Editor’s note: Guest blogger Andrew McLennan-Murray is an applications integrator for Thomson Reuters, Legal.
Throughout the course of the last five years law firms have been working to deploy universal and enterprise search systems. Law firms generate an enormous amount of data, so the challenge of selecting and searching the right data is often overwhelming.
At ILTA 2010, the session “Successful Universal Search Implementations” invited firms to share their best practices. Among the firms sharing their recipes were Sheppard Mullin, Gibbons P.C., Cassels Brock, Bracewell & Juliani LLP and Howrey LLP. Between them, they covered an impressive breadth of technologies including SharePoint powered by XMLAW, Recommind’s MindServer, Microsoft’s FAST ESP, Autonomy’s IUS, and West km.
Each firm commented on the complexity of the current technology landscape for universal search. They urged the audience to take a hard look at all available options before making a purchase decision. Rachelle Rennagel, CKO of Sheppard Mullin also gave the following tips on ensuring your firm is even ready to consider implementing a universal search plan:
Before buying:
-Don’t rush into any decisions. Take your time and make sure your firm has the resources available to see a search strategy all the way through.
-Is your organization ready? Rachelle cautioned that if your firm’s culture is not one of collaboration and efficiency then “if you build it, they may not come.”
-Make sure to obtain support from IT and scope the project properly. Costs are often more than anticipated so planning for extra budget padding was recommended.
The participating firms each had their own unique technology environment and setup, so each firm was proceeding into uncharted territory. They all had various technology challenges, but cited that being prepared to persevere with their implementation methodologies was the true key to successfully implementing a universal search mechanism.
What worked well:
-Patrick DiDomenico, CKO of Gibbons P.C. commented that generating hype within his user base created an environment of excitement and helped promote user adoption. He instated a secret beta in which users were selected to participate. He believes this helped with the active usage of their search platform immensely.
-Many of the participating firms noted that managing vendor and partner relationships could be both a challenge and a great boon if executed correctly. They noted that many vendors had great depth of knowledge and could be used to generate ideas. They cautioned that some vendors may not have enough legal industry experience, and query a vendor about their legal industry investment and strategy before partnering with them.
-One of the most effective strategies reported was to ask the users at the firm what they want out of a search engine, and design around that user needs document.
Ultimately each of these successful firms spoke to culture, planning, and perseverance as their true reasons for success. Rather than focusing on the technology, they focused on the people who would be using, benefitting from, and maintaining that technology in order to create sustainable universal search.
Andrew McLennan-Murray
Applications Integrator
Thomson Reuters, Legal
Posted by Andrew McLennan-Murray in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
