Select the wrong vendor and you will quickly have the wrong business system. E-commerce is just around the corner and your vendor better be preparing for it. Increasingly, law firm clients will prefer electronic bills. Those clients, including individuals, will also pay those bills electronically. Likewise, the law firm will shift from printing and signing checks to paying the firm's expenses electronically.
Law firms are in business to practice law.
Attorneys did not go to law school to become computer experts. Yet long-term survival of the firm may depend on those decisions. The only sound answer is to pick a vendor you have confidence in to supply the technical vision and innovations to keep your systems competitive - so that you and other members of your firm can concentrate on the practice of law. This article is reprinted with permission from the April 2001 issue of Law Technology News 2001 NLP IP Company. Redistribution and commercial use are prohibited.