Integrating New Tech Without Old Headaches Is Easier Said Than Done
If there’s a conflict that prevents you from attending this year’s “Technology Adoption Done Right” panel at the Legaltech conference during Legalweek, don’t worry, because moderator Brad Blickstein seems pretty confident you’ll have other chances.
“I think this will still be a topic at Legaltech 2119, to be honest with you,” said Blickstein, a principal at The Blickstein Group, a consulting and managed services firm.
But from 1-2 p.m. on Jan. 29, he’ll be the guy firing a bunch of questions about how workplaces can successfully adopt tech at a lineup of panelists inside the New York Hilton Midtown.
Blickstein will be joined by speakers Monet Fauntleroy, a senior manager of practice and innovation at White & Case; David Cambria, global director of operations at Baker McKenzie; and Brad Rogers, managing director and chief of staff/COO at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund.
“Getting technology adopted is a change management project, and both in-house and outside these are some of the leading change managers in the legal industry,” Blickstein said.
Fauntleroy believes that the panel can provide a nice counterbalance to the array of shiny new products that will be on display throughout the Legalweek conference. Early tech adopters can sometimes get swept away by the desire to remain on the cutting edge, focusing on the bells and whistles instead of the function that’s being performed.
It’s like buying a new piece of furniture that doesn’t quite mesh with your pre-existing décor—or in some cases, can’t even fit through the door.
“While it’s great to have a convention centered around the product and what’s the latest and greatest thing, it’s also great in parallel to have conversations about what it means when you have it within your ecosystem and how to make it work and how to make it successful,” Fauntleroy said.
The panel discussion will be conducted in a roundtable fashion with audience members encouraged to share questions or opinions. Topics on the docket include locating the motivating forces inside an organization that can drive change and how strong leadership at the top is essential to facilitating a smooth transition from one workflow to another.
Plus, there’s also the small matter of a company’s employees, a not inconsiderable portion of which might be reticent to abandon the pre-existing order of doing things in favor of a new approach that has yet to be drilled into habit.
“There’s always people out there that don’t want to use new tools or don’t want to do new things, or in the case of law firms, maybe aren’t properly incentivized to become more efficient. So how do you overcome those things?” Blickstein asked.
Fauntleroy would like to find an opportunity to discuss how legal tech developers can better help consumers—or more accurately, how consumers can help legal tech developers better help consumers.
With companies putting the bulk of their efforts into developing the actual technology at play, feedback from the attorneys or firms actually dealing with the logistical hurdles of implementing those products can pay dividends for both sides of the equation.
“They’re not going to understand that unless we’re more vocal about what our needs are, and hopefully they take that feedback and understand how to grow that aspect of their business as much as they grow the future development,” Fauntleroy said.
