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According to Survey, Difficulty Getting Budget is the Top Legal Tech Struggle for GCs: eDiscovery Trends

According a new survey from Clyde & Co and Winmark, the number one reason that General Counsel (GCs) struggle with legal tech adoption and implementation is ‘difficulty in getting budget‘.  But, don’t blame the board for that.  ;o)

According to Artificial Lawyer (‘Difficulty Getting Budget’ No 1 Reason GCs Struggle With Legal Tech), 55 percent of the inhouse lawyers identified ‘difficulty in getting budget‘ as a challenge, which was the most of any challenges identified.  Here is the complete list of challenges and percentages for each:

  • Difficulty getting budget: 55 percent
  • Issues with legacy systems: 45 percent
  • Deciding what to invest in: 37 percent
  • Lack of time: 31 percent
  • Tech not meeting expectations: 25 percent
  • Lack of knowledge: 24 percent
  • Implementation overruns: 20 percent
  • Legal framework for tech not complete: 18 percent
  • Resistance to change from the board: 10 percent

So, over half of the GCs indicate that it’s difficult to get the budget for technology, but only 10% indicate that the board is resistant to change.  Sounds to me like it’s not so much the board holding GCs back as it’s demonstrating return on investment (ROI) on the tech purchase that’s the stumbling block.  Maybe.

The entire 40-page report is available and can be downloaded from here – it has various findings from GCs and board directors regarding risk landscape and responsibility, technology innovation and risk and the role of the GC.  For example, despite the high perceived risk of cyber attack (75 percent from GCs, 79 percent from board members), 42 percent of GCs and 37 percent of board directors do not have a plan in place to address those attacks.

I should note that, when downloading the report yesterday, I received an odd error on the screen that seemed to indicate that it didn’t accept my inputs, but a link to the report was still emailed to me.  Be patient.  :o)

So, what do you think?  Is budget the biggest challenge for GCs with regard to technology?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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