Assessing Technology

If You Don't Train, Don't Bother Upgrading

You can spend lots of money on new technology, but it's wasted without an investment in training.

By Elizabeth Brown

LAW FIRMS face the continuing challenge of controlling costs and reducing staff workloads while still maintaining quality and accuracy under deadline pressures. Law office technology helps, but expanding or upgrading systems is an expensive, futile endeavor if employees don't know how to use the technology to its maximum capabilities.

Before moving forward with a commitment to office technology, it's wise to create a written plan so that everyone involved in decision-making and management of the technology has a clear understanding of what's expected.

Five questions the plan needs to address are:

1. What are our goals and objectives (short-term and long-term)?

2. How much money will be allocated (for hardware, software, technology staff, employee training, upgrades, repair)?

3. Who will be in charge (current or new employee, outside consultant)?

4. What will be needed (hardware, operating system, software, security, customization, documentation)?

5. What training will be needed (for whom, by whom, how often, what method)?

Even if a firm has an information technology professional on staff, consider meeting with an independent computer consultant who has a track record of working with law firms. The consultant not only can provide an objective viewpoint, but his or her experiences with other firms may help your firm avoid trial and error, saving considerable time, money and frustration.

Training

Today, most people know how to use a computer, albeit with varying levels of ability. But even the most adept user needs some training, with continual upgrading of operating systems and software programs, the customization required by law firms, and the fact that law firms share digital files with clients and others who may not use the same platforms and programs as the firm.

Several types of training programs are available, including correspondence schools, software tutorials, off-site computer courses, on-site instruction, one-on-one sessions and group classes. Forget correspondence schools and tutorials. Ask busy people to self-educate and it won't happen. Even if they are motivated to study, each person learns at a different rate and skill level. Then, as a unit, they won't be able to work cooperatively and compatibly within the office.

Off-site and on-site instruction are both viable methods. However, be sure off-site courses are geared specifically to what your employees need to learn. Unless an off-site program is designed for your firm, they tend to be generic, establishing a common denominator in order to reach students from a variety of companies, jobs and skill levels. Generic courses can be a waste of time and money for law firms if employees aren't trained in tasks specific to their individual jobs. Most employees will not willingly go to off-site classes on their off-hours.

In many cases, the best training involves customized, on-site, hands-on sessions held in a training room away from employees' workstations. Session should group employees by department, job function, or skills needed so they learn the same information at the same time. Sessions should be no more than three hours long so they don't overly disrupt work schedules, overwhelm employees with too much information at one time, or bore them. (Keeping interest high is key to understanding and retention.)

At the end of each on-site session, employees go back to work and immediately apply what they've just learned. They soon find they're helping each other learn and fine-tune their skills. Positive reinforcement at the highest level.

Choosing Vendors

When searching for a training company, do your homework before signing a contract. One prevailing complaint among law firms is that some training companies pretend to listen to a firm's needs and concerns, but actually have their own agenda. It's "yes, yes, yes" to get you to sign on the dotted line; then it's on to the same training methodology they use at all other types of businesses.

To find a trainer, do your homework:

1. Ask other law firms for referrals.

2. Query your employees who came from other firms. (They may have had training and can make valuable recommendations).

3. Be sure the training company has worked with law firms and understands their dynamics and culture.

4. Look for a training company that's 100 percent responsive to your firm's needs and procedures, is flexible in scheduling, and is willing to create a customized curriculum and materials.

5. Be certain the company will work in cooperation with your technical staff member who will be involved in planning and scheduling and may do some of the training.

6. Select a company that advocates a long-term relationship (consistency of training style, methodology, expertise and personality is vital to success).

7. Look for a company with depth in its instructor ranks (to provide your firm with a broad base of expertise and be able to replace an instructor if scheduling, ability, training style or personality isn't a good fit).

8. Be sure the company will be available after the initial training for support, additional training, and consultation.

9. Ask for references, and check them out.

Involve Staff

Involve your entire staff in the decisions about what training to offer and how to schedule the sessions. Employees are often ambivalent or hesitant, and may even feel scared or threatened, when they are required to attend on-the-job training. They'll have a much higher comfort level (and take "ownership" of the training program) if they believe their concerns are important to the firm. The best way to gather this information is to develop a questionnaire, with the trainers, and analyze the responses.

Software training is a must at all levels of a law firm. However, it's advisable to train attorneys separately from the support staff and, if possible, schedule one-on-one sessions. Not only do attorneys have little time to devote to training, but their needs are different than those of the support staff. Typically, they want to learn word processing, e-mail and computer faxing for communicating and file sharing, and the Internet for research. Because attorneys frequently are out of the office, training in the nuances of mobile computing is important.

Support Staff

Conversely, the support staff requires more in-depth knowledge of software applications (word processing, spread sheet, presentations and e-mail), as well as networking and the Internet. Once they have the basics under their belts, they usually are hungry to learn more advanced programs and customized documentation.

Keeping up with ever-advancing technology isn't easy. Nor is it inexpensive. However, computers free workers from tedious, repetitive, time-consuming tasks and allow them to produce and share information faster and more easily. Computers enable personnel to do more work in a day, meet crunch deadlines and generally perform higher level, more complex jobs.

Elizabeth W. Brown is founder and president of Softeach, Inc., a software training and consulting firm based in Newton, Mass.