Software solutions - implementation can be more important than system selection

For many solicitors, there is a natural assumption to think that once a computer system has been selected, all that remains is to haggle over the price and agree the contract with the supplier.

As mentioned before, price is important - but so also is the functionality of the system.

However, there is one further factor that can make or break a computerisation project - the implementation phase.

By implementation, I mean everything from the delivery of the system to your premises, to the rolling out of the system and the completion of staff training.

In effect, this is a project management issue where timing is one of the key considerations.

Ideally, you would not want to be coping with the implementation of a computer system at one of your busiest times of the year or when your bookkeepers and cashiers are busy with an audit or preparing year-end accounts.

For example, your administrative and fee-earning staff will not only need adequate time both to attend the inevitable training sessions and the setting up of client/matter files and/or the transfer of data from any existing systems, but also they will still have to find time to do their normal day jobs otherwise your practice will grind to a halt.

Depending on the system you are installing, another consideration may be whether you opt for the 'big-bang' approach and introduce the system simultaneously to the whole firm, or go for a staggered 'roll out' on a branch-by-branch, department-by-department, or project-by-project basis.

Even in smaller firms, a staggered roll-out is the best practice when it comes to applications such as case management, starting with systems for, say, conveyancing before moving on to debt recovery and then personal injury claims work.

Another alternative is to select departments or teams that can 'champion' the new system (in other words, people who have a positive attitude towards technology from the outset and want to make it work, as distinct from Luddites with a negative outlook) and so help its adoption throughout the practice by demonstrating to other the benefits IT can offer.

Larger firms with experience of IT projects can probably manage implementation projects themselves, but for smaller firms it makes more sense to leave the project management to your main systems supplier.

This can be particularly important in multi-vendor situations, with hardware coming from one source, software from another and yet another organisation installing the network cabling within your offices.

Here, once again, your prospective supplier's past is paramount.

The supplier may write great software but if other firms have experienced inordinate delays getting it to implement the systems to their satisfaction then you would be advised to consider an alternative source.

Next time: the three 'Ts' - training, training and yet more training.

Charles Christian is an independent adviser to the Law Society's software solutions guide