Optimizing your legal service request process can bring many benefits, including invaluable data for businesses strategically organizing their requests into a centralized, accessible location. These advantages include the following:
- Creation of a critical information hub for service requests, accessible to departments that need them
- Streamlined intake services, resulting in more efficient information gathering
- Increased visibility throughout the contracting process, which leads to enhanced communication
- Improved flexibility when working with collaborators with varying technologies
- Develop readily available data repositories related to key performance indicators (KPIs) available for analysis
You can benefit from these advantages if your company still needs to optimize its legal service processes. Read on to learn how to optimize your legal service request process in five simple steps.
Optimize your legal service request process in five steps
A user within your system can make a legal service request to initiate a service action, like a customer complaint or a request for information. However, the efficiency of your processes may be lacking, especially if you haven't optimized your system or checked the process in the last year. Success in your legal service request process depends upon thoughtfully designed procedures, which are mechanized via automation and tracking tools to increase your organization's efficiency. For optimal results, you should check your processes' optimization regularly to ensure efficiency.
Your service request process may have been previously optimized — or not — but that's no guarantee of its current status. You can ensure the optimization of your process in these five easy steps:
1. Invest in legal task management software to centralize requests
Legal request task management software can help your business organize requests in a centralized location. Using software can help your legal department maintain organization and transparency. They can access the exact information they need quickly and easily, utilizing intuitive search functions to filter through past service requests.
A specialized task management software compiling your legal team's necessary data is a better receptacle of critical information than email communications or other methods organizations previously used to communicate a request.
Investing in contract lifecycle management legal software like digital workflow apps can help improve your employee workflows and overall business efficiency. Legal departments benefit from the intelligent workflow that can help them identify compliance issues for their clients.
2. Streamline intake processes to make gathering required information easy
Streamlining your intake processes creates a well-structured system that simplifies the request-making process. The intake process is a critical component of information gathering. An intelligent process will take the data from the intake process and organize the information systematically in a centralized location.
These operations can significantly simplify the information gathering required for each legal service request. With more complete and easily accessible data on file, your legal department can act as a strategic business partner — offering data-driven decisions concerning existing and future clients.
3. Increase visibility throughout the contracting process
Greater visibility leads to enhanced data sharing, better-informed decision-making, increased collaboration, and faster communication. Increasing visibility in the contracting process can speed up the rate at which projects finish.
The increased visibility can come in a variety of ways, including:
- Statuses show the current position of a project or task.
- Activity logs provide other team members insight into potential issues involved in a task.
- Document updates also provide the team with critical information for performing related tasks while a legal service request is in process.
Increased visibility among these processes results in improved efficiency throughout your company. The more you can maximize visibility throughout the contracting process, the better results you will likely enjoy.
4. Meet your stakeholders where they are with integrations
Some of your stakeholders are likely at a different integration stage with their legal service requests. When your integrations are on target, you can work with your stakeholders' tools and processes without sacrificing your own.
Minimal change management promotes the concept of implementing only carefully validated changes to reduce unnecessary risks. By implementing legal service request software while adhering to minimal change management, your organization will have the flexibility to shift between your high-end integrations and those still on the integration pathway. You will be able to fit in with your stakeholders' tools and processes to support their needs while utilizing the efficiencies developed within your company's legal department.
Your stakeholders will appreciate your ability to accommodate their technological needs while sharing the benefits of your advanced system.
5. Track and report on key metrics and KPIs
When your legal service request process is fully optimized, you will have a vast resource of data available. The critical issue is understanding your tracking and reporting processes so you can fine-tune them to deliver the data needed to make informed decisions.
Your optimization plans should include ensuring the key metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) recorded are the complete KPIs your organization requires. Otherwise, you should alter your data collection process to ensure the collection of the necessary information.
Next, report a project's performance and accurately communicate it to the departments and stakeholders within the business who need the data. Transparent communication within the organization is critical to reap the most benefits from the integration.
Improve legal service delivery with the help of legal technology
You can optimize your legal service requests by following these five steps while maximizing the benefits to your legal department and the rest of your organization. However, for companies too busy to handle these procedures themselves, a professional company focused on improving department service requests can help you quickly complete this process.
Even if your legal service request process was optimized within the last several years, regularly revisiting the process can help you tighten any loose ends contributing to inefficiencies. To accomplish this, departments should push for contract management optimization.
Lexion provides professional contract management services for legal departments that can increase efficiency, transparency, and data location. If you want to optimize your legal service request system, Lexion can help you speed up your contract review procedures with task management processes. Lexion carefully tailers these processes to support your in-house counsel. Get a free demo to understand how Lexion can help you accelerate sales and organize your legal service requests. Begin your journey to optimizing your legal service request process today.
