Case Studies - Technology Strategy
| We now have a client who has stopped wasting money |
Business Challenges
The World of Solicitors is undergoing rapid and radical change. Clients are demanding higher levels of service for lower prices. While Government and regulatory bodies seek to impose increasing restraints and reporting requirements on Firms.
Our client in attempting to reduce operating costs while improving service, without a plan, had implemented a variety of individual technology projects culminating in a document management system. This system not only failed to deliver the promised benefits but in fact caused more work for the already overstretched workforce.
Our Approach
We adopted a two-pronged approach. First we needed to provide short-term plans that would stop the deterioration in performance and halt the flow of money being spent to try to correct problems. In parallel we set about producing an Information Technology Plan that our clients could use to guide their future decisions on projects and products.
A single day with a couple of key staff was sufficient for us to understand what the major issues were, what systems and processes were in place, what the strengths and weaknesses of the various systems and departments were and where to focus the major efforts.
Two days later the client had a brief written report explaining what should be done with the existing systems and how. This was accompanied by a request for a meeting with all the partners and responsible staff to discuss the current state of the business, its key objectives, how progress towards them was being measured and which areas would benefit most from new technology. In short the meeting was to develop a business plan and identify the priorities for IT.
Following that meeting we documented the agreed business approach and technology requirements and then embarked on a limited amount of research to ensure we had real facts on which to base our final recommendations.
| reduce overheads by almost 40% while improving the quality of services to clients |
The Result
Our final report was delivered in the form of a presentation with detailed notes.
This confirmed what the immediate projects should be, as well as describing a long-term technology strategy that supported the business objectives. The presentation included budgetary costing as well as potential savings. We also included in the package a high-level project plan and a set of criteria by which the success of the various stages could be measured.
We now have a client who has stopped wasting money and is part way through implementing a strategy that will reduce overheads by almost 40% while improving the quality of services to clients.
