Even firms that embrace data-driven practices are still in the infancy of comprehending the data-driven what, how, and why.

Data is a vital aspect of any business development. It helps garner valuable insights into making precise business decisions for your firm. And for a firm that wants to grow, having all the data you need in one place makes growth feasible and achievable.

Let's take a deep dive into what a "data-driven" law firm means.

What Does "Data-Driven" Mean in a Legal Firm Context?

A data-driven law firm inculcates the efficient and intelligent use of data in its law practice—to simplify tasks, measure performance, position for growth, seamlessly address problems and plan for a successful future.

Thanks to advanced algorithms, high volumes of data can be easily categorised and accessed when needed. However, for your legal firm to be truly data-driven, it needs to have a solid foothold and integration into the following areas of your firm.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Law firms deal with high volumes of data from different clients. Without an automated way of managing this client data, you will spend many gruelling hours sorting and sifting through data.

Legal client relationship management (CRM) software—assists law firms in client data collection, appointment scheduling, client onboarding, client follow-ups, revenue tracking, and more. CRM improves the relationship between your law firm and its clients.

And just like Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, said: "The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight."

CRM software gives valuable insight into your relationships with clients while leveraging that insight into providing a value-packed service for your clients. Law firms can easily acquire new clients, retain them, and nurture existing clients with this insight.

Automation

If any industry needs to implement more automation, it's the legal industry. It's time to do away with all the unnecessary paperwork. A legal firm can't be genuinely data-driven without being automated.

Data automation is the use of artificial intelligence to process data. Instead of collecting data manually, data automation collects, analyses, and transforms data via intelligent processes and software into well-structured and optimised data.

Legal process automation is an essential component of your law firm's success. When you incorporate automation, your law firm can say goodbye to repetitive and non-essential tasks.

Automated processes are applied everywhere. You order products on Amazon and get them delivered to your doorstep. You pay for services online. You pay for Spotify Premium to play your favourite songs.

Legal firms cannot fall behind; they need to catch up and apply automation. Billing, payments, invoicing, client follow-ups, task delegation, among others, are all processes that you can automate.

Matter Management

Legal matter management is the tracking of all relevant data on a particular legal project. This includes all the internal and external activities involved in managing a corporate legal practice.

Simply put, matter management is a detailed process and medium of tracking the 'matter lifecycle' of your legal firm.

In today's data-driven landscape, legal firms must adopt legal matter management software that automates the management process and promotes collaboration, productivity, and efficiency.

The primary purpose of legal matter management software is to assist law firms in running their business affairs smoothly. Great software should include CRM systems, email management, desktop notes, password security, time tracking, document management, and several others.

Thanks to LawMaster, a software option designed specifically for legal businesses, firms can easily view documents, correspondence, file notes, contact details, time spent, and financial data—all in one place.

Cloud Reporting

Cloud reporting refers to data stored off-premise—which securely houses your documents giving you the ability to analyse and present information using a third-party provider's cloud infrastructure. This complete end to end reporting derives valuable insights into everyday business decisions—as well as the growth of your firm.

Analytics and data play a crucial role in your law firm. And for the utmost security and accessibility of this data, law firms should use cloud reporting.

A proper data-driven law firm leverages the advantages of the cloud through the use of cloud-based storage, cloud apps, cloud-based emails, and lots more. With cloud reporting, law firms can leverage the power of the cloud to stay competitive in an ever-changing legal landscape.

The best cloud-reporting software(s) help in data ingestion, validation, processing, security, report scheduling, report storage, and others. Plus, law firms can use it anywhere and on any device.

Dashboards

As law firms lean towards being data-driven, legal dashboards will become an essential resource for professionals seeking better insights into their practice.

Dashboards are an essential part of legal matter management software. They help to collate data from your firm's activities while displaying vital metrics in ways that are easy to understand. With dashboards, you can identify trends, track employee productivity, client retention, billable hours, and much more.

In the long run, this helps your firm track workflow and have better access to your most valuable data points—allowing you to make informed decisions to optimise the firm's performance.

To truly make the most use of dashboards, you need to customise them according to your employees' roles. Data views should be relevant to a specific role. For example, managing partners shouldn't see the same data as bookkeepers, nor should attorneys see the same data as paralegals.

Conclusion

To provide exceptional service in today's digital age, law firms must embrace and utilise the intelligent use of data. And with the right software like the one LawMaster provides, your law firm can make the smart switch to being a data-driven firm.

LawMaster is a software option designed specifically for Law Firms, helping them improve operations through data consolidation and overall streamlining of their processes. Whether you're a medium, large, or corporate firm, LawMaster can help you become a data-driven firm by managing your data in a way that drives exponential growth.

Set yourself apart from the competition today; book a demo with LawMaster. Let's help you get there.