As we enter the final weeks of summer, that can mean only one thing – it is time for the National ILTACON technology conference in a very hot location. This year’s conference at the Gaylord in the Washington D.C. area promises to send attendees scurrying for the “cool” technology of indoor air conditioning.
As law firms continue to strive to do more with less, technology drives greater process efficiencies and cost-saving initiatives. Security and compliance mandates have substantially ramped up firms’ information governance needs, bringing these solutions to the forefront for many firms shopping for best-of-breed technology at the conference.
These providers are on the front-lines with digital conversion, document hosting, and other workflow solutions aimed at less paper, “official” electronic records, and the ability to manage both paper and electronic within a single technology ecosystem. The quest to manage both paper and electronic records in a single or integrated system, coupled with the desire to confidently declare compliance with internal policies continues to elude many firms.
Additionally, we look forward to the continued exploration of data hosting and the accompanying cyber-security concerns that it presents to firms and their clients. This continues to be an increasing area of spend for law firms, whether for internal systems or the push to go with the 3rd party providers for which it is a core competency. Considering the additional layer of cost avoidance and recovery, it will be interesting to see how these products and providers go about positioning themselves in the marketplace.
The recovery of these costs as well as recovery for scanning and print continues to be a robust source of revenue for firms across the industry. Mattern & Associates conducts the biannual Cost Recovery Survey examining industry practices in this area, and the 2016 results are in. Click here if you’d like to request an overview of this year’s Survey results to assist your firm in wrapping recovery strategy into your purchasing decisions.
As always, we will catch up with the traditional outsourcing providers for on-site services, and see how they are weaving the latest technology into their day-to-day offerings. It should prove to be an exciting few days at the end of August, and we will report back with the latest and greatest from what we uncover.
