Smartphones may be small, but they represent a large opportunity for corporate legal departments to become more efficient. According to a recent report from Wolters Kluwer’s ELM Solutions, legal professionals are looking for online legal applications to up their mobile capabilities. But it’s important to look at the promise of business applications on smartphones in a broader context. The move to mobile is just one avenue—though indeed an important one—through which corporate legal departments can improve efficiency. While legal professionals, per the survey, are eyeing mobile in particular, what they really want and need are tools that slide seamlessly into their workdays. Even the sleekest tools won’t improve productivity if no one uses them.
Efficiency, which comes through usability, is especially relevant as many legal departments cut costs, expand responsibilities and aim to move beyond operational thinking. According to the report, 48% of legal departments ranked becoming a strategic business partner as the number one priority for the next three years—not only the top-ranking response, but the one that gained the most ground since the previous survey. To call technology central to this goal would be an understatement. Offering tools that meet users where they are might mean giving them the ability to complete a task via a smartphone app while in line for the airport—but it also might mean using cloud-based solutions like Office 365 or integrating into tried-and-true apps like Microsoft Word. That’s why mobile is just the tip of the iceberg.
