If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we live in pretty judgmental times.
Recent events surrounding the IT problems affecting a number of law firms have played into the hands of those who believe that technology doesn’t improve the delivery of conveyancing. I’ve read too many comments by lawyers suggesting that we would not be having these current challenges if we were all still relying on paper files.
This argument then leads to the trap that anyone who suffers such technology issues has brought it on themselves by their own laziness and lack of care.
It’s a tough argument to rebut, but rebut it we must.
There but for the grace of God, go all of us.
At times like this, honesty is key, particularly about ourselves. I’ve experienced some close shaves first-hand in my business. Several years ago, we were using an external support company to manage our servers. We paid them a big monthly fee and they told us they were monitoring our systems and keeping them secure. They were the experts and we believed them – we were busy doing the day job and didn’t check they were actually doing this. Unfortunately, after two years of giving us great helpdesk service, we discovered that keeping our servers updated was something they had overlooked throughout those years. Which wasn’t good.
In those days, we stored all our documents and data in our building, safe behind a firewall which we said would stop the hackers and criminals. We figured that as we’d been in technology for decades, we knew what we were talking about. We even managed to convince ourselves that our cloud backup would protect us, despite the fact that we knew malware gets backed up as well. Denial was our happy place and we were blissful in our ignorance.
When reality hit and we realised we had dodged a very big bullet, we sacked the IT company and moved all our data and documents to the cloud, significantly reducing our risk and allowing us to sleep a little easier at night.
We need more technology not less.
A popular argument is that we need more human interaction and control rather than technology, but this is the very reason why we find ourselves in the current position. After all, since the removal of automatic notification, who hasn’t forgotten to renew their MOT on their car? Human failings are well documented; we forget to do things, we miss out steps in processes and we miss deadlines.
When we learned the current issues were potentially caused by a vulnerability being exploited due to outdated software, it was pretty obvious that if that was the case, it was due to human error. If so, it would hardly be a surprise – after all, we know that most accidents and mistakes are caused by an individual’s failure to do something they were supposed to do.
Indeed, we see this in legal work, because it is exactly the same type of mistake that lawyers make when they miss an outstanding service charge or a defective lease with no appropriate deed of variation. Our working lives are dominated by the need to reduce the opportunity for errors, but we all continue to make them.
To cope with today’s complex, hostile and fast-moving environments, we need more technology, not less, and it needs to be considerably smarter than what we use today. We must move past this hybrid approach and stop relying on human intervention to address vulnerabilities and issues. Machines will always be better at risk management, and we must explore how we can harness their superior capabilities more effectively.
Let’s not forget that there’s a really good reason why we use Outlook rather than desk diaries to remind us of our appointments.
We need to move on
When this recent event is resolved, there will be the usual bleating about lessons needing to be learned, but the reality is this hybrid approach of relying on humans to manage risk needs to be consigned to history.
Sadly, despite the cost of living crisis, the one thing that remains depressingly cheap, is talk. But we cannot wind back the clock and we shouldn’t even try. Those promoting the return of the halcyon days of infant mortality and rickets might want to consider the words of Abraham Lincoln when he said; “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Peter Ambrose is the CEO of The Partnership and Legalito – specialists in the delivery of transparent and ultra-efficient conveyancing software and services.
Peter Ambrose: pambrose@thepartnershiplimited.com, 01483 579978
Press enquiries: Tracy Holland, tholland@thepartnershiplimited.com 01483 579978
