Businesses are expanding rapidly as we travel further into the 21st century – and technology is racing past them. Technological advances have enabled businesses big and small to revolutionize the way in which they work; CEOs reported that their transition to superior technological industry alternatives, such as legal tech advancements such as data security, happened 25 times quicker than expected. So what is legal tech, and why is it crucial for your business?
What Do We Mean by ‘Legal Tech’?
‘Legal tech’ refers specifically to technologically-minded solutions for the legal sector – inventions, programs, processes, and services on tech platforms that enable lawyers and law firms alike to streamline their processes – either freeing up time for other, more involved tasks or removing the human error element from routine tasks. Legal tech is a rapidly growing industry, with sophisticated legal tech solutions available for firms and businesses big and small. But what can legal tech offer your business?
Workflow and Automation
The major advantage of current legal tech is the improvements it can make to the workflow of your business. If a fair amount of man-hours are taken up by routine and repetitive tasks including requests, requisitions, and certain reports, you can utilize automation systems to carry out those tasks on your employees’ behalf. Advances in AI and machine learning mean that AI systems can also digest, large amounts of data, and present reports to you in a fraction of the time a team might take to do the same.
Allowing systems to take over the duller tasks usually reserved for junior members of your team enables you to train them in more involved and complicated aspects of your business, ultimately meaning more hands on deck for the meat of your business’ trade – improving personal performance, business performance and morale in one.
Another use of AI is in chatbot systems, which can handle routine customer-facing online interactions on your behalf. This prevents you from requiring as many personnel to staff customer-facing channels, whether support helplines, complaints tickets or even sales inquiries. The chatbot will alert the relevant team when a more complex human action is required, saving more valuable man-hours and enabling you and your team to focus on growth.
Digitisation and Security
Making use of legal tech also enables you to safely ditch the paperwork, and host all of your pertinent documents in cloud-based applications which can similarly sort and review documentation on your behalf. This cloud-based technology allows easy access to important information by everyone involved, and also allows you to conduct business wherever you are.
With major advancements in decentralized blockchain technology enabling the creation of Distributed Ledger Technology, sensitive contracts and documents can be accessed, shared, and stored in safer ways than ever before. These advancements are revolutionary for contracts and the storage of sensitive business information; contracts can be signed, validated, and stored globally, instantly. As the World heads towards a new digital age, adopting legal tech will be more crucial than ever.
