Tag Archives for " ROI "

Strategy, Planning, and ROI Tracking for 2018

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations , Feit Consulting , Librarians , Modern Law Library , Pricing , Sole Provider , Vendors

Spring brings about the opportunity to do things differently. Technology and the buzz word – modernization, are on the mind we enter into this new year. There are tactical things you as an Administrator or Librarian can do to stay ahead of the game this coming year, and make technology and modernization optimized within your Library.

Budget – Two key words come to mind with regards to budget: collaboration and reporting. Work with Finance to more efficiently monitor budget and expenses. Establish a new schedule for collecting data, and the date of each month or quarter you will turn around that data. For example, receiving data on the 3rd of the month and providing a report to management on the 10th of each month.

Reporting – What metrics are you using to measure ROI and showcase value? Are you collecting feedback from library users? Are you using an Electronic Resource Management (ERM) tool? If so, are you utilizing its full capacity?

Contract Management Planning – Implement new deadlines for legal information management planning. Most of us mark contract expirations on a calendar or in a tracking program. Go a step further.

• Month 1: Determine which tools you have in place that can provide data on usage, costs, and value. Such tools may include: Invoices, ERM, developing a survey for users, and scheduling one-on-one conversations with attorneys and staff to assess value and usage of products.
• Month 2: Collect data. Based on the tools determined in month 1, begin collecting data. Work with finance to dive into invoices.
• Month 3: Analyze the data. Understand what is your ROI for the expiring product(s). Look at as many metrics as you can: Spend per Attorney, usage, discount, etc.
• Month 4-6: Begin the negotiation process by requesting a proposal from vendor. Remember, it is more beneficial for vendors to wait to the last minute for pressure to sign the new contract. It won’t be easy but start early.

For firms and organizations considering eliminating Lexis or Westlaw, start this process 9 months to 12 months in advance of your contract expiration of either vendor. Assessing vendor preference and combating concerns is a lengthier process than one might think. While it has been done in a month, having more time on your side is always an advantage.

Feit Consulting’s Optimizing Legal Information Pricing is an excellent resource. It shares detailed processes and steps for contract negotiation planning, knowing which metrics to use, and how best to strategize the negotiation process.

2018 Changes & Projects for Improving Your Bottom Line

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Best Practices , Feit Consulting

Return on Investment (ROI): For some firms and organizations, the law library can seem like a large expense without full trackablity of the value it offers. Some firms and organizations use it as a cost center. However, there are ways to enhance return on investment beyond general reporting. Not to negate reporting because we do highly recommend it. Here are other ways to provide ROI for your law library.

Billing Title Change: Changing the billing title of one or all of the Library staff can be a simple fix to passing on their research time to clients.

Modern Library Audit: A Modern Library Audit provides a current assessment of where your law library is today, and based on your unique firm’s or organization’s situation, what opportunities exist for transforming and streamlining workflow. Feit Consulting conducts Modern Library Audits for firms and organizations. This encompasses our team of experts completing an assessment of usage, processes and technology use. We provide a full business case with clear recommendations, specific to your firm and organization. Recommendations provided highlight the impact on your bottom line. No two law libraries are alike, nor are the solutions and services needed for optimizing use and value.

Start the Negotiation Process Early: Time is a huge advantage in the legal information contract negotiation process. Providing an adequate amount of time to begin the process can mean the difference of thousands of dollars for the firm/organization. Assess value early, Get quotes early.

Benchmark Your Contracts: When was the last time you had your contracts benchmarked by an outside firm? Your firm or organization may have the strongest negotiators in the industry but without the knowledge of where your contract stands in the market, you have no foundation to start from.

Revisit your Legal Information Strategy: Don’t wait till the last minute to negotiate (Plan ahead post) – Look at Sole provider playbook report and blog posts.

Collection Audit: Is your portfolio of resources serving your constituents fully? We have clients to sign a new contract year over year without assessing the use and value to users because the price tag is not significant. These small items can add up. Take the time to review your collection. If you don’t’ have the time, hire an outside consulting firm like Feit Consulting. With a little investment of time and money, you could be saving thousands over the years to come.

Interested in learning more about what Feit can do for your firm, contact us today for an initial consultation.

The Law Library: A Center of Excellence

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends , Modern Law Library , Resources

“A Center of Excellence (COE) is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support and / or training for a focus area.”

– Mark O. George (2010), The Lean Six Sigma Guide To Doing More With Less, John Wiley & Sons.

It is no secret that the legal sector is in flux. As clients demand better value for the dollars they spend, firms are taking a hard look at how they do business; analyzing their organizational structure, and evaluating the way services are delivered with an eye towards process improvement.  Out of this structural evolution comes the Modern Law Library.

