Demonstrated thought leadership is an essential strategy to affirm your worth.
It seems the term “information explosion” was first used in 1961, in an ad published by IBM in the New York Times. To anyone such as myself, who grew up with the Internet, it seems strange to think this was the case when computers were rudimentary. Nowadays, the number of web pages on the Internet is measured in the billions, to say nothing of the number of bytes they contain…
For law firms, this poses a paradox, because clients are simultaneously better informed than ever, but also inundated with information and may need help to make sense of it all. This presents an opportunity to upgrade your pitch by adding context – let the client know how a sector of the economy is changing, how regulations are being updated, and how technological developments could improve their businesses. With your unique perspective as counsel, you can add value by informing your clients on much more than points of law.
Market intelligence is a powerful tool, in support of the business of law. While you are monitoring technological developments such as blockchain technology, you could find solutions for both your clients’ business and your own. And while you are monitoring a sector of the economy, you can use this information to issue client alerts or to identify opportunities for business development. This means the purpose of market intelligence is twofold: it provides a tactical advantage and supports your strategy.
How ‘intelligent’ is artificial intelligence?
There are already very advanced AI solutions for legal services – especially legal research, because the biggest advantage of AI is to simplify repetitive tasks. This can provide a significant cost advantage in the long term, by allowing counsel to focus on high-value tasks such as legal analysis.
Similarly, AI is changing the provision of market intelligence. There are services which will “scrape” websites that contain keywords, and provide this information on a regular basis. For wide-ranging topics however, these services may create yet another glut of information.
Humans are still undeniably better than AIs at pattern recognition. If you are dealing with complex or wide-ranging topics, high quality market intelligence can help you focus on what you do best, which is to provide well-informed legal advice.
At ShiftCentral, we can support your firm’s strategic priorities by providing market and competitive intelligence insights, through a dedicated team of analysts.
This article was originally published on ShiftCentral, now part of LAC Group.
Mario Thériault
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