When it comes to being technologically advanced, most would agree that the legal industry remains “behind the times” when compared to many others. However, there has been a substantial shift in the pace at which legal technology has evolved in recent years including conversations around cloud infrastructure, machine learning, legal digital assistants, and many other exciting new developments.

In the world of legal documents, we have seen considerable progress with technology from major document management systems such as iManage, NetDocuments, Microsoft’s Office suite, and Windows. We’ve also seen many other systems support hybrid working by allowing new ways for users to interact with their systems, no matter what device or where they are working from.

In our recent survey, the Legal Workflow Management survey, we found that 93% of firms expect support staff to continue working remotely for 2 or more days a week, meaning true flexibility is here to stay. This new working era, coupled with more rapid technology advancements, both present big challenges for any firm using in-house technology solutions.

Although building an in-house solution may be appealing upfront, with the benefit of highly customized functionality, it often becomes difficult to manage very quickly. For software that integrates with other legal systems, ever-evolving technical requirements force firms that have built custom solutions to revisit the very basics of how they function. And in most cases, they’re faced with significant development costs updating their systems not just once, but many times over as their larger technology counterparts release increasingly advanced versions, more and more frequently!

In many instances now, we’re seeing firms re-investing that in-house development cost into third-party, specialist vendors, which provides longevity to the firm’s technology, support through change, and offer many efficiencies and workflow benefits. As well as lifting the cost of needing in-house developers.

Given staff’s newfound openness to new processes and more efficient ways of working, now is a great time to look at what specialist document creation vendors can offer and making the switch. Here are four things you should look for when assessing any new software partner.

1. Advanced features – A feature set that meets all firm requirements, giving users access to best in breed time-saving tools.

2. Standard Product Releases - It’s imperative to have standardized product releases linked to highly sought-after features like iManage 10 compatibility for enhanced productivity.

3. First Class Customer Support - Having assisted implementation for a successful roll-out should incorporate focused training and documentation to help users with adoption.

4. Trusted Partnership - Lastly, ensure there is dedicated support to resolve any usability and technical challenges. Plus, future-proof with easily upgradeable and deployable applications.

BigHand Document Creation, with features like Super Copy and Super Paste, Encore, and Quick Launch, makes it easy to re-use valuable document content quickly and safely, saving remote users time and ensuring accuracy and consistency. And thanks to the “Agile” software development practices at BigHand, we’re able to share more frequent releases in line with market evolutions, while also supporting firms with older versions. 

If you're looking to replace an in-house document templating, formatting, or metadata solution, or make the switch from an alternative system, click here to learn more about what BigHand Document Creation can offer, and why this is the number one solution as voted in the ILTA Legal Technology Survey for the last four years. For more information, go here.