The top challenges facing law firms today has little to do with actually practicing law.  As costs and expenses rise and revenue drops, law firms are facing major hurdles supporting  their everyday business practices.  How exactly might the Modern Library help?

By moving towards a COE approach, the Modern Library can provide “sufficient and easily accessible legal and business research” so that decision makers have intelligence to make informed decisions for positive results.  Still providing research services, the Modern Law Library embodies evolution, innovation and collaboration.

Where to begin?

A Feit Modern Library Audit evaluates the utilization of personnel, internal processes, technology, legal information contracts and overall support to assess and identify new roles the library might consider within their Firm. Presented are clear recommendations specific to your firm/organization with the goal of saving money, improving efficiencies, and maximizing the utilization of resources.

What better way to start the New Year than with resolutions for improvement. Is it time to consider transitioning your library to a Modern Library and towards a Center of Excellence?

Contact a Feit Advisor for an initial conversation on what this means for your Firm.  

ROI of a Modern Library Audit

By Michael Feit | Feit Consulting , Librarians , Modern Law Library , Resources

The Modern Library requires individuals to change their mindset from maintaining the status quo and becoming open to new ways of doing things. What is the ROI of your Law Library? What tools are you utilizing to track metrics? Do you feel the library’s resources are being optimized?

Whether you are an Administrator or Librarian, the goal of becoming a modern law library can have many obstacles – money, time, firm culture.

In a Modern Library Audit, our team of experts evaluate resources, personnel, technology, processes, and overall usage of the Library and its’ resources. In analyzing all of these components, a unique business plan is developed with workable recommendations that are specific to your firm’s needs and culture. Recommendations will include clear steps to increasing the Return On Investment of your Library.

Let an objective team of experts develop a business plan for optimizing your Law Library to support the business of law. Contact Feit Consulting today to set up an initial call on how a Modern Law Library Audit can benefit your firm. 

Billables: A Metric of the Modern Law Library

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Budgeting , Modern Law Library , Pricing

Seeking out new ways to (bill) financially support the library is a core element of the library modernization.  Feit Consulting’s research found that 94% of Libraries that deem themselves “modern” are billing for their time.

Billing for Library time and research services is an easy metric to illustrate use and ROI, if your firm has the necessary tools in place.

Here are 3 tips for how to implement appropriate billing practices.

1.  Monthly Monitoring – You can work with Finance to obtain monthly reports.  These monthly reports allows one to see which attorneys are passing on costs or writing off your time.  This information provides talking points for conversations with attorneys, shedding light on which attorneys are billing and which are not.
2. Highlight Expertise – For some, the title of librarian is not optimal for billing.  If the case, it could be time to change the billing title to analyst or senior analyst.  This provides an opportunity to dispel the librarian stereotype.  Many attorneys are not aware of the librarian credentials and subject expertise.  
3. Create a Billing Structure – There are various ways billing can occur.  The Library’s time can be directly billed to usage.  Alternatively, the Library’s costs could be divided evenly amongst all attorneys. 

Billing time allows the Library to function like a business, and provides data for annual budget development.  If these conversations are not yet part of one’s annual budget development, it can feel uncomfortable at first but is necessary to becoming a Modern Library.

What FEIT is Saying About Membership Libraries

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Modern Law Library

When we perform Modern Library audits, we are always looking for creative ways to advise firms on how they can supplement shrinking collections and tight staffing. One solution we have found to be of value is to recommend that firms explore joining a membership Library to support their specific needs. Generally speaking, membership libraries can help with additional research and content support, just in time document delivery, and access to specialized collections.

Since most of us are in the midst of budget season for 2018, consider how a membership Library might supplement your shrinking Library collection or cancelled online provider – what better way to address content gaps at a significant savings. For those Librarians supporting practice areas like intellectual property or specialized litigation, the cost of non-legal highly expensive technical journals can quickly eat up a Library budget. Once again we advise our clients to do a deep dive into the content offerings of the membership Library they are considering to make sure they are choosing wisely. One size does not fit all when it comes to choosing a membership Library or a level of membership.

It is not just research and documents, membership libraries have embraced new models to support their members. We like to tell our clients that membership libraries can fill needs you may not even know you have. Consider that some offer plug in apps that interface with SharePoint pushing curated information that the Library can use to enhance their online catalogs and practice group pages. Others provide remote office and meeting space and even advertising opportunities.

We advise that the Librarian should look at potential membership libraries to make sure the choice supports the needs of the firm beyond the basics of research services and document delivery. Evaluate their general, special and archival collections and ancillary services. Outline the benefits. What is the Return on Investment (ROI) to your firm? Prepare a Business Case so that management or finance understands. Membership means something entirely different in this context and you need to explain it in terms they can understand.