CxO of the Week: Rahul Malhotra, CFO, Integreon Managed Solutions

Technological advancements and innovations in the legal industry have offered new growth avenues in the sector. They are helping the law firms inculcate a transparent relationship with clients. Emerging technologies such as AL- ML, Blockchain, NLP etc. are replacing manual tasks in legal enterprises. The face of courtrooms post-covid is changing. The major impact, though, comes in the form of legal outsourcing. In the CxO of the Week series, we have Rahul Malhotra, CFO, Integreon Managed Solutions talk about the industry and Integreon's role in the Legal Tech industry.

What kind of challenges are legal firms in India facing today? What is the role of technology in the Legal New Normal?

With the pandemic upending the way we approach work and workplaces, law firms had to undergo a major transformation, and that comes with its own unique set of challenges. In a matter of a few days, law firms had to switch to remote work. It seems to have gone well till now, but some law firms are grappling with this new relationship with technology. The lack of user experience can not only disrupt the expansion of law firms but also faces competition from firms offering seamless legal services using legal tech.

Another major challenge that causes apprehension in the law community is data security. Law firms have traditionally been slow to invest in the right data protection technology and resources, making them soft targets for malicious hackers, putting confidential client data at peril. Another challenge facing law firms in India is the obtainment of new clients. With the tried and tested methods for meeting clients— in-person events, client dinners and in-office review sessions— taking a halt, obtaining clients has become quite challenging. This is topped by the simple fact that firms are still required to meet client expectations in a remote virtual environment, and that is where technology plays an instrumental role.

Firms that have managed to leverage tech-enabled solutions are providing better outcomes cost-effectively. The adoption of video-conferencing tools like Zoom has been instrumental for seamless interaction. AI is being used for due diligence and legal analytics. Attorneys are relying on legal software to organize their cases, build courtroom presentations, manage the businesses side of the practice and much more.

Legal tech, legal outsourcing is relatively a new concept for Indian lawyers and law firms. How are Indian companies fairing vis-à-vis global peers?

The pandemic has propelled law into the digital age and has restructured its landscape. From consumers to providers, to the entire judicial system, the whole legal ecosystem is undergoing a massive transformation. In India, the COVID-19 crisis came at a time when the focus was already on accelerating the setting up of E-courts and the digitization of justice and court administration. The crisis has provided a greater fillip in bringing about a rapid transformation in the manner of court administration in the country.

Indian companies are faring well and technology in the legal space has a vibrant future. Young law professionals are dynamic and open to the newer ways of working and practising law. In the present scenario, many legal-tech companies are foraying into online products and services such as online filing services, the online creation of legal documents and contracts, making the client find a lawyer, online legal database companies for legal research and so on. This is just the beginning. Implementation of AI in due diligence, research and legal analytics is also taking legal tech to new heights.

How important is cloud to the legal outsourcing business? Is law-related data safe on the cloud?

Cloud has been critical to the legal outsourcing business. Cloud is being used for better financial management, end-to-end invoice processing, better documentation and smarter contracting. For instance, we at Integreon started with our ERP Journey in 2015. We have built multiple customization and ERP system to map organizational processes. Our Cloud ERP is helping us deliver decisive insights into Integreon’s financial position and profitability. It is also helping us, reduce risk, increase cost savings, and enforce compliant spending.

With the adoption of cloud, there are obviously concerns regarding data safety. I feel, addressing the issue comes down to their responsibility to take reasonable care in choosing cloud technology and vendors. When choosing a vendor, it is important to ensure that the client data you store remains in full possession and control of the firm with no ownership rights or access by the cloud vendor. An additional safeguard would be to encrypt the client data; keep the encryption keys within the law firm before data movement to the cloud. With these steps, benefits outweigh the security concerns that the cloud has to offer.

What does the face of organisational battles in a courtroom look like in the New Normal?

COVID-19 social distancing prevented judges, lawyers, witnesses and litigants from physically appearing in court. It forced courts to undergo overnight digital transformations and raises the prospect of remote hearings becoming a more permanent fixture of courts of the future.

The use of web applications like Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and other similar platforms increased. We’ve already seen these platforms used for minor court proceedings and hearings. However, realizing their effectiveness will definitely give rise to their use in more advanced, lengthy court settings and not just those that require expediency. The new normal of courtrooms is indeed digital.

Are AI-ML-based Chatbots going to be a part of legal tech?

With the influx of technology, virtual law firms and assistants are already becoming commonplace. Law firms need to leverage the power of chatbots for managing their existing and potential customers. Although chatbots are more focused on providing services for consumers, several companies are designing and developing solutions specifically for lawyers.

By automating legal services, Chatbots are positioned to offer value-add for customers. Chatbots are being used by legal firms to promote interactive and user-friendly communication with their customers so that lawyers can shift their focus to important legal work. By offering enhanced customer support, law firms establish and strengthen trust with existing as well as new customers.

Chatbots are handling law firms’ mundane, yet essential tasks thereby allowing legal professionals to focus on research and strategic work. This can reduce the burden of report generation and documentation to vastly improve productivity. With these advantages, AI, and ML-based chatbots are and will continue to be a key aspect of legal tech.

What are some key legal-tech-related areas that will witness a change in 2021?

The growth of the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) market which is projected to reach USD 35.9 billion by 2025 can chiefly be attributed to digitization. Emerging technologies such as AI, ML, Blockchain and NLP are leading to newer delivery models and the advent of virtual law firms. 2021 will witness automation of tasks like legal research, documentation, citation, and ensuring litigation support to the contract.

A McKinsey study on Automation and Productivity suggests that it is possible to automate about 25% of a lawyers’ time. To that effect, most legal firms have adopted document and business process automation. They are also deploying Natural Language Processing (NLP) and document automation capabilities to reduce mundaneness from work. Virtual Legal Assistants are also a fast-growing trend, especially in large enterprises.

Law firms are looking at cloud storage for their data storage needs. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are being increasingly adopted for remote consultation of clients, training new lawyers, and collaborating with experts. All these technological developments are shaping the new normal of the LPO market in India and abroad.

How is Integreon contributing to this change? What are Integreon’s growth strategy and innovation roadmap for 2021?

Our growth strategy for 2021 is focused on being a smart provider of alternative legal and business solutions to our stakeholders. In 2020, the legal industry saw various new trends, which were initially challenging but with a resilient business continuity plan and strong client relationships, we delivered.

We recognized the importance of embracing technology to both, our clients, and employees. To provide a comprehensive, in-depth picture for our clients, we invested in technology to track key metrics and data to provide them with a clear and holistic picture of their contract’s status. New technology advances in data capture and visualization have helped us identify patterns across a client’s contracts to flag areas that signify potential risk. Data has helped us tremendously in informing our decisions for staffing and leveraging our teams’ industry knowledge.

One of our biggest initiatives was moving to the cloud. With our cloud partner Oracle, we implemented four key solutions:

- Oracle Financials Cloud Service

- Oracle Fusion Purchasing Cloud Service

- the Oracle Fusion Automated Invoice Processing Cloud Service and

- Oracle Web Centre Form Recognition Cloud Service.

These helped us to automate more than ever! It has helped us streamline performance through a shared infrastructure, better our financial management, end-to-end invoice processing, better documentation, and smarter contracting. With its data-driven insights, we are also being able to increase profitability and reduce risk and costs. Going forward, technology will continue to play a key role in Integreon’s client service delivery. We are a progressive company when it comes to new technology adoption. We are carefully cultivating our relationships with technology solution providers to build necessary structure and automation for our services.