Making the Right Choices for Implementation, Training and Support

Selecting an Implementation Vendor

Firms on their first implementation, or those that are upgrading but haven't made changes to the system in years, won't have that wealth of experience. A vendor who not only understands the technology at a very deep level, but also has the understanding of how to handle the human element ' to understand where communication, training, project management and these best practices fit in ' can make the difference on the success of a project. Those three elements, deep technical understanding, large portfolio of successful projects, and comprehension of how to communicate it at a business level, are the most important things to consider.

If you decide to work with a vendor, what are some specifics to look for? Here are just a few from my experience and specific examples to support them.

Open communication and proactive transparency about the key benefits and pitfalls of similar projects.

Many times, people see technology as something that happens to them, instead of something that they have to be collaboratively working together to make happen in any meaningful capacity. Every successful project begins with a clear communication plan that includes communication from the top down and from the bottom up. If you spring something on people, it's not going to be successful. A clear communication plan, distributed as early as possible, gives everyone involved an idea of the reason for the project, the benefits of the project, what their part will be, and how they can communicate their concerns and offer input. Giving everyone a voice is a crucial element.

Projects that have a committed executive sponsor ' ideally someone that carries weight in the firm, like a managing partner ' will be the most efficient and successful. Having the sponsor speak out on the project's behalf really helps align firm staff, partners and attorneys, increasing buy-in from the top levels all the way down.

On one past project, a video of the global managing partner, the chief operating officer and the chief marketing officer introducing the project and encouraging everyone to complete the e-learning modules, was sent to all users as a link in an e-mail and was then posted on the firm's intranet. This made a noticeable difference from other projects where the leaders were less vocal and involved.

Another important part of the overall communication for a project should be proactive transparency on the part of the vendor. You should never have to ask a vendor what has or hasn't worked in the past on any particular part of a project. Working with a vendor who knows how important this communication is brings value right from the start. The vendor will constantly be saying to the firm: “We've seen this exact problem and here is what we did, or we made this mistake, or the firm made this mistake, or we were successful because we took this approach and went at a problem in this particular fashion.”

Both Chrissy Burns, Director, IT and Knowledge at Blake Dawson, and Chris Petrie, IT Director at Stephenson Harwood, understand the importance of this open communication to the success of their projects:

“The experience enabled us to avoid common pitfalls and jump quickly to the correct solutions,” says Petrie.

Burns echoes this sentiment and adds that transparency is not only important to the success of the upgrade, but also impacts the overall user experience with the technology and, therefore, the value it brings to the firm.

“We were looking for an integrator with experience of upgrading [iManage] to complement our internal team,” says Burns. “Learning from the experience of other firms and highlighting the key benefits and pitfalls would facilitate our upgrade and help us make the most of the product.”

A combination of face-to-face and tailored e-training that is coupled with 24/7 support.

When talking about the implementation and training associated with a new technology, human interaction is vital. The vendor can supply an on-site project manager or team to the firm, or, when large numbers of offices make this difficult, training can be coordinated in a way that makes sure each office has a trained champion to shepherd the project locally.

Training everyone simultaneously, notwithstanding the firm's geographical spread, was a major concern for Marcel Henri, CIO at Salans. With over 750 lawyers in 22 offices in 17 countries, this was no small task.

“The project team organized classroom sessions with support from local 'champions' who were trained to use the system so that each office had on-site troubleshooting support,” says Henri. “We introduced the project and offered all users the opportunity to complete the e-learning program.”

Creating custom e-learning modules is another great service that a vendor can provide. These modules:

• Break learning into manageable parts;
• Allow for training to fit the users schedule;
• Track the progress and completion of training individually;
• Enable text and voice-over language replacement in multinational training projects; and
• Allow for variation in the speed at which users learn.

“We determined 10 scenarios for each software package and developed interactive modules with a professional voiceover,” explains Henri. “People have to engage with the program by clicking in the right place and typing on the screen. We edited the program by replacing the text in the bubbles and the sound file with content in the local language. As a result of this and the ability to monitor completion of the e-learning program, we can ensure that all users across the firm have a comparable knowledge of our systems. New joiners are required to complete particular training modules. We have developed a resource that can be applied to different software packages and upgrades across the business to support consistency and keep people up to date.”

Small groups of savvy users trained first. Training a small group of users, sometimes referred to as “technology champions,” first is a simple way to add value and efficiency to an implementation. These users can be available for basic questions as more users are added and their early success with the technology can serve as a mini case study to help those lagging in adoption to see its value.

A dive-in mentality for software development.

A vendor/partner working on various projects over time brings exposure to nuances in different firms' cultures and processes and also builds a relationship with the primary software provider. A trust develops as the software provider sees the partner successfully implementing its technology in multiple firms and helping users truly understand how to use it to drive value to their firm.

