Consider This When Adding Software to Your Tech Stack

Are you trying to figure out what software to use in your business? In this episode, Tyson talks about the use of different software solutions within the legal industry and how to determine which software deserves to be used in your firm.

Software is meant to be a solution, not add another layer of complexity in your firm. That is why it is important to really think about what software is going to help your firm achieve success. Think about what your firm really needs and what softwares will help with that. It is also important to think about usability. Most softwares are not user friendly and people can find it difficult to work with them when doing their day to day work. If it is too hard to navigate, move on to the next.

1 | Integration

It is important that softwares integrates with each other. Think about Microsoft and the many applications that integrate. Outlook connects to Planner as well as Teams which includes the Tasks and Approvals function. These various applications all coincide with each other, making working with this software very popular. 

2 | Non-Negotiables

Tyson talks about a non-negotiable when it comes to software in the legal field. Software with very good security and compliance is not something to ignore. Those working in the legal field handle sensitive subjects and details all day long. The software used needs to meet security benchmarks for the industry to keep client information safe. This can really put your firm at risk if this is not considered.  

Make sure to always include the stakeholders in your decision to use software. At the end of the day, those in the firm will be using it on a daily basis. So, make it a point to include them in the decision: ask for opinions, run a test demo and get feedback.

Take a listen to learn about what to consider when looking at new software for your firm!

Episode Highlights:

• 00:24 The importance of considering different things when evaluating software
• 2:28 Software needs to be able to easily integrate with existing tools
• 3:24 The non-negotiable requirement for software

🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here.

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Transcripts: Consider This When Adding Software to Your Tech Stack

Speaker 1 (00:00:01) - Run your law firm the right way. The right way. This is the Maximum lawyer podcast. Podcast. Your hosts, Jim Hacking and Tyson Metrics. Let's partner up and maximize your firm. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:00:24) - Hey, Tyson here. And welcome back to another one of our tech segments here on Maximum Lawyer. The legal digital landscape is it's evolving. It's evolving very quickly. And so with so many different software solutions bringing up and with each one of those, you know, promising to revolutionize our workflow, I really wanted to do an episode about how to decide if a software genuinely warrants a spot in your tech stack. And I think this is a really important episode. That's why I wanted to do it, because things are changing rapidly right now and I don't want people buying a bunch of softwares when they don't really need them. So that's what we're going to be diving into today. But before I do, I do want to remind everyone, if you if you have not heard Jim and I are giving away for free stage one of maximum lawyer and minimum time, all you have to do is text stage 1 to 3 145019260, and we will send that to you right away.

Speaker 2 (00:01:33) - You'll have access to that. This is something we normally only give to Guild members and guild members get access to all three stages, but we are going to give you for free just for being a wonderful, loyal listener. Stage one for absolutely free doesn't cost you anything, so just text stage 1 to 3 145019260. It's something we've spent a lot of time on, a lot of effort on, and I hope you will get something out of it. I know you will. All right. So here are the things to consider when and I'm going to make this episode fairly high paced, I guess fast paced, where I want to get to. I want to knock out a bunch of these pointers and then let you make your decisions on your own. But I'm going to go through these fairly quickly so you may hit the pause it, rewind, whatever. But the first and most obvious one is just think about your business needs and your objectives before you go out and buy a new software. Okay? Software needs to be a solution, not just another layer of complexity.

Speaker 2 (00:02:28) - So ask yourself if it addresses the specific challenges your firm is facing and how does it dovetail with your firm's larger goals? You need to be thinking into the future when it comes to this. Number two is functionality and features a shiny list of features. It's enticing, it's nice. Will you actually use them? Will your team actually use them? And yeah, they may be a, you know, a feature that looks cool and all that, but is it really that good? Like really kind of think about it. Don't fall victim to that that shiny object syndrome. Prioritize what you need today, but don't ignore scalability for tomorrow. It's a big part of it. The another one, and I think this is overlooked quite a bit, is that user experience and then the usability of it, especially if your employees ease of use, is absolutely paramount. I know a lot of you have heard me talk recently about a world without email. Read that book before you buy a software. Okay, I'm not kidding.

