Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

What are the first few stages of assessment required to establish what improvements need to be made? Each business is unique as its strategy, governance framework and corporate culture differ so significantly, even for similar companies in the same industry. Business transformation is part of every successful company’s overall strategy as change management through transformation enables a business to improve and adapt to stay relevant and remain competitive. Theinitialstagesareallaboutunderstanding the perceived issues, getting a firm grip on the scope and analysing the data which is provided. The next stage is one of planning and design for the project and agreeing on messaging and the transformation team members within the organisation. CHANGE MANAGEMENT About Rob Ford I am the Executive Director of Governance Gurus, the corporate governance training and consulting experts. I have lived and worked out of Dubai for the last decade and more recently, I’m in and out of Malaysia with many projects and corporate training masterclasses. The two main reasons I enjoy working in the Middle East and Malaysia are the diversity of culture and appetite to embrace good governance. In 2009 I was headhunted to transform a corporate services division within an international law firm with its main regional office in Dubai. This was a challenging project as it required a full root - branch review of the business unit, the employees and the services, systems and fee structures. Having a Transformation Strategy to Meet the Needs of Your Firm and Those of Your Clients Change management and business strategy programmes enable businesses to transition and progress more effectively. Speaking to Rob Ford at Governance Gurus, we discuss what steps law firms ought to take in order to improve their corporate needs, whilst still meeting the needs of clients. How often do businesses disregard effective IT systems and software? Following from this, how often do law firms fall victim to this? Most businesses forget the importance of IT and the impact it can have on the success of the transformation project. Law firms are no different. When planning for a wholesale system overhaul or new processes and systems, its vital to include IT from a licencing, IT security aspect and of course, regarding IT governance and ensuring data and information are secure. What challenges do law firms face when it comes to change management? How can they work around this for the betterment of their firm and its clients? Law firms have had to transform in order to meet the requirements of their clients. For instance, firms have revisited their fee structuring, namely fixed fees, blended rates or stepped fees based on volumes. All industries go through transitions and technology is now firmly front and centre of all businesses. Technology is supposed to make us work smarter and not harder. The reality is that systems only do what they are programmed to do, and workflows, processes and procedures should match what is required for staff to work effectively and efficiently. Both fee earners and non-fee earners should be able to work effectively for efficient client support. “Each business is unique as its strategy, governance framework and corporate culture differ so significantly, even for similar companies in the same industry” 60 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | FEB 2020 Thought Leader Robert L. Ford, Governance Gurus