Sometimes, those nuances can manifest themselves as technical needs. The partner is then in a great position to communicate that technical need to the primary solution provider and to help develop and roll out additional software and upgrades in the most efficient way. The primary solution provider trusts that the partner isn't bringing them a one-off request that might only benefit a handful of firms. The rollout goes smoothly because the partner is already familiar with the system and the firm.

This mutually beneficial relationship can also result in the creation of complementary, add-in software by the partner to enhance functionality and integrations of the core solution.

An awareness and effort to deliver the X factors.

This could manifest in any number of ways by a chosen vendor ' the reason it's called an X-factor. But you will know it when you see it.

“More importantly, look beyond the technical aspects of the project, becoming a strategic partner that could offer genuine business innovation as well as successful implementation,” says Ken MacGregor, CIO at Buddle Findlay.

It could be something as simple as a reputation for working with your in-house teams with a smoothness that confounds the fact that it's actually two different organizations coming together with a single goal. The third-party provider that can act as an expert extension of your in-house team will facilitate an implementation with less push-back, where people are focused on learning the technology rather than the process that is taking place to implement it.

It could be the flexibility and deep technical understanding that allows the vendor to accommodate unique implementation requests that add complexity to the project. For example, on rare occasions where one office is using an older version and other offices use a different solution, but all need to be on the latest version of a single solution without any disruption to the access of information.

“As only one-third of the firm were using WorkSite, it did not make sense to roll out the older version to the whole firm,” explains Pierre Colyn, former Solutions Architect at Adam & Adams, about an eccentricity during an implementation. “We had invested heavily in our IT infrastructure. We wanted the [iManage] 8.5 upgrade to coincide with our new technology, philosophy and approach.”

Conclusion

Clearly, choosing the right vendor can make a huge difference in the overall success of your project.

Ben Weinberger'is the'former Chief Strategy Officer at Phoenix and is now Vice President of Solutions at Prosperoware.'A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, he previously served in senior executive roles for a top-40 UK law firm, two AmLaw 200 firms, and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

Exploiting the full potential of the technology your firm has chosen to purchase is a challenge ' adoption and utilization are distinctly separate actions. You've done your due diligence in terms of adoption: evaluated different solutions and feature sets; tested or even piloted your favorites with IT and/or savvy users; and made the best choice possible. How can your firm ensure the best chance for utilization when, as the saying goes, “culture eats change for breakfast”?

Should you task your department leaders and IT teams with it all or work with a third-party vendor?

Projects of this nature inherently require a deep understanding of the technology on many different levels. Beyond the needed technical capabilities, there must be an understanding of the human element: what is possible, presenting it to staff and attorneys for exactly what it is, and demonstrating what is in it for them. Relying on a technologist who can get the technology implemented on the right devices isn't even half of the whole; it is up to the firm to handle the communication plan, training and utilization by the firm's staff and attorneys. With built-in resistance to change endemic at most firms, the neutral leadership of a third party provider can smooth certain change management issues: what is oft repeated in-house is oft “heard” when coming from an outside point-of-view.

Selecting an Implementation Vendor

Firms on their first implementation, or those that are upgrading but haven't made changes to the system in years, won't have that wealth of experience. A vendor who not only understands the technology at a very deep level, but also has the understanding of how to handle the human element ' to understand where communication, training, project management and these best practices fit in ' can make the difference on the success of a project. Those three elements, deep technical understanding, large portfolio of successful projects, and comprehension of how to communicate it at a business level, are the most important things to consider.

If you decide to work with a vendor, what are some specifics to look for? Here are just a few from my experience and specific examples to support them.

Open communication and proactive transparency about the key benefits and pitfalls of similar projects.

Many times, people see technology as something that happens to them, instead of something that they have to be collaboratively working together to make happen in any meaningful capacity. Every successful project begins with a clear communication plan that includes communication from the top down and from the bottom up. If you spring something on people, it's not going to be successful. A clear communication plan, distributed as early as possible, gives everyone involved an idea of the reason for the project, the benefits of the project, what their part will be, and how they can communicate their concerns and offer input. Giving everyone a voice is a crucial element.

Projects that have a committed executive sponsor ' ideally someone that carries weight in the firm, like a managing partner ' will be the most efficient and successful. Having the sponsor speak out on the project's behalf really helps align firm staff, partners and attorneys, increasing buy-in from the top levels all the way down.

On one past project, a video of the global managing partner, the chief operating officer and the chief marketing officer introducing the project and encouraging everyone to complete the e-learning modules, was sent to all users as a link in an e-mail and was then posted on the firm's intranet. This made a noticeable difference from other projects where the leaders were less vocal and involved.

Another important part of the overall communication for a project should be proactive transparency on the part of the vendor. You should never have to ask a vendor what has or hasn't worked in the past on any particular part of a project. Working with a vendor who knows how important this communication is brings value right from the start. The vendor will constantly be saying to the firm: “We've seen this exact problem and here is what we did, or we made this mistake, or the firm made this mistake, or we were successful because we took this approach and went at a problem in this particular fashion.”

