What is "Change Management?"
Change management is the process of preparing your legal and surrounding teams for the swap from an existing Legal Ops e-Billing tool to SimpleLegal. It is a critical step in ensuring the proper onboarding of the software and building long-term acceptance of the new system.
Why is Change Management Important?
Successful adoption of a new tool or process sets the stage for how your organization will co-exist with SimpleLegal. Change management prepares your team for the “why” and “what” of migrating from one system to another. The most important question to answer for your team is: what problems are you solving by migrating to SimpleLegal? If your team understands this, the implementation of SimpleLegal becomes a goal for the entire organization to work towards.
How to Prepare Your Team
- Communication is key! Provide delivery dates, why your team is making this switch, and training opportunities early and often. If necessary, SimpleLegal has communication templates available to assist with starting these conversations. View the SimpleLegal Implementation Communications Library and select the "SimpleLegal Onboarding, Migrating ELM Systems" template.
- Do you have team members who could be resistant to change or need extra assistance? Provide opportunities to explain why this change is occurring, what the benefits are the change, and resources for asking questions during implementation and after launching SimpleLegal. Early exposure lessens the uncertainty of your team members.
- Your SimpleLegal system does not need to match your existing workflow. Your team is making a conscious decision to bring on a new system, ensure that you are not bringing over old processes or data “just because” it was in your old system if it no longer supports your workflows.
Implementation Recommendation Tips and Tricks
- Tell your team why you’ve decided to switch to SimpleLegal to your legal team! What problems are you trying to solve and what are you excited or eager to implement with this new system? Your excitement will help your team get on board.
- Take some time to review your existing data (e.g. matters, vendors, etc) to see what data is working and, more importantly, what is no longer working for your team. Does all data need to be brought over? Should anything be cleaned up or organized in a more meaningful way?
Is your team onboarding a new e-billing system for the first time? Check out our New e-Billing System Change Management details!
