How to increase user adoption of Intapp products at your law firm 

Thinking of purchasing an Intapp product and considering how to implement it at your law firm?

Or perhaps you’ve just purchased Intapp software, and you want to ensure firmwide user adoption.

In either case, many other law firms have already successfully implemented our products, guided by a stepwise process for achieving high user adoption. Below we share these key steps.

Establish a small team for overseeing implementation

An important first step in implementing your Intapp product is creating a dedicated team for guiding the implementation process. Keeping this team relatively small, with appropriate stakeholders represented, allows it to move quickly while not overlooking any important needs. 

For example, when U.K. law firm Bevan Brittan implemented Intapp Billstream, it formed a nimble team. “The dedicated team for this project was kept small,” says Nick Hodgson, Finance Director for the firm. “This helped to ensure that we made decisions quickly and accurately.” 

Create a detailed version

Because Intapp products are highly configurable to your law firm’s specific needs, a great next step in implementing Intapp software is to collaborate with the Intapp implementation team or implementation partner to devise and document your vision for how the software will support your firm. 

This initial step is exactly what Bevan Brittan did when implementing Intapp Billstream. Its implementation project began with a two-day discovery meeting that resulted in a detailed solutions-design document that guided the configuration and implementation of the software.  

Such a document clarifies the ultimate goals of an implementation, so your firm and implementation partners can chart a path to that end state. 

Encourage users to share their positive experiences with colleagues

Another advantage of a pilot group is that its members can become champions of a new product as they share their experiences with their colleagues. As the pilot group spreads the good word, new users are more likely to approach the software with a positive outlook.

That’s what happened at S-E-A, an American forensic analysis and investigation company, when they implemented Intapp Billstream. “It was genuinely rewarding to find users so excited to start using Intapp Billstream based on the positive feedback they had heard from their colleagues,” says Shishir Shetty, Vice President of Billstream at Intapp.

Likewise at Nelson Mullins, pilot group members told their colleagues about their successes with Intapp Workspaces, and the pilot group’s enthusiasm persuaded more and more of the firm’s lawyers to adopt the technology.

Incentivize adoption

In addition to relying on word of mouth to successfully launch a solution at your firm, you can offer incentives for adoption. For example, when global law firm Taylor Wessing implemented Intapp DealCloud, they let firm members know that having their data in the platform would improve their compensation.

“Our managing partner sent a firmwide email saying that if your data isn’t in DealCloud, it doesn’t exist,” says Mike Beswick, the firm’s Director of Business Development, Marketing, and Communications. “So, if you haven’t recorded your work in DealCloud, it won’t be reflected in your remuneration package at the end of the year.”

The incentive was effective, resulting in firmwide adoption of the tool.