4 ways Osler uses technology better business relationships

If you think that your stellar work is enough to drive business to your law firm, think again and pay attention to what Milosz Skrzypczak has to say.

“Top-notch legal work is table stakes…relationships are the cornerstone of business.”

This is why Milosz, Director of Market Intelligence for Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and his colleague, Harshal Dalal, Senior Manager, Marketing Technology and Analytics, have been leading the charge to identify technology to help them advance their firm’s relationships.

“We were making significant investments in technology and we wanted to leverage what we were investing in to make sense of the vast amount of data that we collect,” explains Harshal.

To achieve those ends, they’ve been working with Introhive for the past four years after being frustrated with the limitations of their CRM.

“The data was not only stale, incomplete or wrong, but even when it was right – when you had decent quality contact information – you were not able to tell anything about the intensity or the recency of that relationship,” explains Milosz. “It was very static. You could have met someone 10 years ago and never spoken with them again. But it would look pretty good on paper that you were somehow connected to that person.”

After vetting several firms, they chose Introhive to provide “a dynamic measure of those relationships,” he continues.

“We were quite impressed with the product and the fact the company was Canadian. Plus, we received strong references from people related to our organization,” he continues, noting that Osler needed a platform that could work with all types of CRMs. “It gave us comfort that Introhive was future-oriented.”

Even though Osler only uses Introhive to track email communications (they plan on expanding its features in the next six months), it has still proved highly beneficial:

1. They can instantly validate relationship strength.
“We can look at a particular relationship, whether client or prospect, and understand that they have had email contact with multiple lawyers over the course of the last six months, for example,” explains Milosz. “We can see the intensity and frequency of the interaction. It validates that this is, indeed, a contact that we, as a firm, are familiar with and can rely on and use for other business purposes, whatever they might be.”

2. They have the insight to make the most of every meeting while enhancing credibility.
When one of Osler’s partners was meeting with a white-shoe law firm in New York, Introhive helped them quickly identify the firm’s relationships with Osler.

“We could understand what other mandates we had going on, all the matters we have for that firm, and the amount of exchanges between various partners at Osler and the other law firm,” notes Milosz, “along with other information such as history of referrals between the two firms and business meetings. Introhive filled the gaps in terms of the recency, and depth and breadth of the relationship with that particular law firm.”

He maintains that this is critical for maintaining professionalism and credibility, and allows the firm to take advantage of every business opportunity.

“If we know that if our tax group, for instance, is actively engaged with a particular company or prospect, we can bring that into the conversation to either enlarge the scope of the engagement or continue with the existing one,” he explains. “Simply, Introhive enriches the knowledge base that’s available to our people.”

3. They can network more strategically.
“If we have a prospect and we are trying to understand if there’s any connections to that particular person, we can now look at Introhive,” says Milosz. “So if we don’t have a relationship with the CEO, for instance, but are frequently engaged with the CIO or CFO of that firm, that gives us a fairly decent pathway to the CEO.”

4. They can keep information on their prospects and clients current without relying on staff.
Introhive automatically extracts information from both internal and external sources to enrich Osler’s existing client and prospect data, points out Harshal. “We have the opportunity to ensure our information is current and complete, and removes the onus on users to keep it up to date.”

However, Milosz and Harshal would not recommend Introhive for every law firm.

“It boils down to the fact that relationships are the lifeblood of a professional services firm like Osler,” says Milosz. “So when we target specific prospects or want to understand more about how we can broaden and deepen our relationship with an organization, having the ability to map the organization’s structure and understand where we have touchpoints or lack them allows us to devise a better business development approach.

“If you are 100% certain that your firm has all the knowledge they need about relationships with their prospects, clients and partners, then you don’t need Introhive,” he continues. “But if you think there’s any kind of a gap, then I would suggest you consider it.”

Are you ready to use data to build and enhance the relationships that drive opportunity for professional services firms? Set aside about 15 minutes to see how Introhive works. Schedule a demo today. Still not quite convinced? Find out what Jon Metcalf of Fenwick & West has to say  about how his firm uses data to drive business.

Visit – www.introhive.com

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