If you want to create or refresh your law firm’s data strategy, you might be finding it difficult to know where to start. Lots of different stakeholders will pull you in lots of different directions so you’ll feel like you’re compromising before you even get started.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The Iron Carrot 5-step process for creating a data strategy will help guide you and your firm through the step needed to create, publish, and deliver a simple and effective data strategy which supports your firm’s overall strategic objectives.
How does the process work?
Step 1: Engaging key people
As with all projects, the first step is to identify the key stakeholders and set out an engagement, collaboration, and communication plan that both fits in with your firm’s existing data governance framework.
For example we might be able to repurpose an existing steering committee to cover data, or a new committee might need to be created.
We will also establish a working group of data owners, Partners, and key stakeholders from teams like Business Development, Innovation, Risk and Technology.
Step 2: Gathering the inputs
Lots of things that the firm has already produced are key inputs to the data strategy creation process. Things like the firm strategy, the technology strategy, the client strategy and so on.
We will also use the Iron Carrot 30-question framework to analyse your firm’s data management maturity. This helps us to identify missing areas or areas that need more work to develop data the capabilities to the maturity level your firm wants to achieve.
Step 3: Defining the firm’s Data Use Cases
Workshops with key stakeholder groups to capture, explore, and prioritize data requirements and requests from every part of the firm help us to create a clear set of requirements which represent Partner, lawyer, client, and business services needs.
These requirements will be translated into use cases to help shape the data strategy document.
Step 4: Writing the strategy
There are broadly four sections to include in a data strategy, but there isn’t an Iron Carrot template. We’ll work with you to create the right words in the right medium for your firm so that everyone can understand
- Business requirements and strategic goals for leveraging the firm’s data as an asset.
- Existing capabilities across business processes, data management practices (including data governance), including an assessment of your data and technology assets.
- The data strategy vision and strategic data priorities, things like questions being asked by clients, infrastructure requirements, data science aspirations, skill or people gaps, and new processes.
- A roadmap of steps to help execute your plans by identifying and prioritising actions.
If you’re serious about data change, remember that data governance is a capability for changing data management processes and behaviours around the firm’s data, so if you don’t have it already, it will be a key part of your strategic priorities.
It will also draw clear lines between the roadmap and the business value of the strategy to meet business needs and between the roadmap and the current state by explaining the new capabilities that need to be created.
Step 5: Consultation and buy-in
As with all data activities, success comes from both working out loud and including as many stakeholders as you can.
A key final step is to consult with everyone who participated in the earlier steps to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to give feedback. All stakeholders should feel pride of ownership in the firm’s new data strategy; and be able to support their team’s participation in the roadmap steps which will deliver it.
Communications about the data strategy will be shared in ever increasing circles until the whole firm has had an opportunity to give feedback.
What does the data strategy process give you?
Typically, in less than a year you will have a realistic data strategy that articulates the needs of technology and business users so that they mutually understand each’s needs and drivers.
Iron Carrot will help your firm deliver a full Data Strategy document containing a cross-functional, cross-practice articulation of the vision, benefits, goals, objectives, initiatives, risks, and success enablers.
The strategy document will set out and explain what everyone is trying to achieve in the data space and how it will support the firm strategy.
How is our data strategy process different?
The data strategy we support you to create will be completely bespoke; designed to your needs. We do not deliver an ‘off-the-shelf’ strategy template..
We recognise that your support needs change and evolve, so we’ll rarely agree to more than three months of activities on each scope of work, allowing you to manage the engagement at your own pace.
Our fees are based on the nature of the work you want us to do for you, the amount of time required to perform the task, and the expected outputs you want us to deliver.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our five-step road mapping process quickly helps law firms to deliver a complete data governance framework and plan for assuring the governance and quality of their data, so that strategic goals can be realised.
Don’t just look internally, you may have to hire externally for a Data Governance lead, and that’s ok. For more information, see our article: Does your Data Governance Lead Have the Correct Skills?
A well publicised DG programme will attract Senior Stakeholders automatically, as they will have vested interest in the firms data.
Iron Carrot can help with the Data Governance Lead Role Profile, you can book a a call with us to find out more.
This is the operational layer of the data governance framework, made up of subject matter experts responsible for supporting the data owners.
If you are not sure where to start, why read our article on creating a data governance communications plan.
Want to know more?
Find out how we helped a large international law firm in this Data Strategy Case Study.
Browse further articles and learn more about what makes a good data strategy and the mistakes you should avoid.
For a confidential discussion about your goals and how we could potentially work together why not book a call now ?