A platform that solves half of a problem is not one you can build success on (printed first in LegalTech News).

Software vendors serving the legal industry have gotten giddy: so many problems to solve, so little time.

They've created numerous applications, each of which purports to address a specific market need. Yet vendors in our industry consistently deliver very limited solutions that solve only part of a problem. Although I now work as part of that vendor ecosystem, I am a former law firm CIO, and I've dealt with this situation firsthand. I've seen how the proliferation of point solutions—limited apps that focus on single problems—quickly crosses the line from useful to burdensome and costly. Does a general counsel want to see his outside counsel's time-entry data every 60 days? Let's get an app for that! Does the firm need to simplify matter file transfers? Let's get an app for that! Proper information governance requires automated ethical walls. Well, there's an app for that, too!

Suddenly, the firm finds itself bearing the cost and the headache of managing hundreds of applications.

I'm not kidding. I've worked with firms that owned and managed as many as 300 distinct applications. Think of the staff needed and costs involved to license, deploy, and maintain that number of applications, not to mention the cost of integrating them. Add to that the training and hand-holding all those apps require, because no interface is the same. Worse yet, some of those apps were sold to fix a problem that, in reality, they only partially address. Firms spend a pile of money on a pile of disparate apps that, in essence, aren't even "fit for purpose." This leaves the firm with the rest of the problem to solve, which means buying and managing another app!

What's the alternative?

Firms need to invest in systems that go beyond solving individual technical problems and offer more comprehensive solutions to business problems. You wouldn't buy a car one part at a time to solve your transportation needs, would you? The analogy to legal technology might seem like a stretch, but it's not much of one. Firms haven't bought separate word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database programs since Microsoft released its Office application suite. Instead of buying point solutions for other needs, firms should focus on comparably integrated solutions when possible.

Let's explore the information governance (IG) use case, a top-of-mind issue today for many firms. It's no longer just about ethical walls: IG has evolved and become much more complex. With the constant lateral movement of lawyers, proper IG now includes matter file transfers, importing, and exporting. Well, there are apps for those processes, too! And, there are point solutions for file reviews, litigation holds, data loss prevention ... the list goes on: an endless array of apps focuses on narrow, individual components of info gov.

A platform that only solves 25 percent to 50 percent of your business problem is not one you can build success on.

It's time for a vendor wake-up call

It's time to stop accepting half-baked solutions and yell out to your vendors: "We're not gonna take it!" (I'm showing my age and quoting Twisted Sister.)

So what's the solution? Without getting too technical, we as an industry need to transition from technical point solutions based on old paradigms to software platforms based on technology that completely addresses business challenges. In other words, vendors need to provide flexible software solutions that offer an integrated suite of products for solving broad issues like IG and all the processes related to it, on one platform with one operating system and interface. That will go a long way toward helping firms right-size their technology and stop the suffering and expense of managing hundreds of apps.

Continuing with the IG use case, a product would need to address more than creating and managing ethical walls. A true solution would address the challenges of onboarding and offboarding and offer a form of confidentiality management that enables firms to implement a least-privilege access mode for client and matter files. A true solution would also address the full information governance lifecycle and include retention, destruction, and archiving.

Taking this broad approach will give firms many advantages, including:

• ?Quicker implementations, simpler administration, and reduced administrative overhead;
• ?Minimal "integration fatigue" because integrations are embedded within complete solutions;
• ?Global user interfaces to improve usability and drive adoption; and
• ?Lower costs to support and maintain software.

Best of all, you're buying a solution that addresses all the components of a specific business problem, one that will be capable of filling gaps you may only recognize in the future. That's money in your pocket.

Read more: https://www.legaltechnews.com/id=1202751039989/Not-Another-App-Time-for-a-Vendor-Wake-Up-Call#ixzz41jHuPehC