Many smart lawyers know they have to modernise their legal accounting software. They’re just not sure how to go about that. The good news is that there aren’t too many choices in South Africa. The bad news is that firms have no alternative but to change, because it is simply no longer viable to continue practising law the old way.
It’s all about margin. Firms need to find more profitable work, and they need to work more efficiently. Of course that’s easier said than done. Over the past few years you have probably heard many industry experts advising law firms to “embrace technology”. You’ll also be aware that (most) lawyers and technology are not ‘friends’. But what you might not be aware of is that those lawyers who embrace technology completely outperform those who don’t.
One positive in this destructive crisis is that the legal profession has been forced to use technology better. There is no question that video conferencing is more efficient than a physical meeting. And if firms continue using video conferencing after this crisis ends, that alone could have a major effect on profitability. But there are also other smart ways that technology can improve your bottom-line. You just have to be prepared to change.
Arguably the most effective way for firms to increase margin is by using “work from anywhere” web technology. You’re probably thinking “Oh, he’s talking about working from home”. That’s part of it. Some lawyers can work from home. Or from a cheaper, smaller satellite office closer to their homes, reducing travel and office rental costs, and increasing work-life balance. But “work-from-anywhere” is also about saving time and increasing fees.
Because fee-books and client files can be accessed from anywhere at any time, lawyers have more work hours in a day. And that’s the real win. The potential gain from using modern, web-based software could be as high as 20-30% for some practice groups. If you do the maths on that – I think you will begin to see why “work-from-anywhere” is so powerful. (Try this calculation for your firm: One hour gained each day x 20 days x the number of fee-earners in the firm x hourly rate.)
There are also other benefits from using modern web-based legal accounting and practice management software. For example, you won’t need your own expensive-to-support file server, and you won’t be as exposed to hardware failure, viruses, and ransomware. You’ll have peace of mind because your backups are properly managed. And you won’t need to replace your computers as often because web-based software doesn’t need as much power as the old Windows-based software. For more information about the benefits of web-based legal accounting, read this article.
If your legal accounting and practice management vendor is telling you they are fully web-based, that’s likely not true. There are only two legal accounting systems in South Africa which are truly web-based. Sure, your vendor might have cobbled together a “remote” solution, but access will invariably be slow, even on a fast Internet connection.
If you already know that you need to be more efficient after COVID, you’re way ahead of most other lawyers out there. And if you are one of the enlightened practitioners, you probably also know that it would be smart to modernise your financial software. “Can you afford to stay on your current system?”
AJS has been South Africa’s leading legal accounting and practice management software for over 40 years now. We invest more heavily on software development than most of our competitors put together, so that our clients can practise law more profitably. Our web version has been on the market for over 5 years now, which means that it is stable and comprehensive.
If you would like to improve your bottom line, email us on sales@ajs.co.za for a no-obligation online demo.