Speaker 2 (00:03:24) - Read the book before you before you buy any new software. Ease of use is paramount. The last thing you want is to invest in a system that becomes just the bane of your team's existence because of the complexity of it. Don't do it. Number four is integration capabilities. We live in an interconnected digital world. Your software should easily talk to the tools you already use. You need to have robust APIs. They need to be open APIs generally, and you need to have integration capabilities with all of your software's. All of your software's need to be talking. There should not be one software that sits off by itself that doesn't communicate with the other ones. Number five on the list is cost. It's an obvious one, but it's one that I want to make sure I included on here because I'm sure if I didn't, someone would email me, say, Why didn't you mention cost? And you shouldn't skimp on essential tools, but you do need to be looking at the total cost of ownership. You need to factor in all the different softwares that you have.

Speaker 2 (00:04:22) - But don't just don't buy a software just based on sticker price. Another thing is, and I will say I think that this is overlooked quite a bit and it's because it's more of a boring topic. But number six is security and compliance. We're in the legal world, right? This has got to be a non-negotiable. So you got to make sure your software that you use stands up to industry security benchmarks. Right? And that it passes muster with the bar. It's got to be in compliance with that. Otherwise you can't use it. There's a lot of softwares out there that you cannot use. You should not use. I'm not going to mention any of the names, but they don't have the security protection that you need. You got to protect your clients sensitive data. Another thing is to consider number seven vendor reputation and support, especially support. Emphasis is on support, not on the not on the vendor reputation necessarily, but they usually get a good reputation because of the support. With this, you need to trust but verify, right? As always, you need to dive into their support, their support features.

Speaker 2 (00:05:22) - How do you get a hold of them? What's the. A response like things like that. Number eight, Customization and flexibility, right? You have a unique firm. This is this is something we have faced with multiple software companies in the past. We have a unique firm. You have a unique firm. Our software needs to be adaptable to to respect that, right? It's a big part of it. Number nine, deployment and implementation time is of the essence, right? How quickly can you get it up to speed and running with the new software? It's a really important one. You need to consider these deployment options and make sure that they fit in with what your firm needs. It's a big problem with a lot of companies these days. Number ten, scalability and performance. This is, you know, to be honest with that, I should probably put this one as number one. Your firm's not static. It's not going to be static. You need to make sure that your software is going to be able to grow with you as a firm, especially if you have plans for a bigger firm.

Speaker 2 (00:06:16) - And if you're growing quickly, you got it's got to be able to grow with you. Number 11 is get some feedback and reviews, getting reviews from other attorneys, find out what they have to say, find out what other firms have to say. Talk to the power users and find out if there's any red flags when it comes to that software. Number 12 is exit strategy. I know it's one of those things we don't want to talk about, but you need to have an escape plan if the software isn't the right fit. So you need to know your exit options. That's why I'm not a fan of these long term contracts. Don't get yourself locked into a long term contract. Number 13. This is a big one for me. There needs to be a trial or a demo. You always need to be able to test drive before you buy. And the reputable vendors are going to they're going to offer the option of a demo or a trial period. The ones that don't, you need to run away from them.

Speaker 2 (00:07:08) - Okay, Run away as fast as possible. Number 14, Training and documentation. And this is important for us because, one, you want to you want to make sure there's training resources that can help you in your team onboard. But when it comes to documentation, we think it's really important because our CTO is cautious and cautious has to be able to look through the documentation and make sure that we can use it. And that's why having published APIs are really, really important. Number 15 Updates and Upgrades. The tech world is constantly evolving and rapidly and it's doing so rapidly. So you got to make sure that the software doesn't get stagnant and you got to make sure that it is constantly being updated with with any of the latest features and security patches. That's really, really important. And I want to iterate reiterate a vital point. You're going to want to make sure that you involve the stakeholders, the people that are going to be using the software in your decision. They're going to be the ones that are going to be interacting with it on a daily basis.

Speaker 2 (00:08:10) - So make sure you're getting their feedback as much as possible because it's absolutely invaluable. All right. So I'm going to wrap things up. Hopefully you got something out of this. Make sure you stay tuned for our next episode and and until then, remember, Imperfect action will always beat Perfect in action.

Speaker 1 (00:08:33) - Thanks for listening to the Maximum Lawyer podcast. Stay in contact with your hosts and to access more content, go to maximum lawyer.com. Have a great week and catch you next time.