Choosing Your Practice Management Software

In this episode, I introduce the guidance on choosing suitable practice management software for law firm owners. Technology affords us privileges, and we want to use it effectively. But many lawyers get so overwhelmed when choosing a practice management software due to their personal preference and a large quantity of available software in the market. They often encounter loss of income, time and frustration.  Tune in to learn more about the process of choosing effective practice management software for law firm owners.   In this episode we discuss: Choosing the right software when it takes so much time to review and decide. Knowing your priorities and what is needed in your particular law firm. Considering 3 main areas and what features are needed for each. The importance of calendar integration for both scheduling and billing. Accepting that one piece of software may not be able to meet all your needs. Having your practice management and accounting software integrate to avoid double data entry. The importance of having a plan for introducing and adopting new software. Knowing your firm’s tolerance for change and the anticipated level of resistance. Making sure you know who is responsible for exporting data out of the old software and importing into the new, and in a manner that will minimize downtime.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snip-Its 00:19:10 (51 Seconds) Most small firms have a multitude of different software, and sometimes the assumption is that you just don't know all the things that your software can do. But the reality is, even when you know what they can do, sometimes you just don't like it. Right? You love everything about the software except the task management or you love everything about the software except the financial accounting side. It's OK to find a good enough solution, and with software, almost invariably the solutions will be good enough. There are some people that will say, Oh yeah, I love everything about this piece of software. It does everything that I need. I have no questions. I have no needs outside of this. But typically, when a person says that, that is an indication that they have less sophistication and knowledge about all the things that are possible with all the software that they could be looking into.