Over the past five years InfoTrack has been charting the progress of technology adoption in conveyancing through its bi-annual Digital Conveyancing Maturity Index.
The survey asks a series of question about the technology used by conveyancing firms during the various stages of conveyancing, and the report is designed to help law firms track their technological progress against competitors and the wider industry.
Although InfoTrack chief operating officer Sam Jordan won’t be drawn on this year’s top scoring firms (the report is published on 1st October) there is a distinct change in the latest results as medium to large law firms have now overtaken the small and medium-sized firms who were initially the most agile adopters in previous reports. The shift is attributed to larger firms implementing integrated, firm-wide platforms which take time to embed and adopt. Interestingly, adds Jordan, data shows that firms participating in the index multiple times see their scores improve at a much faster rate than first-time participants.
What Jordan does divulge is some of the methodology and a breakdown of where in the transaction technology adoption is most mature. Onboarding and post-completion remain the most digitally advanced areas, largely as a result of the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, pre-completion remains the least digitally mature; and while while 50% of firms have transitioned away from email to manage inquiries, only 15% utilise shared digital workspaces between buying and selling firms according to the research.
This year’s results highlights the rapid acceleration and adoption of AI-enabled technologies, devoting a whole new section of the report to AI with the discussion exploring how firms should focus on specific “jobs to be done” and let technology naturally solve those administrative pain points.
The report serves as a reminder that widespread digitalisation is an inevitable evolutionary step for any thriving business sector and conveyancing is most certainly on that journey. The full findings and rankings of the latest survey will be published at the Digital Conveyancing Summit on 1st October.
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