Legal Software is Growth Leader - Okta Businesses at Work 2024

Okta kicks off this year’s report with a spotlight on Legal applications, which was the leading app category in growth of number of customers.

Okta has application usage data which you simply will not find anywhere else. This year’s report draws data from their anonymized 18,800 global customer base. Okta is a leader in identity and access management products. You may download the full “Okta Businesses at Work 2024” report here.

Growth in app categories: Legal software is the leader in customer growth

“There’s no time for deals or contracts to get hung up in legal. So, as we look across the most popular app categories, it’s no surprise that legal tools have locked up a win, claiming by far the highest growth by number of customers (35% YoY) and substantial 34% YoY growth by number of unique users. Apps including Ironclad, LexisNexis, and LegalZoom drive this remarkable growth story. (Fun fact: Ironclad contract management software was our eighth-fastest-growing app in 2022.)”

Let’s look at those three applications:

Ironclad – Offers Contract Management software, which includes moving sales contracts through the processes of review and sign-off to speed the business process.

LexisNexis – Provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics, now including Generative AI. LexisNexis is a premier product in legal research.

LegalZoom – Its online platform for business formation helps entrepreneurs by providing legal, tax and compliance products and expertise.

With that promising look at the growth in Legal applications, let’s take a look at four more charts in the Okta report.

Growth of the 50 most popular apps

There are two leaders here. 1Password is the fastest growing application by number of customers at 39% YoY. Amazon Business with the fastest growing by number of unique users at 89% YoY growth. Law firms are ramping up usage of password managers like 1Password as one of the essential tools to prevent phishing and social engineering exploits.

Not to be missed by law firms is the growth of KnowBe4 at over 20%. KnowBe4 is a Security Awareness Training product, with a focus on phishing awareness. In 2022 I cited that KnowBe4 was the leading Security Awareness solution used by 62% of law firms surveyed in the International Legal Technology Association’s 2022 Technology Survey.

Most popular apps

It’s easy to see the trend of law firms in the “Overall” ranking. Microsoft 365 is rapidly being adopted, as firms migrate from other Microsoft on-prem products. Number five, Zoom, and number eight, DocuSign, are nearly ubiquitous at law firms. Number ten is KnowBe4, the Security Awareness training SaaS application.

Fastest-growing apps by number of customers

Data compliance applications make a first time appearance in the fastest growing app ranking by number of customers. Vanta holds the number one position with 338% YoY growth. Drata ranks number six, with 91% YoY growth. Data compliance software is growing at law firms as firms are subject to regulatory and client requirements.

Most popular security tool categories

Okta entitles this section: “The perimeter shifts.”

They observe that VPN/firewall continues to lead the security tool category, as it has since 2020. However, deployment of VPN/firewall grew 12% last year versus 31% in the prior year. 57% of customers have deployed VPN/firewall tools.

The second fastest growing category in security tools is Endpoint Management and Security, deployed by 43% of customers. This category has grown consistently since the emergence of work-from-home.

For those interested in legal or enterprise technology there is much more in the Okta report worth looking at in detail. You may find the report here.

– Maureen