Struggling to get employees to use Litify? Whitney Barnard, Kaufman Law Firm's Director of Marketing Operations Technology, shares her tips for engaging staff members to adopt Litify and the benefits you'll see because of it.

Watch the conversation, or read the highlights below.

Preparation is key when implementing new technology

Barnard says that Kaufman Law Firm has been more productive than ever while working remotely via Litify, but that implementing practice management software is never easy, and some resistance is natural. “Going from a server-based platform to a cloud-based platform is no small task. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of believing in yourself, a lot of believing in your staff, and not leaving them behind.”

To ease the transition, Barnard recommends beginning preparation and training at least three-to-six months prior to implementation. You should also observe employees using the technology early on, ask them for feedback (“We want staff to tell us what they hate about it”), and do a gap analysis to see where potential stumbling blocks lie. Then provide the processes and resources that employees need to succeed, such as guides and training portals.

“Incentivize them to complete those guides, and hold them accountable to being adaptive and growing,” Barnard says. “You have to be adaptive now. If you aren’t, you’re basically resisting everything that you know is reality.”

Once employees realize that the software makes them more efficient, they’ll buy in, and it will pay off. Kaufman Law Firm went remote essentially overnight, but “Nothing skipped a beat. There’s no component of your office that is not with you, and it’s all accessible, especially when you’re cloud-based. Everything is fully accessible and it’s such a good feeling. You just know that your staff is equipped and ready to work.”

“User interface walks hand in hand with client experience”

The data that Litify allows a law firm to identify which aspects of the business are suffering, and how to improve them. “You can’t solve your problems if you don’t know what they are. Most of the time they’re not surface-level, so data allows you to see all of that. It’s extremely unique and it’s something that you’re not going to get from any other platform. We’re able to see our client data, our case data, employee data on an extremely granular level. Without that, we wouldn’t be able to run efficiently or do our jobs effectively.”

While that efficiency certainly helps a firm’s bottom line, more importantly, it makes for a much better client experience. “User interface walks hand in hand with the client experience. So if your users in your office cannot execute their jobs properly, your clients are going to suffer.”

Barnard elaborates, “If our staff can be more efficient, then they have more time to spend with their clients. When we can regain this time that was lost, then our innovative technology allows us to bond and build relationships with our clients so that they can become advocates for our firm.”

Barnard has also used Litify to set up a system where every time Kaufman Law Firm signs a new client, they receive a postcard in the mail welcoming them to the firm. “You’ve got to make yourself physical in a world where that’s not entirely possible right now.”

Using technology to send snail mail may seem contradictory, but postcards, swag, and other small touches are a great way to stand out and show clients you care. “Do something that is not what everyone else is doing.”

“Our staff is way more productive from home”

Though some of the attorneys and staff at her firm weren’t totally sold on Litify prior to a few months ago, Barnard says, “When we went remote, the buy-in was 100%. Everybody knew that we needed to use our platforms in the same way, and that that was our means of communication, and our way of continuing success for the firm. And it’s been great because we’ve been able to see our whole process now that everyone is on board, and we’ve been able to see the things that we may need to change.”

The success the firm has reaped since going remote has erased any doubt or hesitation from employees. “When you show them how all of this is paying off in the long run, they take that and they run with it. It gives them motivation, and they want to keep doing more.”

They have been doing significantly more — Litify activity from staff has increased eightfold since the pandemic hit. The results are undeniable, so much so that Kaufman Law Firm will likely let employees work remotely well into the future. “Our staff is way more productive from home. I’m not going to take that away from them. They have more freedom to work and manage their schedules the way that they need to in order to be productive. When you see that kind of productivity, don’t shift. Give them the option.”

With the firm humming like never before, Barnard says, “I’m not going to say, ‘Now we’re going to go back to the old ways. We’re going to take this all down.’”

Don’t go back to the old ways, or fight the sea change that’s happening across the legal industry. Request a Litify demo to bring your firm into the 21st century.