Since making your practice more efficient will ultimately make it more profitable, it is worth taking some time to consider all of your options. One of the most popular means of increasing your firm’s efficiency is document automation. Document automation plays a significant role in providing legal services in a proficient and effective manner. By automating the creation of repeatedly used legal documents, you can avoid the burden of searching for the correct information to use and stop cutting and pasting unchanged information over and over again.
While automating documents is increasingly gaining widespread acceptance among those in the legal field, not all are ready to make the jump. If you are someone who has already made the switch, or are still mulling over the idea—weighing the pros and cons—this cheat sheet should address all your basics questions and concerns.
You don’t have to purchase additional software.
When it comes to document automation, you can actually get started by leveraging tools that already exist on your computer. Setting up document automation can be effectively performed in Microsoft Word. While Word is a viable option for automating documents, it won’t completely eliminate the task for you. If your goal is to take document automation totally off your plate—after all, the purpose of automating documents is to save time—procuring the help of a professional consultant to handle setting up document automation may be your best option.
What are the benefits of document automation?
In today’s world of business, the legal field especially, spending multiple hours each week creating documents is no longer a productive use of time. By implementing document automation, you can begin creating your legal documents in seconds—improving your productivity in other areas of business and increasing your profitability.
I understand the benefits, but still can’t commit.
This is the boat many find themselves in. Document automation actually stands up quite well to these three barriers: time, cost, and complexity. With advancements in the market, there are now options available that are affordable, easy to use, and able to be implemented rapidly. Unfortunately, all of these benefits may not come in the same package. For a no-cost option with a shallow learning curve, consider Microsoft Word; however, be aware that time will still be required to format the document. Word plug-ins offer the luxuries of a fast setup and a short learning curve—as most users are already familiar with Word. The two downfalls of Word plug-ins are the need for proofreading and the license fees or monthly subscriptions. Document automation software is the easiest to use of the bunch. Of course, the costs of implementing such software can be significant.
The first step in choosing which document automation system is best for your firm is to clearly define your goals. This checklist is a great tool to get you started. For further assistance with putting a document automation system into practice at your firm, get in touch with one of our expert document automation consultants.
