Game On! – Making Case/Practice Management Software Work for You

08
Jun
2012

Taylor Gould

Implementation & Training and Quick Poll results

LTO posts from Wednesday and yesterday have made the case that CMS and PrMS programs have the potential to make your practice much more efficient.  However, you’ll need to invest time and energy to get the system installed and your colleagues trained.  Additionally, once the system is operational, there will be some additional work at the outset such as data entry and migration.  You need to convince yourself and others that the up-front increase in work and the learning curve will pay off once everything is stored and organized electronically.  So how do you make this happen?

Size Up The Players
Andy Adkins, CIO of Steptoe and Johnson PLLC, an expert on case management, says that there are three factions that play a key role in the implementation of these systems:

1. Decision Makers – These are the people in power who actually have the final say on whether the project is going to happen, and can push it through despite resistance to change in the organization.
2. Cheerleaders – This group is excited for CMS or PrMS implementation – they are welcoming the change, but they need to be brought on board to harness their enthusiasm so it spreads throughout the firm.
3. Naysayers – You know these folks – they don’t want change, they are not open to seeing the benefits or they think the current workflow is perfect “as is.”  As annoying as it may seem, this group needs to be brought to a positive, if not neutral, stance so they don’t sour the rest of the organization on the new software.

Everyone has a role to play in order to ensure the success of the implementation.  The vendor should help decision-makers calculate the return on investment (ROI) on implementing a CMS/PrMS, whether it will be realized in time saved, billings gained, better client service or all three.  After seeing this and understanding the changes that need to happen, there will be a split.  All three groups mentioned above have the same thought of “what’s in it for me?” so you’ll need to be prepared with answers to those questions – it’s just human nature.

Learning a New Game
No doubt, implementing a comprehensive system like a CMS or PrMS is complicated – it changes the way people have been functioning, and the way tasks are completed.  Thankfully, extensive training is available for this.  It is important to take into account that learning the software may require between 4-8 hours of training. However, there are ways to reduce the monotony associated with long training seminars: breaking employees into teams to complete a set of tasks on the new system and keeping track of their points adds an element of fun to the implementation, or using a blended learning approach with some live training and some e-learning is a good strategy.  Younger members of the practice have grown up with computers and are accustomed to the rapid changes in legal technology, while others may struggle more with the transition.  Maintaining a sense of collectivism and an attitude of “we’re all in this together” will help your firm stay excited and patient while anxiously awaiting the arrival of standardization of data collection and the ability to quickly run reports.

Not Everyone is a Sports Fan
Despite the benefits associated with CMS or PrMS the reality is that they may not be for everyone.  Taking on a case management system project is not easy.  Additionally, many forms-based practices, such as real estate and bankruptcy often function very efficiently without using a CMS.  For other firms, the actual cost to take on a project like this may be a major roadblock.  Furthermore, the soft costs such as the configuration, integration into existing systems, training, and data migration may just seem to be too big of a headache to be worth the reward.

The bottom line on CMS and PrMS is…don’t rush into it, identify inefficiencies in your office, do the proper research, investigate all associated costs, don’t buy the first product you find, and discuss with your colleagues the pros and cons of implementing a CMS or PMS in your firm or practice.

Quick Poll results
Below are the results of our Quick Poll on Case-Matter-Practice management software. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Tune in to LTO next Monday and Tuesday when my colleague Ada Spahija will be talking with George Socha and Tom Gelbmann about the EDRM.