b'Local Government Lawyer 15example, a case management system couldhomeworking or may even have newerundertaking identification checks, and be configured so that it includes summariesproduct releases specifically built to supportmonitoring the progress of a case.of activities and tasks undertaken by thepoor connectivity. teams onthe respective case files to allowSingle source of the truthsupervisors to monitor progress at criticalTypically, people store information in different junctures in the lifecycle of the matters.Many people workingplaces, such as share drives, email inboxes, Similarly, by seamlessly integrating Microsofton the organisations network, and so on. In Teams with such business-critical systems,from homeduring thea widespread virtual working environment, virtual meetings could be automaticallythis scenario can pose a significant challenge scheduled at important milestones to conductlockdown have suffered fromto employees. Instituting a single system of case reviews. record is essential to establishing a single connectivity issues, be thatsource of the truth. It enables employees Remote collaboration capability for documents to work as a team, despite being remote as Lawyers often work collaboratively ondue to poor Wi-Fi in theirthey can have complete, real-time visibility of documents. In a virtual environment, itsdocuments, emails, project status, to do lists imperative that lawyers are reliably workinghomes, or bad server andand suchthereby facilitating collaboration, on the latest versions of the authenticproductivity, and efficiency.documents. Integrating the right documentVPN connectionscollaboration technology with the criticalAn eye to the future systems is essential, and today legalThis pandemic has completely shaken the departments have many optionsbe itEnabling meaningful interactions foundations of well-ensconced processes, Microsoft Teams or a range of best-of-breedIn a dispersed working environment, theresmindsets, and approaches. Best designed document management systems. no reason why public sector legal departmentsbusiness continuity plans have been found Additionally, in a remote environment,cant continue to have meaningfulwanting as organisations adapted overnight its important that systems are set up sointeractions with clients, even in the absenceto new working practices. If ever theres been that documents worked on collaborativelyof physical, in-person meetings. Technologiesa need for proof, Covid-19 has irrefutably are automatically and securely saved in thesuch as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, of course,demonstrated that agility is key. Public right case files and systems. In fact, legalfacilitate video conferencing and virtualsector legal departments and indeed every departments can configure integrationsmeetings, which have become the defaultbusiness and organisation, must have an between case management and documenttools for communication and engagementeye to the future, adopting a truly proactive management systems in a way whereacross the board.mentality. Fundamental to this is continuously employees have real-time visibility ofHowever, it is important to ensure that alloptimising existing technologies to devise documents and emails, regardless of whichgroups of employees have access to thesenew ways of working and support evolving software they were originally filed towhiletools, but more crucially, are able to intuitivelybusiness models. also complying with the security and auditembrace them.Legal teams may well findDepartments will do well to think carefully processes of both solutions.Such in-builtthat there is a group of people who may notabout the systems they invest in, in order to safeguards make remote working safe, stress- be spontaneous adopters, but that can beensure that those solutions themselves are free, and productive. changed by having a social conversationdesigned to evolve to meet the unforeseen about the benefits of technology to therequirements of the future. While we adapt Resolving connectivity issuesindividual. Technology must never become ato the new normal today, almost certainly, Many people working from home during thebarrier and so it needs to be provided to thema newer normal will once again emerge lockdown have suffered from connectivityin a way that is easily consumable. unannounced and test us. And yet again, the issues, be that due to poor Wi-Fi in theirTo illustrate, Microsoft has done a greatorganisations that have agility and adaptability homes, or bad server and VPN connections.job in providing organisations with the toolswoven into their organisational fabric, are the Even in organisations that already hadto help employees collaborate and at theones that will fare the best.flexible working policies, critical systemsvery least maintain productivity during the were configured to support occasionallockdown. Perhaps think about extending andSimon Farthing is Commercial and Marketing remote working by a limited number ofmaking that Microsoft experience seamlessDirector at LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions. employees. And some local authorities didntacross other systems, such as matter and caseHe leads the Go-To-Market (GTM) function support remote working at all. So, with themanagement. If a user is creating a documentat LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions with switch to remote working overnight duringwithin the case management system, the timeoverall responsibility for the Sales, Business the lockdown, employees in some legalspent by the individual could be automaticallyDevelopment, Marketing, Sales Operations departments suffered more than others.captured in the time recording solution. If an& Client Engagement Teams.Most system connectivity issues can beindividual is exchanging notes with another resolved by re-configuring the systems toteam member, they could be simultaneously support wholesale remote working. The firstrecorded in the master case file. port of call for legal departments should beSimilarly, to facilitate interaction with to their system providers, who can assist bycustomers, legal departments can easily set up providing different ways of access, guidanceportals within their legal workflow system to on different interfaces that may better suitenable things like setting up new instructions,'