Collaboration Platforms are Fundamentally Altering the Manner in Which Law Firms Operate

Employees at law firms wear a number of hats.  From handling client relations to developing legal strategies, managing cases, performing client billing, calendaring and creating legal documents, these hard workers do it all.  The challenge is getting all the work done in an 8-hour workday.  Consider the amount of time you spend searching documents, transmitting emails, texting co-workers and talking with colleagues on the phone.  Even logging in and out of the law firm’s systems for legal research, document management, calendaring and billing chews up time.  A solution has arrived in the form of platforms for collaboration.

Enterprise Collaboration for Law Firms

Today’s collaboration platforms empower law firm employees to transmit information with ease.  From Google Docs to DropBox, Huddle and beyond, all sorts of enterprise collaboration tools are available for on-demand video conferencing, team dialogues, sharing documents and screens and beyond.  These platforms can be accessed on everything from a laptop to a desktop and other web-connected mobile device.  It does not matter if your co-worker is in the same facility, a separate country or at a coffee shop down the street; collaboration tools will prove accessible as long you both have a web-connected device.

Improve Your Law Firm’s Efficiency With Collaboration Tools

Every single employee at your law firm will find online collaboration tools improve their efficiency.  From Office 365 to SharePoint, Glasscubes and SmartSheet, all sorts of online platforms are available to facilitate ongoing conversations, sharing and collaboration.  These tools store massive amounts of information in a single place so your team does not have to spent time searching for documents throughout a number of file servers.  Everything is conveniently organized for searching with keywords.

All it takes is a few buttons to interact with a co-worker through eVoice, WebEx meetings, Vonage Business cloud or RingCentral Office.  DropBox and Google Docs empower employees to view instant messages, emails and other documents after traditional work hours have passed to maximize efficiency and collaboration.  In fact, online collaboration platforms even allow for the polling of an entire group through surveys conducted and updated in real time.  

How Law Firms Should Take Advantage of Collaboration Platforms

Technology is becoming increasingly dynamic, forcing workplace changes of all types.  The question is how law firms can best use technology including collaboration platforms.  It is best to view these tools as an important component of your law firm’s overarching IT strategy.  The bottom line is if your legal team neglects these important collaboration tools, your firm will be at a competitive disadvantage.  Begin by launching with a pilot team and gradually expanding as time progresses.  Incorporate an email client to function with the firm’s email system to guarantee information flows without interference.  Gradually ease your team into these new platforms and they will pay massive dividends across posterity.