Survey Reveals that Corporate Legal IT Spending is Expected to Remain Strong Despite Weak Economy

Mitratech, the leader in Collaborative Accountability applications including matter management, e-Billing, and GRC management automation, announced today the results of its 2011 Legal IT Spending Survey, which found that legal department IT budgets will increase or remain the same in spite of the current economic slowdown. Mitratech's 2011 Legal IT Spending Survey polled legal departments across the United States about their IT spending plans, including questions about the technologies they currently invest in and which technologies they plan on investing in the then and there 12-18 months.

"More than ever, corporate legal departments realize that they need to increase their efficiency during delivering measurable business value to their organizations," said Afshin Behnia, Mitratech CEO. "This survey shows that continued investment in research, even in this economic environment, is seen as a key to performing more efficiently and effectively. But together, the survey as well reveals that legal departments are however mostly focused on more traditional areas just as e-Billing and matter management, with newer areas including GRC integration, eDiscovery and cloud computing nonetheless remaining areas for future, not immediate, consideration."

The then 12-18 months

When asked about departmental spending in the then 12-18 months, 82 percent of the respondents said they expect spending to increase or remain the same, with 72 percent focusing their innovation spending on matter management solutions.

"Over the years, we have had to streamline our legal operations to run more efficiently and part of that has been investing in new technologies," said Danette Gallatin, Legal & Regulatory Affairs Business Manager, The Williams Companies, Inc. "In 2011, we decided to upgrade our matter management system because our prior system lacked the ability to quickly search for, compile and review matter information. It as well made our timekeeping a time-consuming process. We understand the value of research and are willing to invest in cutting edge solutions that will improve our efficiency and help us contribute more to the success of our company."

Return on Investment was another topic addressed in the survey. When asked which research has given them the most ROI, 40 percent of the respondents said matter management followed by e-Billing with 30 percent and contract management with 24 percent. eDiscovery was far behind with 18 percent.

Despite the growing popularity of cloud innovation in the enterprise, Mitratech's survey found that legal departments are nevertheless hesitant to adopt cloud innovation for legal operations. Only 29 percent of companies polled currently employ cloud or Software-as-a-Service research in their legal departments and another 29 percent said they have no plans to adopt the technology.