Turning Your Law Firm into a Virtual Office: Communications and Accountability

With the increasing concern and spread of coronavirus, businesses are preparing for prolonged absences. Employee absences are increasing due to illness in their families, the dismissal of childcare and school, and personal convictions to remain isolated during the outbreak.

This blog is part of a series of articles to help you and your team transition during this difficult time while continuing business operations and client meetings. Yesterday we covered file sharing and work collaboration. Today we provide ideas on how to keep communication lines open with your staff while they work remotely and hold them accountable for productivity and quality client service. 

Many of the systems you utilize daily are already accessed digitally and do not require you to be at a specific location: ElderDocx, Office365, Clio, etc. However, managing staff and ensuring quality control becomes more complicated when we remove a shared workspace.

Transitioning to a virtual work environment will require effective communication and robust processes. It will also require technologies that enable you to work efficiently and collaboratively. Below are several tools available to help you maintain team communication and accountability.

Team Communication

Sococo
https://www.sococo.com
An online workplace that enables instant chat, virtual meetings, and web camera and screen sharing. You can also obtain shareable meeting links for guests outside your team to join virtually.
Pricing: $13.49/user/month (up to 49 users)
Free trial available.

Slack
https://slack.com
It helps teams communicate and collaborate across remote distances. Enables and encourages the sharing of documents, images and other assets across teams
Pricing: $0 to $12.50/month

Project and Case Management

There are many solutions available to help you manage workflows, tasks, and client matters. Here are a few we have used, as well as what we hear most frequently implemented by our members. 

• Taskray: https://taskray.com
• Trello: https://trello.com/en-US
• Basecamp: https://basecamp.com
• Clio: https://www.clio.com
• Practice Panther: https://www.practicepanther.com
• MyCase: https://www.mycase.com
• Smokeball: https://www.smokeball.com

It may seem that the world and your business are on hold, however, your communities still require your guidance and services. Now more than ever, your clients need you. 

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If you have questions or wish to discuss how to implement a contingency plan for your business, don't hesitate to contact one of our Practice Solutions Advisors: