You know it’s coming…upset partners, annoyed admins, long hours and lost weekends. Transitioning billing systems in law firms is usually synonymous with stress, even with the best project planning.  

If you use your current billing system as your Conflicts of Interest system, your headaches may just have turned into migraines…you’re now facing two critical system upgrade projects at the same time. 

One idea to consider to minimize the operational and emotional impact of a billing system switch is to convert conflicts first, and separately, from time and billing.  Here’s why:

• Changing both conflicts and time and billing is like doing 2 huge projects instead of one.

For those firms who have been using their finance system’s conflicts searching functionality, getting conflicts ‘out’ of the finance system first enables the firm to focus efforts on the conflicts project and the finance project, giving each mission critical system the 100% focus it requires.

• Conflicts is a relatively straight forward conversion and a “quick win”. Converting to conflicts first can build confidence throughout the firm before moving onto the larger project. It’s a great PR move for the back office.

• Most firms acknowledge that the conflicts systems that come with the billing systems are subpar because they’re not the primary area of focus for the billing vendors. Therefore, a secondary motivator for separating conflicts and billing is to get state-of-the-art conflicts searching & analysis as a key add-on benefit of getting conflicts ‘done’ before finance.

Firms that have separated the conflicts system from the billing system and who have tackled conflicts conversion first are left only with the change-over of integrations from intake & conflicts to the new finance system, which is a 100% technical exercise. It provides firms with an opportunity to re-validate field mappings and to update integration mechanisms.

• There are costs associated when integrating conflicts/ intake processes with any new financial systems but this cost, as compared to replacing your intake system AND conflicts simultaneous with your finance system, is very small.

• Reduce overall cost of finance system upgrade (and conflicts system upgrade) by doing them in isolation which is ‘simpler’ and more ‘focused’ which leads to shorter timeframes, lower costs and better results.

• Reduce the overall risk of your finance system upgrade and the conflicts system upgrade. Focus reduces the risk of ‘missing’ things along the way that are critical.

Managing conflicts as a separate project before any billing system change is a smart strategy for any firm.

  Get started without the headaches!

We receive an influx of calls from law firms coming to us for help in getting their Conflicts of Interest and New Business Intake projects done after suffering a failed implementation. These firms, of all sizes and make-ups, are working their way through what I call the ‘Waiting for the Bus Syndrome’.

Years ago, as a young professional in the city of San Francisco, I was 100% reliant on the local bus system, having no car of my own.  I love San Francisco, but I have no love for the city bus system.  For 6 years I spent hours and hours of my life waiting for the bus.  During that time, I identified that I suffered from what I coined ‘Waiting for the Bus Syndrome’.  

Throughout my career, I’ve been able to apply this syndrome to all kinds of situations.   Here's what Waiting for the Bus Syndrome looks and feels like:

1. You get to the bus stop in time to catch the next bus home, due within 10 minutes, after a long day of work.

2. Twenty minutes later, you start wondering, “Where is that bus…?”

3. You think to yourself, “Well, it’s only 10 minutes late.” So, you keep waiting....

4. Now it's 30 minutes later. Ok, this is starting to get annoying. You think, "Should I jump in a cab?" Remember, you can't afford a car, so taking cabs in the city every day is not a trivial expense. So you say to yourself, "No, I've already waited 30 minutes. I'm sure it will be here soon. I shouldn't spend the money. I should just wait." And so, you keep waiting....

5. Now, it's over 1 hour late. You're beyond annoyed, and you're tired and hungry. While you've been standing at that bus stop for over 1 hour, you've seen DOZENS of empty cabs go by. You could have jumped in any one of those and been home AGES ago! But, you waited....

6. So, what do you do? How long do you wait until you make the call to stop waiting for the bus, pay that cab fare and capture that time in your life back? When is that cab fare worth the ultimate savings of your time investment?

The answer to that last question, which is the pivotal point of recovery from the ‘Waiting for the Bus Syndrome,’ is a VERY TOUGH answer. 

• It means that you have to accept that the investment you’ve made up to that point is worthless.  You spent it and you can’t get that time or money, as the case may be, back. 
• It means facing the fact that the decision you could have made sooner is going to cost you the same additional investment that it would have if you had just made that choice sooner, but that your overall investment got much larger. Because you waited, you spent more time, more money, and had a higher loss of overall value and return on your investment. In other words, the longer you wait, the more loss you incur. The trick is to make the 'call' as soon as you can and move forward. 
• It means admitting you were wrong in continuing to wait.  More importantly, it means accepting it and giving yourself permission to move forward.

‘Waiting for the Bus Syndrome’ obviously isn’t just about buses.  It’s about a lot of things in life that we decide to invest in and then realize that investment isn’t just not going pay off – it’s lost forever.  For law firms who call us after an unending or failed implementation of Conflicts of Interest or New Business Intake, we understand it is a tough pill to swallow.

Self-Diagnosis For Your Firm

Want to self-diagnose your firm? Ask yourself the questions below:

1. Are you in a software implementation that no matter how hard you try you just CAN’T really understand where you are and when you are going to be done?

2. Are you feeling frustrated because after a lot of time and money, you aren’t seeing what you expected coming to fruition, even after several re-attempts

3. Do you have that sinking feeling that you are just never going to get back your time and money?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then unfortunately you may be suffering from ‘Waiting for the Bus Syndrome’.

The good news is, Elegrity can help you STOP WAITING FOR THE BUS. We’ve helped other firms with the same diagnosis cure their implementation woes and get the value they deserve from their investment of time and money.

Elegrity’s E-Valuate™ Conflicts of Interest module and E-Win™ New Business Intake module are innovative and flexible but they are even more powerful when paired with The Elegrity Difference – value delivered start-to-finish. Call us today to hear how other law firms gained immediate value from partnering with Elegrity.

 Call us today - STOP WAITING FOR THAT BUS!!

Fresh from ILTA, I can still hear a consistent theme ringing in my ears (besides AI that is) . . . the horror stories of long implementations consuming man and woman power, requiring costly hardware investments, and ultimately causing the firm to spend more money than expected.

I heard how promised timelines were far exceeded and budgets blown through, but what I also witnessed, were firms accepting that “this is just how it is to implement software” at their firm. 

This made me reflect on the core things needed from a true partner, someone more than a “vendor,” to drive a quick and effective software implementation.

1. Experience & Expertise – law firms greatly differentiate themselves on the experience that their experts provide. A basic requirement your implementation partner should demonstrate is their industry-specific knowledge.  A second, not-so-basic requirement is proven experience in implementation of large technology projects in enterprises as big or bigger than yours.  Their experience allows their experts to executive more gracefully, with precision, and ultimately more quickly and at a lower overall cost. Look for partners who have “been there” before and come to the first meeting with an understanding of your challenges and a few thoughts to execute improvements. If your implementation partner is also the software provider, an added benefit is that their expertise influences the functionality of the solution.

2. Structure & Diligence – your implementation partner should also be an expert in project management. They should have a very structured approach to implementations, be experts in recognizing the early onset of possible setbacks that might derail the project, and elegantly handle many different personalities and personal agendas.  This is no easy feat and one of the most overlooked requirements to a successful implementation.

3. Dedication to the Entire Project – dealing with a single partner for your entire implementation naturally drives a more “cohesive” implementation. When possible, work with a partner who provides the software and the services. This ensures that the responsibility of the success of the project is not spread amongst different vendors; each partially relying on the other to ensure satisfaction, including meeting budgets and/or timelines.   

4. A Champion for both IT and Business – if you have a partner who understands the challenges of both your business AND technical users, you’ve hit the jackpot. One glaring challenge for IT is that no matter the problem, the firm relies on them to fix it.  IT’s response, “If there was a problem, yo I’ll solve it.”  (I apologize in advance for the Vanilla Ice tune being stuck in your head.)

While their knowledge is extensive, their time is strained. Your implementation partner should provide technical experts to fill in any resource gaps so that your IT team doesn’t feel strained or burden by a single project. 

Your Business users also have full-time careers so relying on them to build a system or dedicate months upon months of time to a project is not wise.  Look for an implementation partner who knows their challenges and can easily translate their requirements through easy and succinct conversations.   

5. A Focus on Delivering Value Sooner- Seek out a partner who has strategies to provide high-value results quickly. Your partner shouldn’t be focused on selling you everything they offer, extending your implementation over multiple years, when the better approach might be to implement parts of the solution in phases. When it comes to ROI, talk to your implementation partner about their strategies for structuring a quick turnaround of high-impact improvements, even if additional phases are to follow.

We’ve just discussed five ways to avoid an implementation Black Hole; however, the key is that you need all five things above to ensure a project meets your timeline and budget.

Vetting your next software purchase isn’t just about vetting features or technical requirements. The requirements above are just as important as functionality, yet are often discounted or overlooked.  

As one intelligent Director said, “It’s just as much about the vendor as it is the software.” 

  Learn more about The Elegrity Difference.