Over the past two decades, outsourcing document processing departments has been normalized for law firms looking to reduce costs by minimizing administrative overhead. The concept makes sense but it’s not without its challenges. Things may start off smoothly, but before you know it, the plan can go sideways, and the promised subject-matter expertise and cost savings becomes a myth.
Common Challenges in Outsourced Document Processing
The Revolving Door
A significant concern for law firms is the high turnover within outsourced word processing teams. This turnover triggers a persistent training mode which can detract from the consistency and quality of the work produced.
Hit- or-Miss Quality
Service provider turnover at the team and company-wide level can lead to fluctuations in work quality whether you’re constantly exposing new provider employees to the firm or the provider is using a fluctuating trainer pool.
Diverse formatting, style, and accuracy issues can arise, which can have a negative implication for the firm in its quality of service to clients. Not only can poor work quality frustrate attorneys, but it can cause missed client deadlines and ultimately lead to a decrease in utilization of the outsourced service.
The Waiting Game
Often, law firms face delays in receiving completed work from outsourced services when they’re facing staffing challenges—either retention or skill set. These delays can result in senior staff correcting work doubling the time it should take, receiving unusable work product and having to spend more attorney-time re-explaining the task, or if the team is short-staffed they may delay beginning work on an attorney request.
During period of long waits, it is not uncommon for attorneys to (a) do the work themselves, (b) find an internal firm resource to handle the task, or (c) send out a less than ideal version of a document to meet a client deadline when the outsourced staff failed to meet their committed deadline.
Complex Invoicing
Difficult-to-decipher invoices can create confusion and take up time, detracting from the primary responsibilities of the firm personnel overseeing the outsourcing relationship.
Generic Solutions to Specific Problems
When problems are raised, outsourced providers may propose a generic solution of adding more staff, adding “another set of eyes” to documents, or assigning additional training rather than addressing the specific issues at hand.
Strategies for Improving Outsourced Document Processing
Analytical Staffing
By conducting a detailed analysis to understand the exact needs of the firm, law firms can optimize the staffing of their outsourced team for better efficiency and productivity. You’ll know you have the right staff to handle the firm’s work in the most efficient manner rather than an overly optimistic staffing model pitched to win your business.
Solid Contractual Agreements
Firms should look to forge detailed contracts, setting detailed SLAs around performance, turnover, management, and billing to keep outsourced providers accountable and provide incentive to live up to their commitments.
Ongoing Communication
Establishing a routine of consistent engagement with the service provider ensures issues are addressed timely and suitable resolutions are in place. Ideally, you’ll meet more than once a month to ensure that concerns from both the firm and provider are discussed.
In-Depth Reporting and Continuous Improvement
A demand for comprehensive reporting can afford greater transparency and help in monitoring the performance of the outsourcing service. Metrics are important, but you also need to ensure that the provider is reporting on turnover, training, and efficiency improvements or suggestions. It’s important to know what you’re looking at—your service provider should be reviewing these reports with you and answering questions about what the content of the report means.
Soliciting Feedback
Frequent surveys of attorney satisfaction can provide essential feedback to the service provider, leading to service improvements. The benchmark for feedback received in document processing departments is a less than ideal 10% of total work requests. Many firm staff don’t have the time or desire to spend time crafting constructive feedback to an outsourcing provider, but they do raise it internally. Passing along this feedback to the provider is critical to address concerns and keep firm utilization of outsourced services high.
Professional Yet Practical Outsourcing
Outsourcing has numerous benefits, but only if you do it right. Managing these services with a proactive, measured approach is key. This involves addressing issues with clarity and maintaining open communication channels. Such a strategy will help uphold the standards expected of legal service providers and ensure the firm’s needs are consistently met.
This can be a large undertaking for firms who are entering an outsourcing engagement for the first time or for those who are struggling with their current provider. Utilizing an experienced third party like Mattern who can provide assistance with analyzing firm needs, managing an RFP process, , and monitoring contractual adherence can give your firm peace of mind in obtaining the full benefits of outsourcing.