Lawyer Monthly - October 2022

Stage Four: Wholesale operational disruption This is the stage with the greatest extent of disruption, and the one where you should be most worried about rivals stealing a march. But it is also the most exciting stage of the digital transformation journey to aim for. We are talking about complex service automation. We believe there are five steps within this stage that your firm can implement to plant your feet firmly among the disruptors - not the disrupted: 1. Personalisation Traditional legal services’ acquisition journeys are lengthy and involve many stakeholders. Using customer-facing insights, we can now codify many of the interactions that precede an engagement and support a healthy relationship to allow digital to do the heavy lifting. Using personalisation and profile-building features, digital services can ‘follow the client’ throughout their journey, better meet their needs, and provide data that supports continual service and process evolution. Personalised interactions with multiple stakeholders can be managed using ‘relationship spaces’ powered by platforms like Salesforce, Dynamics and Hubspot. Even the most complex sale journeys can be streamlined and enhanced to deliver greater value. 2. Digital Experience A high level of insight into sales and engagement journeys can enable firms to innovate to deliver wholesale self-service. This evolution allows firms to move away from websites as passive brochureware to an approach that adds value to audience interactions and improves engagement both pre- and post-sale. 3. Online Configuration A classic tactic of the professional services sector is to keep pricing opaque. This is rapidly being undone by companies like LegalDrop, which can provide more transparent pricing and flexible models. Although legal firms typically trade on value rather than price, it does not mean they are unaffected. Firms can simplify some services, offer flexible options, and streamline journeys to make engagement easier and put more control in the hands of the client. 4. Content Optimisation One of the most effective ways for legal firms to raise awareness and grow engagement is to provide thoughtleadership content, bringing knowledge to life and adding value. As well as optimising for search engines, content should be shaped by search-engine research to identify new conversations and merchandised across all touchpoints. For example, linking onsite profiles with social media means you can align content delivery with sales and support journeys wherever the audience is. This can also include in-person interactions. With the technology in place to merchandise content cross-platform, it is a small leap to use it to empower teams to make their conversations even more effective. 5. Data-Driven Processes The technology that drives a data-driven retail mindset can enhance the efficiency of sales and customer servicing teams. In the past, online platforms were typically a supporting channel. Now, however, companies are benefitting from integrating it as part of a seamless customer journey by ensuring their data delivers a single customer view. The insights gained can also be used to inform person-to-person interactions. Your representatives can get a more detailed understanding of what content 54 LAWYERMONTHLYOCTOBER 2022

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