firms have to implement at least two different technologies, a BPM product to enable integral human interaction and a data integration product to facilitate back-end functionality.

Adding to the complexity of understanding the BPM market are the native (but often limited) workflow capabilities of records management and time and billing vendors.  Most of these vendors have limited process management capabilities built into the products they represent.  Typically, vendors are very specialized, only improving processes revolving around their particular system.  Even with the advances in these specialized systems, they still do not allow for integration among multiple systems or processes that span an entire firm.

The new "People-Ready" campaign from Microsoft and advances in SharePoint, InfoPath and BizTalk Server are also muddying the waters.  While these tools offer great new capabilities to a law firm, they also require a fair amount of customization and configuration.  Law firms are not software development organizations.  They would rather leave development to their vendors and rightly so.

A Challenge to BPM Vendors
BPM vendors are now beginning to realize that human interaction is only one part of the business process.  Behind human interaction is the need to be able to access, create and update information effectively within a variety of enterprise and legal systems and to do so in real time.  The greatest advantage to the legal community will be in utilizing the new Microsoft capabilities with BPM systems.  Already, the industry is seeing workflow solutions using InfoPath, SharePoint and Outlook as productivity environments for end users.  Capitalizing on consistent tools and familiar, comfortable interfaces will result in greater acceptance of new business processes within a firm's established culture.

Consider the following scenario:  An attorney looks at her task list in Microsoft Outlook where she sees a number of documents to be reviewed, approved and passed to others.  She has the standard reminders, e-mail and group sharing capabilities to work within Outlook.  Workflow data contained in an InfoPath form (looking very much like a Microsoft Word Document) is dynamically connected to several back-end systems:  time and billing, accounting, records, document management and conflicts management.  The attorney can, in real time, query these systems for more information, consult and collaborate with other users on the matter, act on the item and move it on.

In this example, the attorney is completely self-sufficient within the process; the software applications have become transparent.  The attorney now has immediate access to the information she needs at any time with little or no disruption to her normal course of operations.

Blended Solutions for True Process Integration
This new breed of workflow solutions offers a hybrid approach to achieving optimal workflow.  It is data-centric and utilizes standard user interfaces, human interaction capabilities and allows for extensive connectivity to all of the firm's enterprise and legal systems.

The motivations for improving a firm's business processes include client development, reducing the risk of security breaches and liability exposure, and more.  Automating business processes can help law firms eliminate bottlenecks in the flow of information and documents resulting in a faster and more efficient operation.  If your firm decides to implement a BPM initiative, make sure that true process integration — both human and data — rests at the heart of your efforts.  Then users across the firm finally may begin to see technology as an ally, not an adversary.

About our author . . .

Kevin Berry is Vice-President of Legal and Channel Sales for Whitehill Technologies, Inc.  Whitehill offers document composition, data transformation, business process integration and compliance automation software, helping law firms accelerate their key business processes.  Kevin can be reached at kberry@whitehilltech.com.