Tag Archives for " optimize "

Jun 20

Beyond the Price

By Michael Feit | Budgeting , Contract Negotiations , Pricing

Often times, the focus in legal information contract negotiations is the contract price. Securing a great price for the service and product offered is great, but only if the service and product offered match the firm’s legal information needs.

The first and most important step in optimizing your firm’s legal information resources and budget is a library audit. Evaluating and assessing how often resources are utilized is a key indicator of value. As practice groups come and go, information needs change and new products come to market.

The library audit can be conducted in various ways: from a high-level comb-over to evaluating each specific resource. If the latter, this can be a time-intensive pay-off. If your firm has not conducted a library audit in the last three years, it is worthwhile to take the time to do so now. If you don’t have time, consider outsourcing this task.

Understanding the use/value of your firm’s resources is essential to optimizing your firm’s legal information resource budget. Feit Consulting has encountered clients paying for resources that offer little value and have little to no use. When asked, firms share, “It costs so little.”

Don’t become a victim of paying for products the firm doesn’t use or need. Feit Consulting’s latest report, Optimizing Legal Information Pricing shares detailed steps and processes for achieving optimal results in legal information contract negotiations. Learn more here.

Feb 27

What Reporting to C-Suite Means for the Librarian

By Michael Feit | Librarians , White Papers

The new way librarians report up can present challenges. In the past, librarians may have reported to a library partner or management committee. As firms streamline management and C-Suite positions evolve, librarians find themselves reporting up in ways that can present not only new challenges but real opportunities. Legal information professionals have the opportunity to showcase their knowledge skills and promote interdepartmental cooperation.

Whether one reports to the CMO, CIO, CFO or COO, it is important to understand their concerns and what keeps them up at night. Knowing the issues facing C-Suite and their strategy to make the firm successful will give you, the librarian, a better understanding of where you fit in and what talents you can bring to the table.

Moving beyond “but they don’t understand what we do” puts you in the role of innovator and change agent. Knowledge is power, and librarians should not underestimate their ability to influence.

CMO’S need to understand that librarians can fulfill the role of Competitive Intelligence professionals, identifying and supporting business development initiatives, as well as assisting with marketing efforts. CIOs can tap into librarian skills of Knowledge Management, helping IT to identify technology and systems to improve workflow. For those librarians reporting up to the CFO, showcasing business skills in contract negotiations and implementation of cost-effective research strategies will show your willingness to work toward growing the firm’s bottom line.

To modernize, firms must assess the best approaches to delivering information while considering cost and work product. Feit Consulting is offering unique opportunities to participate in the development of its Beyond Virtualization white paper. Firms who purchase early have the opportunity to be directly involved. There will also be survey opportunities.

We hope you will join us as we explore the possibilities. For more information about Beyond Virtualization, click here.