By Alika Cooper
If you are looking for a top of the line legal process outsourcing provider (LPO), there are some obvious things that you will be looking for, including how long the company has been in business, whether they will be able to handle your volume of work, and whether their rates are reasonable and affordable. Most of these are routine. However, there are aspects that these companies will not bring up during discussions, and you have to take the initiative to know about these areas in detail. In the long run, they can be very crucial for you.
Here are some of the factors that should be taken into account, apart from the routine ones, when you have discussions with legal process outsourcing companies.
Security, Both Digital and Physical
Data security is the top priority of legal firms today. Data theft and loss and hacking by unscrupulous elements can hugely damage business and reputation. This is one reason why firms are often reluctant to outsource legal work as they have a greater level of confidence of security measures implemented in-house.
This is in spite of the fact that in-house systems are also susceptible to cyber attacks and often have lax security measures in place. Law firms do not track physical and digital data locations frequently and lawyers often use unsafe file sharing methods like Gmail and Dropbox.
The call of the hour is, therefore, to look for outsourcing legal services with agencies that have watertight security systems in place both in the cyber and physical domains. Check whether all required cyber measures like intrusion detection, dedicated computing infrastructure and secure VPNs are implemented. Do not forget to evaluate whether physical measures such as internal surveillance, locked-down computer equipment or data center employee controls are also implemented.
Experienced Team and Leaders
Many outsourcing companies have middle office services under the same leadership that looks after various facets of outsourced activities in different business scenarios and industries. However, to get the most out of legal process outsourcing, find a provider that has experienced leaders with a high degree of professional expertise in your field.
Look for staff that has the ability to blend in seamlessly, and systems that are run with the latest tools and technologies. You must be satisfied that the leaders you will be working with understand the specific needs of your business.
Ongoing Training Program
There are legal process outsourcing companies that do not equip their employees with the required skill sets to take on specialized work in the legal field. Instead, the training that is provided to them is basic, generic and primarily computer-based. In today’s digital age, regardless of the industry or sector, it is crucial that middle offices staff have sufficient work skills on modern tools and methodologies so that your work efficiencies after outsourcing is maximized.
Hence when you are outsourcing legal services, you can ask that some of your middle-level staff be hired by the provider to offer a thorough on-going training program to theirs.
A good LPO provider will help increase business efficiencies at very reasonable and affordable costs. It is up to you to ask the pertinent questions to decide which one will precisely match your business needs.
Benefits of Hiring a Good LPO Provider
By hiring an experienced LPO provider, you reap a host of benefits that far outweigh the reasonable charges paid for it. Here are a few of them:
- Save time and money – Depending completely on an in-house team to complete projects divert key highly paid staff into non-core activities. This is a drain on precious resources. Instead, by hiring outsourcing agencies large projects will not only be finished quicker, you will also move on to getting additional business and clients.
- Smooth processing of large document reviews work – You will get a team of experts working for you who are well versed in the field of document review. Hence large projects that require extensive review work can be completed quickly and new business taken on, resulting in enhanced growth and profitability.
- Buffer against staff shortage – You firm’s smooth workflow depends on all your staff working in active coordination with one another. Unexpected shortages like emergency leaves or even sudden firing can hamper project completion. With a legal process outsourcing provider backing you up, this possibility is fully negated.
Outsourcing your legal processes will streamline your activities and enhance efficiencies of your law firm.
Photo credit: Lawyer’s office from PhuShutter/Shutterstock