How to choose your first practice management system
Poorly chosen systems can have catastrophic effects on the running of your business and are not easy to fix, explains Damian Blackburn
In my last practice note, I wrote about practice management systems (PMS) for mid-sized firms but, if you are a small firm or a start up, you may not have thought about how important a PMS is, or how to go about selecting one that fits your needs.
A PMS is likely to be core to running your business, and getting the right one is extremely important, not only for the immediate timeframe, but also because the expense and upheaval of changing it once it’s in is disproportionately high.
There is no shortage of choice as there are a good number of PMS products out there for small firms. You can narrow the choice down initially to those systems that run on-premises, and those that are cloud-based. I would not advocate an on- premises system for numerous reasons, so the remainder of this article will focus on what to look for in a cloud-based system.
Before you look at what’s on offer, take a mental journey through your day-to-day activities and the part the software will play. This should take you from client inception to billing and beyond. Think about how the processes should work – that is, the way you want them to work – and document them. Give particular thought to the processes you have found wanting previously and earmark them for improvement. The table below outlines the basic general features that are going to form the bedrock of your practice:
Table 1: General features
|
Client and matter inception
| This should be comprehensive (including anti-money laundering (AML) and risk management processes) and intuitive and easy to use. |
| Time recording | This may include clocks (in single or multiple form) and should ideally align with Jackson codes if you are practising litigation. |
| Document management | This splits into two: documents and emails. Make sure both work well. Document storage can be within the product or via a third-party product. |
| Disbursement recording | To enable accurate accounting and billing of disbursement expenses. |
| Billing | This needs to reflect the way you want to bill your clients. It should include fixed-price work and be flexible enough to allow the editing of bills. |
| Reporting | Very few reports are needed to run a successful firm, so concentrate on the ones you identify as a must and look for the ability to derive other ad-hoc reports as you need them. |
| Templates and forms | Being able to fire up a template or form, pre-populated with information from the PMS, will save time and is always a good investment. |
| Accessibility | By choosing a cloud-based system, you will benefit from being able to access it from pretty much anywhere. For those who work from home, this is a must. Make sure you can access it across a range of devices. |
When you have worked out the basic needs out, look at other factors which will make a difference. These will vary from firm to firm, but some of the more important ones are set out in the table below:
Table 2: Factors to consider
| Data jurisdiction | Is the data held within the EU? If not, are you happy with it being where it is? |
| Customer relationship management (CRM) | Necessary if you want to run marketing campaigns, sales pipeline information, and events, etc. |
| Workflow | If you are planning to automate processes, look for built-in workflow capability. |
| Integration with Outlook | Most lawyers use Outlook as their main tool, so if the PMS integrates with it this should improve efficiency. |
| Links to AML | An automated link to AML checkers when adding new clients saves time. |
| Dashboard | This is useful for at a glance to-do lists and business information. |
| Connectivity to other applications | For example, accounting systems, to streamline billing reduce interaction with your accountants. |
| Client account | Some firms run without them, but if it’s a must make sure you are comfortable with how it works. |
Working your requirements out beforehand will give you a huge advantage when it comes to looking at systems. If you have time, check with friendly firms as to what system they use, what they really think of it, and, critically, how reliable the product and the support has been. The impact of system downtime on a small firm can be catastrophic, and software vendors do not publish meaningful reliability statistics.
Last, consider your business plan, and in particular how you plan for growth. Make sure that the system you are going to buy into supports that plan. A PMS is a key component in a successful small firm. Taking time to find the right one for your business should allow it to help you flourish, rather than hold you back later. SJ
Damian Blackburn is director of legal IT consultancy firm SLFtech