Small Tech That Makes a Big Difference
Over the past four years the NCBA Center for Practice Management blog “From the Center” has provided tips and tools that can help your firm with productivity and client service. Here are some of those that are small but mighty. You can adopt these tools into your practice without a huge investment or tech overhaul.
A Better Way to Find Time
Finding a mutually available time to meet with multiple busy people including clients, colleagues and other parties used to mean a lot of negotiation and multiple emails. Then tools like Doodle and FreeBusy came along to make scheduling much easier. Now users of Microsoft Office 365 can take advantage of a built-in polling tool called FindTime that integrates directly in the Outlook calendar for free!
Better Search for Your Computer
A full text search engine will increase the efficiency of a simple DIY file management system and there are a number of fairly low-cost tools available. Increasingly a law firm’s information is spread out on hard drives, cloud servers, local servers, external drives and elsewhere. Those with Windows 10 operating systems will find an effective search tool built into the system. The search is fast and efficient, but somewhat limited in the types of files it will index. For instance, it will not create a full text index of WordPerfect document files. Mac users have Spotlight built in for search, though other search tools like QuickSilver add functionality. But what if you want to search everything, everywhere all at once? Is it too much to ask for a search that quickly finds email, files stored locally and, on the cloud, in a variety of file types?
E-Signing with Adobe Acrobat DC
Requesting (or applying) an electronic signature is a great way to reduce reliance on paper, toner, and postage. It can help speed up acquiring signatures on documents like engagement agreements, contracts, and closing letters. The market is full of technology tools to make sending, signing, receiving and tracking electronic signatures easy, including RightSignature, Docusign, HelloSign, and Zoho Sign. Some of these tools are built into subscriptions you already have, like Adobe Acrobat DC. Are you taking advantage of all these tools have to offer?
Bring the News to You: Feedly
Do you try to remember to visit a blog or your favorite news website but you get distracted? Do you subscribe to email newsletters that sit in your inbox until you delete them or forget about them? Do you wish you had a way to have curated content come to you where you can check it in the morning and then move on? You can with a feed reader! Many people used Google Reader but then it disappeared like the Dodo. But feed readers are alive and well and are great for keeping up with your practice areas and interests.
Killing Time or Billing Time?
Starting and stopping a stopwatch is tedious. Sometimes you forget. There are many applications on the market that promise to help by sitting in the background on your computer and capturing your activity so that you can review it and turn it into a billable record. Some of these products have been on the market for some time, others are new and leverage machine learning to attempt to match your activity to the client/matter through keyword recognition and tagging.
Task Management with Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is a task management tool that comes with Office 365. It is based on the Wunderlist platform, which Microsoft bought in June 2015. Like all of Office 365, it works in the browser and has apps for desktop and mobile devices. You can create tasks, with rich context including deadlines, reminders, sub-tasks, notes, and files. You can create tasks for yourself or assign them to your team. To Do has “Smart Lists” and suggestions based on tasks and flagged emails from other applications across Office 365, including OneNote, Planner, and Outlook. To see all of your tasks in one place from across Office 365 or to help manage a remote workforce, you should check out Microsoft To Do.
Make Appointments Easy: Meeting Scheduling Tools
If scheduling meetings requires that you or someone else in your firm must go back and forth via email or phone calls to negotiation availability, consider using an automated scheduling tool. Whether initial consultations, client meetings, or other appointments, you can make it easy for someone to book time on your calendar – without having to go through you or your support team. It is vital that you are using and on top of an electronic calendar such as Outlook or Google calendar for these types of tools to be effective. Could this work for your firm?
Email Marketing with Mailchimp
Recently a blog post from Hubspot “A Content Marketing Playbook for Times of Crisis” noted that email open rates were 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels. As a communication and marketing tool email is effective, easy to use, and inexpensive. There are many email marketing platforms, and Mailchimp is one of the most popular. If you are looking for a way to send CAN-SPAM compliant email marketing messages, Mailchimp is easy to use and has many great features.
CPM Question of the Month: July 2020
Q: I need an app on my iPhone that converts images (such as photos I take of filed documents in the courthouse) into a PDF. Do you have any suggestions?
