Part Four of the Five-Part Series “Top 5 ELM Benefits” – Improve Resource Allocation
Provide Greater Business Value with ELM’s Benefits
ELM Systems enable reapplying people, technology, and money for success through improved resource allocation
Resource allocation is a very business-like way to say, “Putting the right people, technology, and money in the best place to make things work well.” Resources are not inexhaustible; everything and everyone has a time where you can’t give any more. The global business environment we all work in these days makes allocating the right resources critical to business success. If one piece fails to deliver value, the entire business suffers – this is also true with Legal. That is why we’ll explore how benefits from Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) systems offer much-needed holistic aid to the entire organization.
ELM Solution Benefit #4: Improved Resource Allocation
In this series, we’re exploring the Top 5 ELM Benefits, so this fourth installment is the one that takes Resources to the forefront of the discussion.
Improved Resource Allocation #1: People – Leverage your greatest asset’s skills to show you what’s working
Ensuring the proper use of your people is more critical than ever. As team members leave due to the Great Resignation, every business has felt the loss of top performers. Whether they leave for early retirement or change jobs entirely, it changes the company in some measurable way – requiring new staffing searches and training to bring the teams back to full strength.
We’ve all read the articles published for years now addressing the trend showing Legal professionals moving around a lot or changing businesses to apply their specialized skills better. Who doesn’t want to work in an environment that leverages their experience and advances their careers? While this may be true, the trend for businesses to up their game is building momentum to hold onto their top performers. The purpose is simple – hold onto high-value staff or pay to replace them. With the current upheaval in the market, it makes perfect sense to hold onto your talent and ensure they are happy to stay. So, what makes legal professionals seek another place to hang their shingles? Clients and users have shared a few ideas with us that sheds light on this “revolving door” trend:
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- “The business is not a good fit with my career aspirations.” – Personal or professional
- “The daily workload doesn’t apply my expertise or skill set.” – It doesn’t meet expectations
- “The business goals aren’t supported by enough staff or technology.” – Can’t do any more with less
Many Legal teams struggle to find the staff that can efficiently handle the increased workload. Staff reductions increase the challenge. More responsibilities with fewer people mean the skill sets required to meet these demands necessitate new training or having people who already possess the skills. This trend leads many teams to seek legal technology to augment their staff’s capabilities. Using this method to meet the new workload means having people that can manage the technology. After writing about the cost savings and the improved efficiency benefits in earlier blogs, combining people and technology opens a path for better applying resources to the business – adding a perfect mix for Legal Ops’ success.
Ninja Tip: No one disputes that the people are the lifeblood of any business. It is essential to see them as part of the process and ensure they are happy applying their skill set to the work, which allows them to add value to the company. This one resource is impossible to conduct business without, so focusing their work on higher-value tasks may be imperative to keeping them productive and satisfied. Staff satisfaction is rising, and people are staying where they are, dramatically boosting Legal’s value to the business. The right skill set is crucial to optimizing your “people” resource. Download client stories
Improved Resource Allocation #2: Technology – Find LegalTech tools that improve your processes and their results
Technology has long been noted as the “silver bullet” for many Legal departments seeking to transform their data into useful information to improve the business and better manage their evolving legal responsibilities. The challenge has always been to justify the cost and ensure the ROI in the investment. Technology can greatly impact how resources are reallocated to provide a more efficient and effective business workflow. Various technologies exist to better business efficiency, but none has a more measurable impact on efficiency and cost savings than Enterprise Legal Management (ELM). This advanced LegalTech solution allows a business to record, track, and analyze a multitude of business data that reaches far beyond just the Legal department. Integrating ELM into the business allows many departments’ data flows to deliver insights on a more holistic level. This blog will focus on the benefits of doeLEGAL clients after implementing Ascent ELM. Their cases demonstrate the results that many organizations can expect after implementing an ELM solution.
