Disrupt or be Disrupted

In 2014 Hillyer McKeown needed fresh direction. It prompted me to take the step with my colleagues of writing a business plan. The plan emanated from a super critical SWOT analysis of legal services in general and in particular a failure on the part of most lawyers and law firms to demonstrate their ability to add value. Whether it is liked or not we are dealing here with perception as opposed to reality and as a medium sized regional player it was unlikely that we would be able to change perceptions on our own. Value is an interesting concept and segways into views on “value” “cost” and “access”.

 Disrupt or be disrupted

This realisation generated a feeling at Hillyer McKeown that in the medium to longer term it was unsustainable to continue to fish in this pond alone. We wanted to be different and viewed disruption in the legal services market as a crucial ingredient to addressing the underlying perception of law and lawyers. Recognising that ‘out with the old and in with the new’ was a necessity, this had to be well thought through so as not to undermine the established business of legal services.

The first part of the plan was to work on the law firm and perfect its response to historic business. As you can imagine this remains a work in progress. What we have been able to achieve however is a more efficient business that has allowed us to invest in our future. It also accounts for much of the time between 2014 and now. Sometimes things do just take time!!!!! When they do it is important to be resolute and stick to your beliefs.

The plan to be different embodies itself in diversification. Having already developed an internal Financial Services offering, we asked if the business could sustain other complimentary professional services simply by effective cross selling and up selling. After many iterations of this concept we have settled on our plan and the extent of our diversification.

One key component in that diversification is our Management Consultancy arm ‘bamboo by HM’. Having re-launched this business in the spring of this year (after moving through two proof of concepts) this side of our business has started to gain real market traction.

Bamboo is the new bold

I am not one for talking about our business in public but felt that the posting of the first video on the bamboo website was worthy of reflection. A time to stand back and look at where we were, where we have come from and a time for us to be confident in our future in this rapidly changing market. Please have a watch https://youarebamboo.com/how-we-are-different/ (4 mins viewing). Let me know your thoughts.

#business #businessowners #legalservices #lawmanagement #professionalservices #youarebamboo @youarebamboo #hillyermckeown @hillyermckeown