Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Legal & Regulatory division Martin O’Malley explains the different stages of digital transformation – from simple digitization of content, to a second stage that delivers new value through customer-focused innovation. Since 1990, Wolters Kluwer has been digitizing information that was paper-based. He’s quoted: “That was step one. Now we are going a step further. We are combining our domain expertise, as well as the knowledge of our clients, with advanced technology. We use it for products that enable customers to work in smarter ways.” He notes that Wolters Kluwer has become more of a technology company.
He emphasizes that the second phase of digitization takes place in close collaboration with customers. Martin explains that we map the customer’s working method in detail, and that our solutions are developed based on deep insight into customers’ workflow and their needs.
Legal & Regulatory’s newest expert solution InView gets a spotlight in this article. Manager Digital Accelerator Program Joy van Baren details the customer-focused journey that led to this expert solution. Wolters Kluwer worked closely with ‘innovation partners’ throughout the development process, with 800 lawyers and legal professionals as well as 40 law firms continuously testing the product and providing in-depth feedback.
The story begins, Joy says, because clients of law firms expect more today. They have become increasingly demanding and want advice that focuses on action, rather than long legal notes. She continues: “They are also increasingly critical of invoiced hours. This means that lawyers need to provide more value in less time.” Joy explains how current search engines are still too similar to paper-based. “In essence, they are still bookshelves, but in a computer. This is why we are using technology, primarily artificial intelligence, to make the search process quicker and easier,” which enables lawyers to be more productive and provide higher value to their clients.
With an example, Joy illustrates a case whereby a lawyer is presented with search results categorized into topics in which relevant documents have been processed, as opposed simply being presented with hundreds of documents. Joy explains how InView offers a significant benefit to customers by reading and interpreting information rather than solely providing information.