With added pressure to “do more with less,” businesses seek technology that allows their staff to handle more responsibilities with fewer members. How is this possible? Automation and efficiency improvements! By eliminating the need for staff to watch over the outside invoices, input various business data themselves, and track down answers to business-critical questions – Legal departments have more hours for their attorneys and staff to handle higher-value tasks. One example comes from the ability of Ascent ELM to auto-review the invoices with a “first-pass,” automated review for UTBMS coding, general billing rules, and business guidelines established in the system. Before entering the human review queue, the ELM system evaluates each outside invoice against these rules. Any line item that doesn’t pass the initial inspection can be auto-adjusted by the system or sent back to the billing party for correction.
Clients have quoted this automated review, saving over 25% of their reviewer’s time, which they reallocate to other higher-value tasks. These realized savings can add up to thousands of dollars per attorney annually. The benefit from ELM only begins there. Automating other redundant tasks, reducing human input errors, eliminating double-payment of invoices, and reducing the review time to pay an invoice also increase efficiency and cost savings. With the staff focusing on driving more business income, the technology offers avenues to increase Legal’s contribution to corporate profit and savings goals. ELM provides new ways to uncover additional opportunities to improve automation to optimize the use of people and budget.
Here are a few examples taken from client reports on their resource reallocation as a positive result of implementing Ascent ELM:
Ninja Tip: With the right tools, it is possible to “do more with less.” Clients tell us they are feeling the pressure to do more each year. Their stories of efficiency improvements and staff allocation with Ascent ELM are overwhelming. ELM systems empower integrated businesses with full data transparency, unparalleled access to actionable insights, and real-time answers. Both help teams make informed business-critical decisions faster. Download client stories
Improve Resource Allocation #3: Money – Know where you’re spending and find savings opportunities
We delivered the cost savings blog in this earlier post. We’ll finish up the resource allocation with the money and explain where clients have reallocated the funds they were spending before ELM. Budget reallocation is different from cost savings because it allows Legal departments and their business to decide whether to reinvest those budgeted dollars or save them. It can be funneled back into Legal or transitioned to other business units to take advantage of opportunities that increase revenue or save additional costs.
We mentioned that when resource allocation is optimized with all components working together, it’s the “perfect mix” to allow the business to compete better in the market. Once the cost savings, increased efficiency, and proper resource allocation come together, Legal can contribute more to the bottom line or fund more opportunities to improve. We’re back to the question many clients have asked us in previous discussions – “Where do others spend their savings?” To provide a broad answer, here are some avenues our clients have used to increase Legal’s value to the business when it comes to reallocating the money:
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- Use the savings to fund other business initiatives or ventures
- Remain in Legal’s budget to support new technology purchases or initiatives
- Fund new Legal staff hiring to meet evolving responsibilities
- Contribute millions in overall business bottom line savings each year
Ninja Tip: Money is how businesses measure success. It may be a cold fact, but it follows that to be in business, one has to offer value with a cost. Ascent ELM has proven itself with significant ROI values to each client yearly. ELM systems have enabled Legal teams to better track expenses, find savings opportunities, and contribute more to the bottom line. Saving money that can be reallocated to other business needs is a transforming benefit that may help companies compete in a volatile market. Download client stories
What’s next?
In this series of blogs, we will continue to cover the top five benefits of ELM and what each offers to modern business teams.
Next, we’ll cover the fifth benefit of implementing ELM systems in year #1 – Scale and Grow with the business. ELM allows teams to evolve with the market changes and continue to provide insights into the best opportunities to meet new goals. We explain how advanced ELM systems can configure to adjust and grow with the business.
You can also request a demo when you’re ready to move forward.
Catch up on the blog series by reading the previous posts:
Read the blog: ELM Benefit #1 – Increased Efficiency
Read the blog: ELM Benefit #2 – Data Transparency
Read the blog: ELM Benefit #3 – Cost Savings
doeLEGAL, a Questel Company, is the LegalTech provider of ELM & eDiscovery solutions to a global client base. Questel LegalTech Solutions’ expanding group of companies gives legal teams the tools they need to succeed.
