In recent years, digital transformation has become a key strategic lever for companies. Many departments (marketing, purchasing, etc.) have already taken the plunge, and now it’s the turn of the legal profession to embark on this process. The benefits promised to legal professionals are numerous: simplification of work processes, time and productivity savings, improved collaboration between departments, etc. But even if the benefits are certain, there are still obstacles to overcome. How can you successfully support your legal department in managing digital change? Find out in this article.
A desire to transform
According to a study by Cercle Montesquieu, 2019 was the year of the switch to artificial intelligence for legal departments. 2020 is set to follow suit. By next year, digitalization intentions will have doubled compared to 2019. The importance of digital transformation has been proven, even for the legal sector.
With the rise of legaltech, legal departments are being encouraged and supported in their digital transition. This transition must not be a matter of subjection. Legal professionals need to be the driving force behind it, in order to drive it forward in their departments and keep control of it.
Take matters into your own hands, rather than having them imposed on you.
Individual transformation, the first stage of digital transformation
Digital transformation implies transforming everything. Undertaking this project means accepting a profound change in your organization and the way you operate. The cornerstone of this process is your staff, who are both initiators and players in this project. Involving your internal resources from the outset of your digitalization project is therefore one of the key factors in its success. Your project has to make sense, and respond to the challenges faced by your business teams.
Channel their aspirations into a transformation that responds to concrete issues with a precise objective. To keep your initiative on track, it’s important to keep in mind the objectives raised by your internal teams. And this throughout your project.
Dealing with internal resistance
To succeed, you need to accept the obstacles. Digital transformation isn’t a matter of course for everyone, and some people will be wary of it. Be aware right now of the efforts you’ll have to make to unite people around your project.
Some will be afraid of the risk involved. Your company may have already implemented technology projects that failed, and the memory of these failures may be held against you. Reassure your teams that organizational change necessarily involves risk-taking, but when it’s supervised, everything runs smoothly. That’s the advantage of past failures: they prevent you from repeating the same mistakes.
Technological distrust is also one of the most common objections to digitalization. Accepting digitalization means opening Pandora’s box for techno-skeptics: “but how far will the automation of my business go?” Here again, you need to reassure them. Start by asking them about the incidence of human error in their organization. If this is a major issue, show them what’s really at stake with digitization.
By its very nature, manual processing of legal documents is risky, due to the sheer volume of documents and the time-consuming nature of contract management. With the adoption of a tool, you will be able to secure the human decision and consequently limit these errors.
Finally, think about building a consensus with your teams. Apart from the most distrustful, everyone will have their own digital experience and will want to do things their own way. Draw up a roadmap with your priorities and objectives, to stay on course and avoid spreading yourself too thin. This will also make it easier for you to choose. If you stick to what you’ve set out to do, all you have to do is select the solution that best meets your criteria.
Obstacles to overcome in implementing your digital transition
After internal distrust, it will also be necessary to overcome the obstacles associated with setting up a technological project.
Generally speaking, the first obstacle is budget. Deploying a solution in-house implies a budgetary envelope, and few companies provide their legal teams with a dedicated budget for digitization.
To negotiate a budget, you need to study the overall economics of the project and its benefits for the company as a whole. Make sure that all stakeholders are involved. The legal department is a department at the service of the company’s other departments (purchasing, finance, sales, etc.), which is why they must be included in the project. The benefits must be appreciated and assimilated by operational staff, so that they become sponsors of the project. The more people involved in a project, the easier it is to sell it to management.
The second hurdle that project owners may face is that of use. There’s a distinction to be made between the idea and the realization. In all projects, there is a natural resistance to the use of technologies… Even once adopted and implemented, there are sometimes difficulties in getting your organization on board. And what’s the point of buying software, deploying it and not using it? None at all.
Successfully setting up your project: our advice
How can you overcome these obstacles and make a success of your digitalization project?
→ Map your teams’ needs
The aim is not to digitize the legal department to bring it into line with the company’s other departments, but to respond to concrete difficulties. Identify the pain points of your legal and operational staff before choosing your solution.
→ Adopt a “small steps” strategy
The key word in your digitalization project is patience. It’s a long-term project, and you have to accept that you won’t see results immediately.
On average, the benefits are visible 24 months after the tool is installed, according to BengS.
→ Identify project ambassadors
The success of your project depends on your teams. To run your project, you need sponsors and “early birds”. These are the people who will support the project, act as its ambassadors and promote it internally. They represent between 10% and 15% of the population, according to BengS.
Identify them quickly, so they can get the rest of your staff on board. By onboarding as many people as possible, you can ensure the long-term success of your project.
Appointing a digital project manager also helps ensure success. This mission, which may already exist in your company, requires time and investment. This person will be in charge of setting up the project, running workshops to help people get to grips with the tool, and ensuring that it is used properly.
→ Interacting with legaltech
Legaltech is there to help you get started. If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, don’t hesitate to call on them, as they have the expertise to set up a project and will be able to point you in the right direction.
→ Communicating successes internally
Make the most of your team! The legal team isn’t just a cost center. Highlight your business successes and digital challenges. Prove to the whole company that you’re capable of renewing yourself and adapting to new market needs.
Digital transformation: an opportunity for legal professionals to become architects and builders of their function
Lawyers are fortunate in that they are not the first to embark on these digital projects. Other departments, such as marketing for example, have been doing it before them, and have been for some ten years now. They can therefore draw on best practices and exclude those that have failed, to ensure the success of their digitalization.
Legal departments are the architects of their function, in charge of future projects and their synergy with the rest of the company. By spearheading this project, which will simplify the day-to-day work of your operational staff and save you time and productivity, you are making yourself indispensable to your superiors.
The digitization of the legal department should be seen as an opportunity and a genuine competitive advantage. It enables the lawyer to establish his strategic position as a business partner.
Become a player in digital transformation with our downloadable guide to overcoming resistance to change :
