In the modern business ecosystem, corporate paralegals and private law professionals handle more data than ever before. Clients expect their legal teams to protect their confidential information while simultaneously providing optimal value.
In order to meet these evolving client expectations, law firms and in-house teams must have access to the latest entity management software. However, corporate paralegals and attorneys are notoriously hesitant to adopt new technologies. Unfortunately, this long-standing trend can allow their entities to get out of control.
Like most other legal organizations, your firm has likely encountered some of these entity management challenges firsthand. Below, we examine some of the most common causes of unruly corporate data and outline how you can rein in all of this business-critical information.
Top Causes of Unruly Corporate Data
While there are many factors that can make it challenging to manage your entities, four of the most common pain points are:
Antiquated Software and Unpredictable Downtime
Like professionals in other sectors, corporate paralegals and attorneys must keep up with the latest technologies and software. Otherwise, they will find themselves lagging behind in the operational efficiency arms race.
If your team is still relying on the entity management software of yesteryear, then you will find yourself encountering frequent issues that interfere with productivity. Most notably, antiquated technologies tend to experience more frequent downtime. Even brief outages can ruin productivity and make your team fall behind on important deadlines.
The data used to operate older technology solutions is typically stored on-site, which means that the firm is responsible for installing updates and downloading patches.
If your designated information technology team fails to perform updates and other software maintenance, then the application will become increasingly unreliable over time. To make matters worse, poorly maintained technology is more susceptible to cyberattacks, which means that your confidential client data could be exposed.
In addition, aging entity management software typically offers few integrations, if any. This lack will result in the creation of data silos.
A data silo is created when information on one particular database or application is not easily shared with other solutions. Limited data accessibility can have a direct impact on operational efficiency and productivity.
Conversely, new entity management software can facilitate seamless data sharing between all of your applications. This integration will increase data transparency and allow your team to more effectively manage vital information.
Over-Reliance on Manual Data Entry Practices
Few things hinder the efficiency of corporate paralegals more than manual data entry. Not only is manual data entry tedious and time-consuming, but it also increases the risks of input errors. Even the most detail-oriented paralegals will make mistakes on occasion.
Another concern is that manual data entry prevents corporate paralegals from working on billable hours. This restriction can diminish profitability for private firms or draw the ire of corporate executives. While some data entry will remain a necessary part of entity management, modern solutions can minimize the need for this labor-intensive practice.
Dependence on Paper Minute Books
If your team is still relying on paper minute books, then you are setting yourself up for a data management nightmare. Paper minute books are big, bulky, and costly to store. In addition, locating important documents that are scattered across your filing cabinets can be challenging.
Transitioning to a virtual alternative allows you to populate essential minute book files and folders with the press of a button. This approach facilitates more effective auditing and compliance while also allowing you to demonstrate the value of your services to clients.
Messy Deadlines
Does the fear of missing vital compliance deadlines keep you up at night? If so, it’s a sure sign that your entities are out of control. Messy, unclear deadlines are a common side effect of unruly data. It is a direct result of communicating completion timelines via disorganized methods.
Conversely, entity management solutions allow you to organize compliance activities, assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and manage your metadata. These features are designed to further increase overall transparency and make your fear of missed deadlines a thing of the past.
The Solution: Entity Management Software
On their own, messy deadlines, antiquated technologies, unexpected outages, paper minute books, or manual data entry practices can lead to entity mismanagement. Cumulatively, they can dull your team’s competitive edge, hinder profitability, and endanger your data security.
Fortunately, all of these efficiency pain points can be alleviated by implementing cloud-based entity management software, such as Athennian. Our dynamic solution includes a broad range of tools and features that are designed to optimize efficiency and boost productivity.
Athennian includes virtual minute books, deadline management features, and a 100% cloud-based architecture. Want to learn more about best-in-breed cloud-based entity management software? Speak to a digital entity management expert today about how we can remove your entity management problems.
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