A: You may already have something on your phone to do that.
Microsoft OneNote: Your Electronic Trapper Keeper
Law firms have used Microsoft OneNote to help corral firm information both in litigation and in transactional practices. The product is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, but rumors of the demise of the software and other issues may have scared lawyers off from exploring it as an option. Learn the latest on the product and how law firms can use it in their practice to organize and access information.
Microsoft 365 Power Automate
Microsoft 365 users have access to Power Automate (f/k/a Flow) to create automated workflows that can save you time and help with efficiency and productivity in your firm, company or organization. They work with the Microsoft 365 applications, as well as many other applications outside of the Microsoft ecosystem. Once you get the hang of creating “flows” you can start getting creative with building custom automation.
A Survey Tool for Gathering Client Information
Do you want a way to gather information from clients easily and securely? Sending an MS Word document requires that the client has the appropriate software to fill it out and can be frustrating. PDF forms are often hard to create and clunky. JotForm is a secure, easy, and functional tool that lets you convert existing forms into surveys that let you gather information, documents, get esignatures and more.
Power in Your Palm: Microsoft Outlook and Office Apps
If you are a Microsoft 365 user then getting the Outlook and Office app on your smart phone is an easy decision. Built for what you need from your small screen, these apps provide an amazing amount of functionality, including scanning, signatures, managing your calendar and far more.
SimplyFile Add-on for MS Outlook
If you are a Microsoft Outlook user and you have dozens and dozens of folders to help keep your inbox clean and your emails organized you know that moving those emails to the appropriate folder can be quite the task, especially if you have nested folders. SimplyFile from TechHit can help by “learning” your folder structure and suggesting the correct folder to store an email or a batch of emails. There are additional features, like creating email folders from a spreadsheet and filing sent messages (no more BCCing yourself). The product is not flawless, but it can certainly help you keep your inbox manageable.
Stop Emailing Attachments
Every day you probably attach a document (or two) to an email, send it and move along. However, there are a lot of options for sending documents electronically that are far better than attachments. Most law firms have several products designed to securely send documents, collaborate, review, and collect information. Before you reflexively attach a document to an email, think about the intended use of the information and ask if there is a better way.
MS Planner: Simple Project Management Tool
If you have explored tools to create task lists, with assignments and deadlines, you know that there are a whole lot of options on the market. If you are curious if a project management tool would help your firm stay on top of multiple matters from a task-based perspective, as well as monitor your team’s progress without micro-management, consider starting with an app you already have if you are a Microsoft 365 business plan subscriber – Planner. Microsoft Planner is more robust for managing a group than MS To-Do and can be incorporated into Teams and SharePoint.
Are There Alternatives to Email?
Are you overwhelmed with the back and forth of email, including managing it (filtering, storing, searching)? While we may not be getting rid of email any time soon, there are other tools that can reduce your reliance on email for electronic communications and help reduce the number of emails you send and receive.
Requesting Files from Clients (Without Email)
There are many times you need to ask that your clients send you files. Most everyone knows how to attach files and send via email, but is there a better way? Are there a lot of files? Large files? Do the files hold sensitive information like bank records, taxes, or insurance claims? There are many ways to securely request files that will make it easier and more secure for you and your clients. And you probably have the tools to do so already!
Quick Parts: The Good, the Bad, and the Alternative
Microsoft Word and Outlook have a feature called “Quick Parts”. You can save selected text into a library and insert it into emails and documents. It works well with MS Word templates as a clause library to select and reuse text and images. Quick Parts are powerful and can save a lot of time. However, there are some issues with Quick Parts. You cannot easily share them among multiple users, and they are stored on individual devices. The good news is there are viable alternatives to consider.
Legal Writing: Practice (and a Few Tools) Makes Perfect
No matter how often you write there is always room for improvement. Correct word choice, sentence structure, and impeccable grammar are requirements. Structure, flow, meaning, and intent are vital to cognition. Your writing should be clear and unambiguous. There are tips and tools to help you write more effectively.