The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/116777
best practices Planning an In-House Data Analytics Solution by Joe Knight and Joe Sremack of FTI Consulting Tracking, understanding and making An In-House Advantage decisions based on data are becoming commonplace practices that are useful in many areas, from compliance to financial planning to case management. The best method for firms and legal departments to improve their understanding of costs, returns on investments and performance is through the strategic analysis of their data — and an in-house data analytics solution provides this through customized, real-time reports. An in-house analytics solution is a cross-functional, multipurpose platform for understanding data, and implementing such a solution provides some advantages that appeal to law firms and legal departments. Ease of Use New data analytics solutions are easy to implement and use. Modern analytics solutions run in any operating system environment and have user-friendly installation processes. Data imports and conversions are handled through visual wizards that allow the user to import data without needing programming knowledge. Data visualization tools allow users to visually analyze data instead of pouring over spreadsheets that are purely numeric, or the standard pie charts and line graphs. Analyses can also be shared through PDFs or on the Web through built-in Web-sharing features. 8 Peer to Peer • Security: An in-house solution maintains sensitive and confidential data within the organization's walls, providing extra assurance that information is not available to an unauthorized person • Independence: Reports can be created easily, so someone within the company can create an ad hoc report quickly at any hour, rather than relying on an external vendor • Agility: An in-house solution can be used to analyze various types of data and can be integrated with existing applications in order to avoid creating a patchwork, disparate set of applications