Information is a key strategic element; the ways of producing, optimizing and administering electronic documents represents a competitive advantage for law firms.
Comprehensive document management can help meet your law firm's information management needs, combining the various documents from emails to contracts, agreements, and more used within the organization with case and client information. Moreover, when all your information is centralized, and linked to activities and billing, you can generate insights to track your firm's performance making the advantages of cloud document storage so much more than simply going paperless.
Here are 6 ways cloud document management will help you optimize case and practice management and build a future oriented law firm.
Case centric document management
Document management is about so much more than storage. Document management systems for law firms store all documents, emails, and files related to a client and case in a central place. Compared to complicated folder systems in solutions like Dropbox, this makes it so much easier to retrieve and reference documents. Solutions like Kleos also allow you perform text based search, meaning you can search documents (including the content inside!) to find what you're looking for in seconds.Plus, when document management is case centric, law firms can easily set permission settings to ensure that access is given to the right colleagues within the tool. For example, management can decide to give lawyers access to all the cases for a client, or only specific cases, by type, location, or any other data type you assign.
Microsoft Office integration and templates
Document management systems should integrate with the tools you currently use not make life more complicated. Software that integrates with Microsoft Office let's you save a document or email from Word, Excel or Outlook directly to a specific case file. With an integration with Outlook, you can search emails, attachments and capture contact information, as well as record time stamps for audit purposes.
Furthermore, by using document and email templates you can quickly automate tasks that are repetitive, like drafting letters, agreements, invoices, email reminders, appointment confirmations, etc. saving you an exponential amount of time on administrative, low value, non billable tasks.
Secure, affordable 24/7 access to case files and documents
The advantages of the cloud are clear: 24/7 access to the latest versions of documents, anywhere. Compared to the barriers of accessing documents stored on company servers or hard drives, cloud based solutions give lawyers the freedom to work on cases and documents from home, in court or on the go.
With the cloud, lawyers can modify or upload documents and emails, and synchronizing data in real time, regardless of if they are working on a PC or mobile device. Combine this with the benefits of unlimited storage, automatic backups, disaster recovery and data protection, and the cloud gives law firms flexibility and scalability without the high cost of on premise, server based legal management infrastructure.
Increase collaboration and secure file sharing
In addition to being able to access files and documents on the go, a cloud based solutions built for law firms need to be able to track changes to documents, indicating who made the change and when. With Kleos, you receive notifications when a file has been added to a case you're on, when someone has assigned a task, or when someone else has completed a task you requested. This all helps improve collaboration within the firm, between lawyers working for the same client or on the same case.
But cloud solutions should also help you share documents with clients in a safe, professional way. With Kleos, you can give colleagues and third parties access to a secure portal where they can see, edit and download documents (and you can keep a complete trail of changes and comments) that you can organize by case. Giving you clients an easy way to share documents and access a past files gives clients the type of on demand service that they expect in the digital age!
Time tracking and billing
Keeping a log of your time is key to being able to monitor your activities. In Kleos, you can log your time as you work on documents or write emails, and associate your time to specific cases and activities making the billing and invoicing process even quicker!
Plus, when you have linked your activities and billing in one common solution, you are able to assess productivity and efficiency of individual lawyers and the firm as a whole which brings us to the final point...
Make decisions based on reliable insights
Who said that decision making always necessarily involves an element of uncertainty?
When you invest in a tool that manages your case files, monitors activities and logs your time, you should also be able to perform a wide range of analysis based on all of that client, case, activity and billing data! With Kleos, you have the ability to generate expert insights that allow you to get a quick overview or a detailed view of the ins and outs of your law firm. Generate tables and charts that are easy to view, update, adapt, export and share on performance and profitability metrics that matter to you. With easy to understand insights you can take control of your business and take the strategic decisions to grow your firm!
Conclusion
Coordinating document management, monitoring activities and keeping a log of time allow us to assess the productivity of the office on a global level and the efficiency of each lawyer on an individual level. In this day and age, having a smart office is within our grasp.
For lawyers focused on running a successful firm, it’s time for a unique, full featured, flexible solution with all the advantages of the cloud and best in class support. Forget about the hassle and expense of dealing with IT, and put your trust in a secure solution that allows you to access case, client and firm data 24/7.