Both Chrissy Burns, Director, IT and Knowledge at Blake Dawson, and Chris Petrie, IT Director at Stephenson Harwood, understand the importance of this open communication to the success of their projects:

“The experience enabled us to avoid common pitfalls and jump quickly to the correct solutions,” says Petrie.

Burns echoes this sentiment and adds that transparency is not only important to the success of the upgrade, but also impacts the overall user experience with the technology and, therefore, the value it brings to the firm.

“We were looking for an integrator with experience of upgrading [iManage] to complement our internal team,” says Burns. “Learning from the experience of other firms and highlighting the key benefits and pitfalls would facilitate our upgrade and help us make the most of the product.”

A combination of face-to-face and tailored e-training that is coupled with 24/7 support.

When talking about the implementation and training associated with a new technology, human interaction is vital. The vendor can supply an on-site project manager or team to the firm, or, when large numbers of offices make this difficult, training can be coordinated in a way that makes sure each office has a trained champion to shepherd the project locally.

Training everyone simultaneously, notwithstanding the firm's geographical spread, was a major concern for Marcel Henri, CIO at Salans. With over 750 lawyers in 22 offices in 17 countries, this was no small task.

“The project team organized classroom sessions with support from local 'champions' who were trained to use the system so that each office had on-site troubleshooting support,” says Henri. “We introduced the project and offered all users the opportunity to complete the e-learning program.”

Creating custom e-learning modules is another great service that a vendor can provide. These modules:

• Break learning into manageable parts;
• Allow for training to fit the users schedule;
• Track the progress and completion of training individually;
• Enable text and voice-over language replacement in multinational training projects; and
• Allow for variation in the speed at which users learn.

“We determined 10 scenarios for each software package and developed interactive modules with a professional voiceover,” explains Henri. “People have to engage with the program by clicking in the right place and typing on the screen. We edited the program by replacing the text in the bubbles and the sound file with content in the local language. As a result of this and the ability to monitor completion of the e-learning program, we can ensure that all users across the firm have a comparable knowledge of our systems. New joiners are required to complete particular training modules. We have developed a resource that can be applied to different software packages and upgrades across the business to support consistency and keep people up to date.”

Small groups of savvy users trained first. Training a small group of users, sometimes referred to as “technology champions,” first is a simple way to add value and efficiency to an implementation. These users can be available for basic questions as more users are added and their early success with the technology can serve as a mini case study to help those lagging in adoption to see its value.

A dive-in mentality for software development.

A vendor/partner working on various projects over time brings exposure to nuances in different firms' cultures and processes and also builds a relationship with the primary software provider. A trust develops as the software provider sees the partner successfully implementing its technology in multiple firms and helping users truly understand how to use it to drive value to their firm.

Sometimes, those nuances can manifest themselves as technical needs. The partner is then in a great position to communicate that technical need to the primary solution provider and to help develop and roll out additional software and upgrades in the most efficient way. The primary solution provider trusts that the partner isn't bringing them a one-off request that might only benefit a handful of firms. The rollout goes smoothly because the partner is already familiar with the system and the firm.

This mutually beneficial relationship can also result in the creation of complementary, add-in software by the partner to enhance functionality and integrations of the core solution.

An awareness and effort to deliver the X factors.

This could manifest in any number of ways by a chosen vendor ' the reason it's called an X-factor. But you will know it when you see it.

“More importantly, look beyond the technical aspects of the project, becoming a strategic partner that could offer genuine business innovation as well as successful implementation,” says Ken MacGregor, CIO at Buddle Findlay.

It could be something as simple as a reputation for working with your in-house teams with a smoothness that confounds the fact that it's actually two different organizations coming together with a single goal. The third-party provider that can act as an expert extension of your in-house team will facilitate an implementation with less push-back, where people are focused on learning the technology rather than the process that is taking place to implement it.

It could be the flexibility and deep technical understanding that allows the vendor to accommodate unique implementation requests that add complexity to the project. For example, on rare occasions where one office is using an older version and other offices use a different solution, but all need to be on the latest version of a single solution without any disruption to the access of information.

“As only one-third of the firm were using WorkSite, it did not make sense to roll out the older version to the whole firm,” explains Pierre Colyn, former Solutions Architect at Adam & Adams, about an eccentricity during an implementation. “We had invested heavily in our IT infrastructure. We wanted the [iManage] 8.5 upgrade to coincide with our new technology, philosophy and approach.”

Conclusion

Clearly, choosing the right vendor can make a huge difference in the overall success of your project.

Ben Weinberger'is the'former Chief Strategy Officer at Phoenix and is now Vice President of Solutions at Prosperoware.'A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, he previously served in senior executive roles for a top-40 UK law firm, two AmLaw 200 firms, and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.