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THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW OF

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

#ILTAG53

SPEAKERS

Tom Jones

CEO

Iridium Technologies

Suzanne Koch

Financial Controller

Nyemaster Goode, P.C.

Lisa M. Mayo

Director of Data

Management

Ballard Spahr LLP

WHAT IS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE?

From FinancesOnline.com

From FinancesOnline.com

GARTNER DEFINITION:

”…an umbrella term that includes the

applications, infrastructure and tools, and

best practices that enable access to and

analysis of information to improve and

optimize decisions and performance."

WIKIPEDIA:

“…comprises the set of strategies, processes,

applications, data, technologies and

technical architectures which are used by

enterprises to support the collection, data

analysis, presentation and dissemination of

business information. BI technologies provide

historical, current and predictive views of

business operations. ”

HISTORICAL, CURRENT AND PREDICTIVE VIEWS

@ BALLARD

HISTORICAL, CURRENT AND PREDICTIVE VIEWS

@ NYEMASTER GOODE

• Movement from paper based reports and pushed

information to dashboards and self service reports.

• Accounting no longer driving reporting needs; clients driving

new analysis

HISTORICAL, CURRENT AND PREDICTIVE VIEWS

@ “Tom’s Clients”

• 61 clients: 50-3000 timekeepers, all regions

• 100% using Historical and Current, plus “simple predictive”

such as annualization

• 25% using predictive

– Projected profitability

– Projected GL budget variance

– Customized projections

TOOLS IMPLEMENTED

@ “Tom’s Clients”

• Revenue dashboards: 95%

• Matter module: 16%, but in the first 10 weeks. Will be 50%

plus in 2018.

• GL+EXP: 60%

• Profitability: 50%

– Dashboards: 20%

– Report Packs: 40%

– Finance only: 40%

DASHBOARD ROLES IMPLEMENTED

@ “Tom’s Clients”

• WA/MBA: 100%

• Revenue Manager: 100%

• Client Resp, Matter Resp, etc.: 60%

• Originating: 10%

WHAT DOES BI MEAN IN A PRACTICAL SENSE?

How are law firms using BI?

Leveraging your data through reports, online analytical

processing and predictive analytics in order to:

• Make better operational and strategic decisions

• Look for additional business opportunities

• Identify bad or inefficient business processes

• Translate to additional dollars for our firms

BI MATURITY LEVELS

BI @ Ballard

BI @ Ballard

BI @ Ballard

BI @ Ballard

BI @ Nyemaster Goode

• Phase I – tool used to

supplement existing

financial system

reports and used solely

by Accounting

(reflective)

BI @ Nyemaster Goode

• Phase II – developed interactive dashboards and custom

month end reports for use by Shareholders (reflective and

predictive)

BI @ Nyemaster Goode

• Phase III – developing tools to manage future outcomes

(THE PUBLIC) 2017 LEGAL BI MARKETPLACE

TRENDS

• Sophisticated / demanding clients (power users)

• Transition to modern systems…

• … while demanding current capabilities

• Profitability is a big focus (as always!)

• Matter Budgeting / Matter Management is super hot

2017: IMPLEMENATION TRENDS

• More KPIS/graphics

• Marketing is using BI for pricing

• Scheduled/ad-hoc alerts

• Pushing the envelope

– Feeding profitability data into partner compensation

– Peer Comparison

– Financial penalties for missed KPIs (Late time, A/R Issues)

SELECTING A TOOLSET

Phases Involved in Selecting a Toolset:

• Identify a set of stakeholders

• Consider the possibility of engaging outside, neutral party

• Interviews

• Look for common themes

A SAMPLING OF BI TOOLS

BI TOOLS:

GARTNER MAGIC QUADRANT

@ Ballard

–Common Themes:

• Access to Timely Data

• Legal Project Management Tools

• Forecasts and Proposals

–POC

@ Nyemaster Goode

–Common Themes

• Same as Ballard

• Ease of use by Attorneys

• Ease of management by Accounting/IT

Best Practices in Selecting a Toolset (1):

Key Success Factors from the Vendor Perspective

- Start with the end in mind

- Products required, prioritized

- Desired outcomes

- Painstakingly document your

- Requirements/customizations

- Security considerations

- User personas (roles)

- Run the RFP (25%)

- Engage an outside consultant (10%)

Best Practices in Selecting a Toolset (2):

Key Success Factors from the Vendor Perspective

- Get to a vendor shortlist (2-3 is typical, 4 at most)

- 2 hour onsite demos (finance, management, IT)

- Grill them: come with your toughest questions

- Bonus: The biggest vendor selection mistakes

- #3: Not identifying your exact consulting team and confirming the schedule

- #2: Not anticipating the actual TCO (customizations, ongoing support, etc.)

- #1: Weak reference checks. Demand to see their entire client list, and call 10

of them.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR THE FUTURE

Future-proofing Legal BI

• Focus on the business user

• Focus on Why and What Will Happen Next

• Machine Learning for additional insights

• Data Storytelling

Future BI @ Ballard

- It’s all about the insights!

• Machine Learning

• Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics

• Conversational Analytics

- Embrace Big Data

- Explore vendor offerings and freemium apps

- Invest in ongoing data literacy

Future BI @ Nyemaster Goode

• Legal Project Management

• Profitability of Clients/Practice Groups/Timekeepers

• Client Facing Reports

• Information to drive behavior!

Future BI Trends

• BI will be pervasive, and highly predictive

• BI will move to the cloud (5% today)

• AI will be huge (machine learning, data mining, big data)

• Power BI will be big (2018?)

LESSONS LEARNED

@ Ballard

- Work with a vendor knowledgeable in this space

- Use "freemium" cloud based tools to demonstrate value at

low cost/risk

- Talk to other firms

- Work to get a good ETL process in place

- Enlist an advocate(s) from the business!

@ Nyemaster Goode

- Create a BI roadmap

- Define attorney and vendor expectations up front

- Make sure that BI tool aligns with firm

policies/procedures

- Be persistent with training

- Establish metrics that matter

In Praise of Boldness

A good plan, violently executed now,

is better than a perfect plan

executed next week.

General George S. Patton

(THE SECRET) 2017 LEGAL BI MARKETPLACE

TRENDS

• Extreme risk avoidance

• Micro-analysis

• Painfully slow rollouts

• Limited distribution of performance data

• Tolerance of poor product performance

• Reluctance to break the status quo

THE WORST BI DASHBOARD VIDEO. EVER.

Vendor Advice for a Successful BI Implementation

• Sharp team, empowered

• Minimal customizations (at least initially)

• Get the data reconciled

• Pilot dashboard test (do not try to satisfy everyone)

• Push out roles one at a time

• One module at a time

• Profitability #1 Best Practices Advice: Keep it Simple

The Big Finish.

The least bold, worst BI decision your

firm can make:

Sticking with a solution that is not

meeting your needs