enhancing your time entry process with mobile technology
DESCRIPTION
Enhancing Your Time Entry Process With Mobile Technology. Keith Cameron @ Houston Harbaugh Laura Snyder @ Ward & Smith John K untz @ Bellefield. Changing Behavior In A Law Firm One Firm’s Experience Keith Cameron. CHANGING BEHAVIOR IN A LAW FIRM: ONE FIRM’S EXPERIENCE. CONTEXT - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
ILTA Webinar, May 6, 2013
ENHANCING YOUR TIME ENTRY PROCESS WITH MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
Keith Cameron @ Houston HarbaughLaura Snyder @ Ward & SmithJohn Kuntz @ Bellefield
ILTA Webinar, May 6, 2013
Changing Behavior In A Law Firm One Firm’s ExperienceKeith Cameron
CHANGING BEHAVIOR IN A LAW FIRM: ONE FIRM’S EXPERIENCECONTEXT • Law firm of 36 attorneys: 18 shareholders, 18 associates• One office (located in Pittsburgh, PA)• Full service practice• Management approach:
• Open to consider change• Chief Operating Officer’s primary mission: increase net
income per shareholder
THE PROCESS• 2005-2006: early news of the benefits of attorneys entering their own time • Catalyst: key shareholder willing to champion idea of attorneys entering
their own time • January 2007: announced two-month pilot program on voluntary basis
with small financial incentive• 15 attorneys joined the pilot (6 shareholders) for the training and doing
the time entry themselves for two months.• No one stopped during the pilot• All continued to use the time entry program at the end of the pilot• July 2007: shareholders in the pilot convinced the other shareholders to
adopt a policy for all attorneys (and paralegals) to enter their own time• July 2007-present: every attorney (but 1) has entered her or his own time.
MOST SIGNFICANT BENEFITS
• Accuracy• Secretarial ratio change: each secretary available to add 1
additional timekeeper.• Bills prepared more quickly (fewer corrections)• Increased capture of time resulting in increased net
income per shareholder
INCREASE NET INCOME PER SHAREHOLDER• Pre- and post- test during the pilot: 5% gain in time capture
(1.6 hours/week)
• Sustained: 2-3% gain in time capture
• Sample: Benefit for a law firm with 30 attorneys who average 140 hours/month and an average billing rate of $250/hour, a 2% gain in time capture would be the equivalent of adding client revenue of $1 million with no extra clients and no extra work.
• Large payoff for a change in behavior.
MOBILITY• 2013: PILOT TESTING itimekeep SOFTWARE WITH FIVE
ATTORNEYS• Relatively easy to learn, easy to administer and easy to
use• Expected results from the pilot:
• Even more accurate time entry when attorneys are out of the office working
• More efficient time entry for the attorneys in using the voice-to-text feature
• A large percentage of our attorneys will want to use it
ILTA Webinar, May 6, 2013
WARD AND SMITH, P.A.
Mobile Time Entry StrategyLaura Snyder
EMBRACING MOBILITY
Free, Flexible, and Untethered
Free, Flexible, and Untethered
OUR MOBILE STRATEGYwww.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/6475530771 Used Under Creative Commons License
Conquering Mobility
Enforced – No Delinquency Policy
FOCUSING ON TIME ENTRY www.flickr.com/photos/zoutedrop/2317065892 Used Under Creative Commons License
Our Culture
Access Anywhere, Anytime
GOING MOBILE
The Logical Next Step
www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/2301978120 Used Under Creative Commons License
Our goal was to provide our attorneys with the flexibility to enter time anywhere, anytime, without the burden of utilizing citrix when outside of the office
User Friendly and Easy to Use
EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTSwww.flickr.com/photos/bobhasmadskills/343149014 Used Under Creative Commons License
Presenting the Possibilities
EDUCATING OUR ATTORNEYSwww.flickr.com/photos/amslerpix/7959123252 Used Under Creative Commons License
ILTA Webinar, May 6, 2013
THE CASE FOR MOBILE TIME ENTRY
Gabriela Isturiz
WHY MOBILE TIME ENTRY ?
89% of the 1.3 million licensed attorneys in the United States now use smartphones for out-of-the-office legal work
• 49% are iPhones• 31% are BlackBerrys • 17% are Android.
Mostly short activities (under 10 min) and likely to become “leaked time”
DRIVERSWHAT DRIVE FIRMS TO CONSIDER MOBILE TIME ENTRY?
1. Compliance with Firm’s Time Entry Policies
2. Convenience 3. Accuracy / Predictability 4. Reduce Time Leakage5. Part of our Mobile Strategy
CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING A MOBILE TIME ENTRY SOLUTION
1. Attorneys are Technology Averse2. They don’t even enter their own
time3. Security4. Cost5. We are not ready for that yet
OVERCOMINGYOUR MOBILE TIME ENTRY CHALLENGES
Challenge Focus OnAttorneys are Technology-Averse
Easy to use Intuitive + Minimum TrainingReliable
Attorneys don’t even enter their own time
Enable voice-to-textFalse premise? Breaking Bad Habits
Security Protect your client dataSecured and encrypted No data stored on device
Cost Cost is what you pay, Value is what you obtainBuild your own financial case
We are not ready yet We have become an app culture. The growth in smartphone usage is even more intense than the growth of the internet in the late 90’s
NOT READY YET?THINK AGAIN
• In an App culture, Mobility is growing at an unprecedented speed • 70 billions apps downloaded in 2013 (10 apps per human in earth)• 800,000 apps Google Play/Android• 775,000 apps Apple iOS App Store• 125,000 apps Windows Phone Marketplace• 70,000 apps Blackberry World• (Source: ABI Research)
THE RESEARCHWHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?
90% Timecards entered within one day of work performed
90%
10%
Velocity (Time Gap) Up to 1 Day More than 1 Day
THE RESEARCHWHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?
Strong Correlation between Time Velocity and AccuracyWhile the work performed is fresh in the attorney’s mind, the more likely they are to record these single tasks. The longer it takes to record time, the bigger the time entries get (activities are cobbled together, accuracy decreases).
1 2 3 4 5
Velocity
Acc
urac
y
THE RESEARCHWHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY?
1/3 of attorneysEnter 98% of their time via their tablet or smart-phone
5% of work done in weekendsAnd out of that, 95% entered on the same day
CONCLUSION• In an App culture, Mobility is growing at an unprecedented
speed• Mobile Time Entry will soon become the preferred method for
attorneys to enter their own time• Challenges exist, but they are addressable. Today we heard two
different approaches on how two firms overcame the challenges of mobile time entry and benefited from it
• Build your firm’s case