Digital Transformation in Law Firms: Transform Your Data

SCOTT DUDA: I'm Scott Duda, Leader of the Professional Services Industry for Cherry Bekaert. Today we're wrapping up our discussion on digital transformation for law firms with a real-life example. With me are Jennifer McKinnon, Senior Client Success Manager in our Digital Advisory practice, and Denise Tyson, Head of Finance and Operations for national civil defense firm Tyson Mendez. Welcome, Jennifer and Denise.

SCOTT DUDA: Jennifer, can you give us a little bit of background on yourself and your experience with digital transformation?

JENNIFER MCKINNON: Absolutely. I'm a senior associate with Cherry Bekaert. I have worked as a Senior Client Success Manager and project manager for the past few years, serving clients as small as three employees up to thousands. I help them along their digital transformation and analytics journey.

SCOTT DUDA: Denise, I know your title is Head of Finance and Operations, but there's a bit more to that. Can you talk about your role?

DENISE TYSON: Hi, Scott. Thanks for having me. That is my title. I describe my role as doing anything at the law firm that most people don't want to do. I handle accounting, finance, real estate, IT, and data analysis. If necessary, I will sweep the floors. People not wanting to do accounting kind of hurts my feelings.

SCOTT DUDA: As you started your digital transformation journey, what did reporting look like before Jennifer and her team got involved and before Tableau? What did reporting look like inside Tyson Mendez?

DENISE TYSON: There wasn't much reporting. We were using QuickBooks, so we received only the financial statements QuickBooks produced. There was virtually no analysis. We knew people's hourly rates, but we didn't know how many hours, how many matters, or similar details. That information was not available, and we needed Jennifer and her team and the Tableau product to get us started.

SCOTT DUDA: I know the initial engagement was more for executive reporting. Talk about that initial engagement, the impact, and what it resulted in. Jennifer, what was that initial engagement for and how did it progress?

JENNIFER MCKINNON: The initial request was strictly for executive reporting for the managing partners, Denise, and the head of finance. It was intended to provide rolled-up data for their weekly and monthly meetings and to remain exclusive to executive reporting.

DENISE TYSON: It definitely expanded. Once people realized the information was knowledge rather than something secret, they wanted more. We started with one or two high-level reports; now we probably have 10 to 15 executive reports. It expanded to the marketing, HR, and administration departments because they see the power in the data.

DENISE TYSON: When working with executives, a real concern is security and access. If Tableau contains data intended for executive eyes only, there's concern about giving others access. We worked with Tyson Mendez to implement row-level security and folder structures so the appropriate people see the appropriate data and dashboards.

DENISE TYSON: We started with three or four licenses and now we're up to about 60. Once I realized I could grant one person access to a single report, it became easy to use and adoption increased. The downside is now 60 people view my data daily and send emails about discrepancies, but that's a good problem to have.

SCOTT DUDA: You mentioned starting with executive reporting and expanding into operations, finance, HR, and marketing. Can you talk about how reporting evolved, particularly in finance, marketing, and HR?

DENISE TYSON: I used to get questions like "Can we measure this?" Now I get "Should we measure it?" or "When can we measure it?" Requests come from all departments. Finance questions are straightforward: how many cases do we have, how many billing hours, and what was our collections ratio last month. Marketing wants to know how many people attended a seminar and how many files resulted from that seminar.

DENISE TYSON: You were able to connect BambooHR into Tableau as well. Originally, our single source of information was our operational system, ProLaw, and now you pull from BambooHR. HR can see retention rates, team structures, who is on each team, who left, and turnover ratios by team. Everyone can't believe they didn't have this before and they want more.

JENNIFER MCKINNON: One thing Denise and I have done well, which has evolved firmwide, is translate informal requests into usable analytics. Denise will literally draw something on a piece of paper and send it to me. Other groups ask who is leaving the firm, why, or when. We dive into why they want the information, what they will do with it, and the best way to present it so they can make actionable decisions. Would you agree?

DENISE TYSON: Absolutely. Jennifer is the person who knows everything we are doing at the firm. I try to attend meetings but I'm not at every meeting; Jennifer is. When someone from HR requests a report, she can tell them whether we're already tracking it and ask what they need it for, then either provide the same information or modify it for their benefit. This approach saves time and works well. I'll have a thought in the middle of the night, draw it on paper, take a photo, email it, and within about 24 hours I have a polished version of my chicken-scratch drawing.

SCOTT DUDA: How does Cherry Bekaert fit with Tyson Mendez? Who is driving the process, and what are the roles on the team as you pull these requests and ideas together?

DENISE TYSON: Initially, I cannot take credit for bringing Cherry Bekaert and Tableau to Tyson Mendez, but I will take credit for the results produced. It started with me and a couple of people on my accounting team. Now we're in meetings constantly; someone suggests an idea, it percolates, and we decide how to roll it out. For the most part, initiatives come through me. Some team members email Jennifer directly; Jennifer will flag those to me. Primarily, it's Jennifer and me working together. She knows what Cherry Bekaert can do, and I have the ideas. We've worked together for well over a year, probably almost two years, and the business intelligence results are unbelievable. They have brought many "what if" scenarios to fruition.

JENNIFER MCKINNON: As Denise said, it started that way. Tim, our main analyst, and I feel like extensions of the Tyson Mendez team. We've earned their trust. Denise shares her vision, we deliver a first iteration, and we iterate until the final result. We have weekly check-ins to review project status. The analyst team and I work with Denise's team or the marketing and finance teams to bring the requested analytics to life.

SCOTT DUDA: It sounds like you have a great team and strong working dynamic. Denise and Jennifer, thank you for the discussion today. For our listeners, contact information for Jennifer is included in the podcast. Please reach out; we're happy to guide you on your digital transformation journey.

DENISE TYSON: Thank you, Scott.

JENNIFER MCKINNON: Thanks, Scott.