The final quarter of the year brings a fresh start, new perspectives, and a final effort to close out 2024 in a positive stance. The saying ‘start as you mean to go on’ comes to mind.
For law firms looking to transform their business IT in 2025, establishing a plan in 2024 are the foundations of a positive start to the year.
Priorities for law firms can differ depending on where they’re in their journey, for those just starting out or decade and older firms. Here are some key priorities and questions I think both should consider.
- Unification is on the rise from technology vendors – unifying your tech stack will massively reduce overheads, complexity, and costs
- Continue to prioritise cyber security – Segregate data across different departments, teams, and clients, to help better protect against threats. A recent study reveals a significant increase in cyberattacks on UK law firms in the last year, increasing from 538 to 954 attacks from the previous year. The study shows that criminals are increasingly targeting law firms due to the sensitive personal and financial information they hold, which can then be sold on the dark web or used for blackmail. Firms can often be locked out of their systems until a ransom is paid. A recent report from the NCSC shared that nearly 75% of the top 100 UK law firms have been affected by cybercrime.
- Leverage leasing or finance models when it comes to your hardware refresh projects – these flexible payment options can not only improve your cashflow but also reduce the total cost of ownership, especially when refreshing every 3 years
- Don’t leave progress on the table – quite often quick wins can be achieved by reviewing your software licensing, ensuring device setups are optimised, or reviewing technology processes
When making change its key to ask, why are we doing this and what is the impact of not doing it.
Here’s a list of questions which will hopefully give you the clarity you need to make the right technology changes.
- What are our current pain points in legal operations, and how can technology address them?
- How can we ensure data security and compliance while adopting new technologies?
- What are the preferences and expectations of our lawyers regarding work environments and technology?
- Which routine tasks can be automated to free up time for more strategic work?
- How can we integrate new technologies without disrupting our current workflows?
By focusing on these priorities and asking the right questions, law firms can position themselves for a successful transformation in 2025.