Technology for Lawyers: Choosing to Use a Technology Solution

Choosing to use a technology solution is not easy. Going into a technology solution without proper planning can cause more problems than it solves. There are many things to be considered. Does it really meet your needs? How much does it really cost? How will your staff react to it? And many more. It is important to have a methodology for choosing to use a technology solution and then choosing the right one. Here are four major questions to consider before committing to a solution.

What is it going to do for me?  Technology solutions should always be about increasing productivity. Whether it’s doing more work in less time so you can handle more cases, being able to get more information from your depositions or being more persuasive so you get better settlements and bigger awards, a technology solution should make you more productive and make your life easier. 

Technology solutions should never be approached because they are cool or au courant. They should be used in response to particular perceived issues. For example, if you feel you aren’t able to give depositions the attention they require, perhaps a deposition tool will help. You look into software options and decide several programs might help. Then you determine whether such a tool will be valuable and do a cost/benefit analysis to determine how valuable. As you do cost/benefit analysis, however, be sure to factor in training costs, maintenance and upgrades, and initial lower productivity during the learning curve.  When your analysis is complete, you will have a good picture of whether the technology solution you are looking at will have a significant impact on your productivity.

How do I evaluate a technology solution?  The first caveat is to not take advice from hardware or software vendors. They cannot help but have a conflict of interest. Get input from your staff, your peers, articles, reviews and groups you belong to that deal with your issue. The second caveat is to involve all end-users in the evaluation process. Implementing technology is a difficult process at best and there is almost always resistance to new technologies in the workplace. Involving all users in the process can be difficult and time-consuming, but not nearly as difficult as introducing new technology to unwilling and resistant users. 

First, identify the most technically savvy members of your staff who will be using and/or implementing the new technology.  These are the people who need to be able to answer all the scary questions. Honestly evaluate with them their technology skills to determine whether you need to get outside help with your decisions and with integrating and maintaining your new technology. Then identify those who will be regular users and those who will be casual users. Explain to each person where they fit in the universe of users and ask them to help evaluate the technology solution.  Important questions for them to consider are:

·      Does the solution make sense? 

·      Does it seem like it will address the identified issue? 

·      For software, does the interface seem friendly or daunting? 
·      Does using the solution seem intuitive or over complicated?

·      Most important, what scares you about this? Use the list of scary things from the last article to help them think about what might scare them.

Involving the end user in the evaluation and selection of technology solution is crucial to success. Listen to what concerns them and find out the answers to their questions before you make decisions.

As you and your staff look at different alternatives, evaluate the relative ease of use and costs.

What are the ramifications?  It’s always something. You just got a great communications tool, but your network or internet connection is too slow to get any benefit. Your new software is wonderful, but you don’t have enough memory and your computer keeps crashing. Your new video camera makes beautiful pictures, but it doesn’t record in a format that works with your computer. And so on. It’s always something. Again, go to the most tech savvy people you have. If they don’t feel comfortable (really comfortable) understanding the specifications and how the technology will integrate into your situation, get some outside help. A little help up front will almost always prevent a lot of pain later. Nothing creates more resistance to new technology than early problems and failures. 

Whoever is looking at the ramifications should be taking into account how your solution will touch the different systems in your office and evaluating what that means to each system and its interaction with your solution. Look at all the technical interfaces, but also look at all the human interfaces. How will the new technology fit into daily routines? How will it be accessed? Who should be allowed what level of access? Are there new or different kinds of handoffs that will need to be defined and managed? Examine the effect of the new technology on your process and procedures.

Is it (relatively) future-proof?  Here you want to look at the company whose product you are buying. How long have they been around and do they have a good reputation? Do they have a history of orphaning products? Where in the product’s life cycle will you be buying? If late in the life cycle, what are the ramifications of the next version? If the solution is hardware dependent, where is the hardware in its life cycle and in relation to current technology? What will upgrades cost and how often will they be necessary?


Answering these questions and the further questions your staff will come up with will make choosing to use a technology solution easier. It will also make your eventual solution more effective.