On June 15th, Director of Client Technology Stephen Cole and I conducted a webinar titled “Middle Office Outsourcing: Is It Right for Your Firm?“ Attendees ranged from large firms (1,900+ Attorneys) to firms smaller than 44 Attorneys.
We were pleased to receive a range of great and pertinent questions as well as numerous follow-ups after the webinar, ranging from queries regarding how to structure an outsourcing deal to in-depth discussions about “hybrid” models and outlining the entire RFP process.
Interestingly, the one theme that kept recurring in these discussions was “loyalty.”
- How loyal are the outsourced employees to the firm they are servicing?
- How do you maintain that loyalty in an outsourced provider?
In a good outsourcing relationship, firms should be able to maintain the same strong relationship with their outsourced workers as they currently do with insourced employees. There are a number of methods I recommend to bring this about.
One key is making sure your firm has a “face” to the outsourced provider. You can, for example, have the outsourced employees visit and train at the firm(s) they are servicing. You can also integrate/outsource current employees to the outsourcer – without hurting them financially or benefits-wise, etc.
Given this concern over loyalty, are law firms really ready to outsource middle office operations? With over 20% of large firms opening low cost service centers, obviously there’s a growing recognition of the need to centralize these services. One thing is clear: Law firms looking to outsource their middle office functions have concerns that go deeper than cost. Yet with smart management strategy, I remain confident that law firms will be able to benefit from these low cost service centers in the years to come.
Please join us Wednesday, July 13th for part two of this series when we will take up the topic directly with the outsourcing vendors themselves in a live question and answer forum. This is an excellent opportunity for your firm to take a litmus test for the capabilities of several leading vendors in one simple, interactive discussion.
Please email Lisa Schneider at lschneider@matternassoc.com, for the registration link for our July 13th Q&A webinar. If you’d like to submit your vendor questions ahead of time to ensure a detailed response, please include those in your email to Lisa.
We hope you join us and look forward to continuing this vital discussion.
