10qin2m slides tracy terrill - legalzoom april 2011
DESCRIPTION
The two-minute slideshow version of my ten-question interview with Tracy Terrill of LegalZoom.TRANSCRIPT
TEN-QUESTION INTERVIEWS WITH TOP TECHNOLOGY LEADERS
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(*the 2-minute slideshow version)
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MAKING THE LAW ACCESSIBLE
Ten questions with LegalZoom’s CIO
For 10 years now, LegalZoom has been revolutionizing the way people access the law by providing online legal document services. Since 2007, CIO Tracy Terrill has been responsible for implementing best practices for software development, recruiting and building a global engineering team, enabling 24-hour development, and redesigning the corporate Web site infrastructure.
TracyTerrill
10QatAtimeINTERVIEWS
Q1) What is the primary challenge you face as CIO in managing the technology of LegalZoom?
“…my team’s main challenge has been balancing our efforts between new product development and improving the customer experience.”
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Q2) LegalZoom seems similar to other online services like H&R Block and Turbotax. Is that a legitimate comparison?
“Yes… with our services, the customer identifies the type of document they need … Where LegalZoom differs … is that we also provide a human review…”
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Q3) Has the proliferation of mobile apps and devices affected the way you do business or do you expect it to?
“We don’t expect customers to complete questionnaires on their smartphones, but we can see the tablet devices being a significant source of our Web traffic… ”
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Q4) Is guaranteeing uptime on your site an issue, and how do you address it?
“Being an online service is a challenge because we never close… There is also a significant amount of coordination required to perform our regular system maintenance and upgrades…”
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Q5) Is a legal review needed in finalizing a document… before it is submitted?
“Our employees review each document for completeness, spelling, grammar… If a customer wants to review things more thoroughly… we always encourage them to do so.”
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Q6) What are the benefits of using the technology you provide, as opposed to a purely paper-driven process?
“…speed and revision abilities, and of course archiving. We provide permanent vaulting services… There are also specific definitions and help text online as you go through the… process.”
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Q7) What are the major differences in the end product like a will or incorporation prepared through LegalZoom…?
“…we can immediately amend our questionnaires if there is a change… a customer can make revisions or get another copy… we file the document with the appropriate state or federal agency… ”
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Q8) Is will preparation the most popular service you provide?
“I can’t go into specifics of order volume, but we see strong volumes of limited-liability company formations, last wills, trademarks, and in our Business Advantage Pro membership...”
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Q9) What kind of response have you seen so far from your social media connections, such as with “Free Joe Friday” on your Facebook page?
“…things are starting to come together… Once a week, an attorney takes questions on a first-come basis… We actually have about 10 times more followers on Facebook than on Twitter… up over 50,000...”
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Q10) To wrap things up, how would you say your position at LegalZoom differs from the CIO role in other industries?
“Actually, I am frequently asked if I am the CIO or the CTO… My team manages projects, systems and the infrastructure… I know many CIO’s who function in a service role to the business and have little participation at the executive level.”
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MAKING THE LAW ACCESSIBLE
Ten question interviews with top technology
leaders
These slides are excerpted from the full interview with Tracy Terrill in my regular 10Q column. The complete article is available as a PDF download
http://www.techrepublic.com/downloads/making-the-law-accessible-10-questions-with-legalzooms-tracy-terrill/2852341?tag=mantle_skin;content
JeffCerny
www.10QatAtime.com©2011 10QatAtime
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