Canceling the Data Noise: Streamlining the Information Your Timekeepers Need

Many of us still remember the beginnings of the Internet and the PC, especially the floppy and laser disks we used to store (retrospectively) miniscule amounts of data. Fast forward and we’ve sped through the information age to new ways of creating, accumulating, storing, and accessing data and information.  Innovation has led us from dealing with kilobytes of data to having access to terabytes (or more).  Today’s law firms are not immune to the overwhelming nature of technological innovation. While each individual piece of data is valuable, are timekeepers successfully filtering through the data to access what is most relevant?

Law firms have mountains of data with potential inherent value and usefulness. However, when timekeepers are tasked with mining disparate systems for specific documents, the convenience of real-time, digital access is called into question. What good is digital access if it requires considerable effort to get to what you need? This inability to quickly and easily access relevant documents often hinders a timekeeper’s productivity.

Data Overload Kills the Billable Hour

Although knowledge workers have relied on digital documents for decades, increasing efficiency has not been prioritized. A popular 2001 IDC briefing, “The High Cost of Not Finding Information”, discovered that workers spend 2.5 hours (or 20% of a traditional workday) searching for documents. While we usually wouldn’t rely on an article from two decades ago, more recent research indicates that the problem not only still exists, but that it has been steadily growing.

Firms with homegrown intranets don’t have the connectors to feed data from their numerous sites and systems into one secure and accessible location; they’re using intranets for company news and not much else. Documents are everywhere except for where they need to be, and billable time is being overtaken by the endless search for data.

While there is not yet a single solution to information storage and access, we are certainly on the cusp of taking a big chunk out of the issue and starting to reverse its course.

Canceling the Data Noise

Good data management is like a pair of noise-canceling headphones; you can tune into the data you need (your music) while muting the data that you don’t (background noise). Firms need this tool to centralize and connect information with timekeepers and staff so that they have access to exactly what they need, when they need it. Modern knowledge search engines should automatically identify the most impactful data without a timekeeper perusing dozens of similar files to find the most relevant information. These knowledge search engines are like a predictive playlist that generates selections from your full music library based on the genre that you want to listen to. Like your data, your entire music library is still available on your device, but the player is only queuing the types of songs you’re in the mood for.

To begin creating a true noise-canceling system, firms must first connect the disparate systems that house their information. Instead of searching through multiple systems to find the documents necessary to complete a task, firms can create a “single source of information,” which means centralizing documents by connecting those disparate systems into one view. This will enable timekeepers and other staff to access critical information from a singular application and save hours of work, hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted time, and loads of frustration.

This gain in productivity will not only save time, but it will also set the stage for your timekeepers to do their best strategic work and unlock opportunities for collaboration. Given the short- and long-term value of surfacing vital information at your firm, do you have a plan to cancel the noise?

When it comes to sifting through the mountains of data at your firm, you need more than a magnifying glass. Get in touch with us today to learn how Handshake can bring together all your firm’s knowledge in one place.