Now that most mask mandates and mandatory quarantines have been lifted, law firms are increasingly being faced with decisions regarding employee flexibility. Those that adapt and change to thrive in the new environment will likely reap the benefits of engaged flexible employees, while those that go back to the old ways might be left with a less productive and engaged workforce.

A siege mentality has long pervaded attempts to secure IT networks, encrypt data, and control access to a law firm’s sensitive information. That thinking tracked along medieval concepts of securing a fortress using thicker walls, stronger gates, and deeper moats. If you remained inside the walls, then you were protected, but if you ventured out then risks spiked, and all protection was lost.

One of the most important and many times the most overlooked aspects of a law firm is the technology and applications that it owns. While sufficient cybersecurity measures will be beneficial to your firm in the long run, ultimately, it is having the proper tools in place for your employees that will help guide your firm to success and profit.

We, as professionals, have been working remotely for years, long before the pandemic. Attorneys and paralegals have been emailing work home to themselves forever – despite IT’s pleas to not do that (you know who you are). The hybrid work environment is not new. What is new, however, is the normalization of it.

Communication is imperative to the success of any law firm, especially when most businesses are operating on hybrid or fully remote work schedules. According to a recent survey, about 16% of firms invested in communication software at the onset of the pandemic in addition to other cloud-based practice management systems. And with the way things are trending, having open communication is going to be integral to building out your practice and making your business a success. However, it isn’t just communication between clients about the status of the cases that’s important, but also communication within the firm and keeping employees on the same page about tasks and matters.

With payments trending as such a buzz-worthy topic in the legal industry, we were excited to sit down with Ari Kaplan, attorney, author and leading legal industry analyst, to hear all about the evolution of payment options for law firms on Ari’s podcast Reinventing Professionals. Our very own General Manager of Payments, Kevin Gallagher, sat down with Ari to talk about these trends along with the benefits of a practice management system with built-in payment options, and how firms can manage costs and maintain advanced security standards.

Let’s be honest: Billing and invoicing are no one’s favorite tasks. Manual processes have long made these tasks time-consuming and tedious. Nonetheless, they’re still critical to the success of any firm. Thankfully, there’s a better way, and many firms are starting to realize it. Manual processes are slowly giving way to automated online payments that result in faster and more secure payments. Abacus Payment Exchange (APX) is the automated, integrated, secure way to handle business payments that offers your clients the convenience they need while seamlessly working with the realities of a post-pandemic, virtual world.

There are so many ways for a law firm to become more profitable, which go beyond the standard approach of cutting costs and obtaining more business. Additionally, the new option for a hybrid work environment has caused new data safety concerns, which require new and tighter procedural requirements to combat them. Due to this current chaotic business environment, the legal industry has become one of the most susceptible industries to cyber-attacks. Every firm, no matter how big or small, must protect itself. So, what can a firm do to reduce the threat of being hacked?

Our title borrows a famous quote from William Edwards Deming, an American engineer, statistician, professor and author often labeled “the original data scientist.” Deming also said, “Without data, you're just another person with an opinion.” Fortunately, the legal landscape is rapidly shifting, and digital transformation is allowing us to inform our business strategy opinions with facts. Firms of the future will enjoy a new digital reality with the help of practice management platforms and data analytics solutions. As new tools reduce complexity, data analytics has become a primary driver of business strategy. This is particularly in response to the continuing situation with COVID-19, which has changed every aspect of how and where law firms work and collaborate.