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3 in 4 in-house teams lose an hour a day jumping between tech systems
Almost all in-house lawyers and legal operators are using solutions from three or more vendors in order to manage workload. However, using multiple, disconnected platforms has its downsides.
Jerome Doraisamy
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Matter and contract management software provider LawVu – with the support of New Zealand-based customer insights agency Perceptive – has published its 2022 In-house Legal Technology Report, which surveyed almost 500 in-house lawyers and legal operations professionals across the UK and US about how their teams are using legal tech and how it impacts upon workflow efficiencies and business goals.
The report found that 90 per cent of in-house lawyers and legal operators are using solutions from three or more different vendors. Incredibly, more than one-third of those surveyed as using five or more. Less than 10 per cent are only using one or two.
The impact of using multiple vendors, LawVu wrote, “becomes visible” when respondents identify their biggest pain points with solutions.
The most common pain point for those surveyed was inefficiency caused by using multiple platforms, with one in five (19 per cent) of those surveyed from the UK selecting this as an option.
Other pain points identified with software solutions included: concerns about data and information security, lack of integration between platforms, lack of adoption by team members and an inability to collaborate effectively with teams.
Ten per cent of those surveyed also pointed to there being too many platforms to learn and manage.
The aforementioned inefficiency is causing headaches.
Three in four (77 per cent) of in-house teams, the report continued, spend over one hour per day jumping between their various tech systems in order to gain a complete view of their work and determine priorities.
Alarmingly, two in five (39 per cent) are spending three or more hours a day on this.
“Due to inefficient workflows, in-house legal teams often struggle to prioritise spending time focusing on the bigger picture,” LawVu wrote.
More than nine in 10 (92 per cent) of those surveyed said that they believe that the time spent on manual daily activities (including team management and searching through emails or other systems to determine matter history) is taking valuable time and effort away from working on larger business goals.
Moreover, they feel that it affects their ability to deliver services in a timely manner, the provider added.
In total, two in three (67 per cent) feel that the larger business goals are impacted by such issues.
In response to these issues, LawVu wrote: “Adopting a consolidated system is the optimal way to reduce the inefficiencies many in-house lawyers and legal operators have, such as inefficiencies due to using multiple platforms and a lack of integration between platforms.”
Almost all respondents agreed that a consolidated solution would be a good option, with 85 per cent in the US and 95 per cent in the UK noting they would consider migrating their legal teams to a system that provides a consolidated view of their legal work. Less than 10 per cent felt that this wouldn’t improve overall outcomes for the business.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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