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Hi, Finance – March 2021
“I don’t understand why my firm is profitable and yet we always seem to be up against it with the Bank. We don’t want to be putting in more capital this year so what can we do now to get a grip on this?” Ultimately all a firm’s cash is generated from its fee income in...
WhatsApp privacy – Cause for concern?
The messaging app WhatsApp has recently hit the headlines due to privacy concerns, that have come about due to a recent change in its terms of service. Should this present a concern for law firms, however?
M&A in the legal sector. Are you Ambitious or Impacted?
David Sparkes is back with new venture Millbourn Ross and turning his attention to the M&A market within legal. In this guest blog he shares some of the insights from recent research and introduces his ‘five cohorts’. The question is, which one are you?...
Playing with a straight bat
I had a call from a contact at a managed service provider (MSP) the other week. They had just lost a long-standing client to a competitor and were in a bit of a dilemma. Their customer had engaged a consultant to undertake a review and a competitive proposal process....
Why your practice needs a CRM System now more than ever
Firms are still hesitating to embrace digital and have used many excuses to avoid implementing a new CRM. Here are our 4 top reasons why you need to implement CRM now:
Stick or twist?
Are our current systems future-proof?
Well as nobody can fully predict the future there is no definition of a future-proof system, despite what some vendors might claim.
Why a virtual or part-time finance director makes sense
Over the last 20 years or so, a steady revolution has been taking place in the employment market, which has led to fewer firms employing full-time specialists to lead their business support roles.
An acceleration of the inevitable?
I sit here and gaze out into my back garden through the study window, watching the bright blue-sky fade on what has been a glorious warm spring day. In my small study, I have been tapping away at my keyboard catching up on all manner of work across a myriad of...
GDPR – Are You Late to the Third-Party?
As we see an ever-increasing stream of high-profile data breaches and regulatory fines Sean O’Brien, Director DVV Solutions, takes a look at one of the most common weak links in law firms’ data security and GDPR compliance programs – the risks posed by third parties and suppliers.
Legal IT Outlook
The following article is based on an interview I did for Extech Cloud back in August 2019. In this COVID-19 world it strikes me even more that the barriers of not wanting to change the status quo, feeling that staff need to be controlled and the fear of change have...
The lean, mean – but not so green – IT machine
In 2017 Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet brought the challenge of our use of plastics to mainstream conscientiousness. Whilst most people were aware that use of one-use plastic was bad it was only the visualisation of the problems which caused a wide-spread desire...
Am I Missing Something? What Support Is the Government Giving to Law Firms?
There are several strands in the Government’s support to business. They are looking to reduce business overheads and staff costs and to make available sufficient funds to keep businesses liquid. These schemes will affect law firms in different ways. The list below...
Six things to have on your radar in 2020
Sure, we all want to be ahead of the pack and it is easy to chase the latest fads and glitzy products. But you really need to have the basics in place first.
Calico Legal Solutions Group
Last year we joined the Calico Legal Solutions Group and we just wanted to update you on the progress of the group and to ensure you are taking advantage of what it has to offer. Calico was set up by well-known legal consultant Pauline Freegard in a bid to give law...
Radcliffe Chambers
With the chambers having doubled in size in five years and keen to keep operations tight and professional, we were invited in initially to review and advise on security and encryption measures.
Stranger on a train
You’ve read the articles, you’ve sat in the seminars, so you know how it goes. We’re talking cyber security and you know what’s coming…
The Strategy Challenge – Part 1
In the first of a two-part article David Baskerville explores the challenges around making technology central to the strategic management of law firms.
Feeling Like a User
IT professionals often lament that users of solutions do not take training seriously nor invest adequate time into learning how to get the best out of solutions provided. Last week I had a stark reminder of what it feels like to be on the other side of this debate. I...
The Strategy Challenge – Part 2
It is all very well to accept the imperative of change in the abstract – but to what extent is it embraced in practice? Doing instead of talking?
Cyber Awareness
It has to be accepted that human behaviour is the biggest risk to a firm’s security but it should also be recognised that staff members are now under a constant attack from organised cyber criminals and therefore need education and protection from social engineering hacking.
The Virtual IT Director versus a Permanent Employee
A ‘virtual’ IT Director is someone who is there for you as and when required without the need to hire someone into this position as a full-time employee with all of the associated costs. They can work for you as needed whether a few days a month, more regularly or simply on an ad-hoc basis. They could work fully on-site or sometimes remotely, whichever suits your organisation.
Presenting a Business Case for Increased IT Spend
My previous article “Law Firm IT Spend – Getting it Right”, gave an overview of achieving the right level of IT spend by considering typical spending levels, discussing how to capture and analyse your current spend and giving suggestions for dealing with over-spend....
Beware of what’s in the Barrel
I was recently invited to speak at The Law Society’s Law Management Section conference. My topic was “Getting value from IT investments”. Quantifying the return on investment from IT projects is a minefield many of us have tried to address, but while those efforts are...
Law Firm IT Spend – Getting it Right
Having a strong IT capability is critical to all organisations, now more than ever. But like any budget category, you don’t want to overspend, and you need to invest effectively. For law firms, IT spend is likely to be the third largest expenditure category behind...
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