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Small business finances can oftentimes be tricky to track and keep in a detailed record, though this is a highly important task for any entrepreneur or a business owner. In today’s modern age, many are turning to small business accounting software as a solution to help with their financial reporting. 
Let’s begin by discussing what bookkeeping software is. Essentially, it’s accounting software for small business owners who are taking care of bookkeeping tasks on their own and tracking the financials of their business. 
As a small business owner, you may wonder if you need to use accounting software in the first place. The truth is, using bookkeeping software can help you immensely when it comes time for tax season. Throughout the year, the better records and details you keep about the financial transactions of your business, the easier it will be to determine what your tax liabilities are.

Plus, it can help you stay on budget, make sure you’re paying all recurring invoices properly, reconcile bank accounts with your records, and more. All in all, whether you use accounting software or not, bookkeeping is an important part of running a business, so using most accounting software will be able to help you out. 

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Let’s take a look at the most comprehensive accounting software providers on the market today. While the following list of the best accounting software will range in pricing and capabilities, they are all a good match for businesses in different scenarios. 
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QuickBooks is not the cheapest option available, though it is considered the best small business accounting software year after year. Customers like it for its depth of capabilities and flexible nature to meet their specific needs. 
All in all, QuickBooks is the best overall accounting software that has years of experience providing online bookkeeping services to small businesses. It has a great user experience and is capable of handling even the most complex accounting matters. QuickBooks is available in a number of different packages, making it a flexible choice and a good match for nearly any business. Plus, they have a great mobile version of their site, much better than some of the other online accounting software options on the market. In addition, there are add-on accounting features that you can add, meaning the platform can be customized to best fit your business. 
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Xero is great for reconciling any bank account, project management, and managing sales volume. They have made recent improvements to their platform for a better setup and onboarding. It continues to be a great choice for small businesses. 
They have a great support team for customers online, though they don’t offer real-time chat or phone support. Their increased security measures and other ongoing improvements are favored by customers. Plus, they have powerful reporting capabilities and can be easily integrated with other third-party apps. So for the smaller companies that rely on a lot of business intelligence and financial data, Xero is a great choice with its advanced features. 
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FreshBooks is great for double entry accounting and offers a simple-to-use interface that is a good choice for freelancers and sole proprietors. 
FreshBooks has a great, intuitive interface that is easy to use and packed full of features that a very small business owners or freelancers may need. The platform has powerful collaboration tools, inventory management, and it’s great for tracking time. Plus, the mobile platform has wonderful capabilities and automatically tracks mileage. So even though it’s a great choice for smaller businesses, their payroll and other features mean it can support larger businesses with ease as well. 
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Great for a very small business, Wave is a simple accounting solution for enterprises with very few employees and invoicing needs.  
Wave’s invoice creation and tracking tools are great, though they aren’t highly customizable. The features that the platform offers are of good value given that it’s a free service, though there are some more advanced features that it misses out on that other providers have. So for the businesses looking for accounting solutions for very simple needs like income and expense tracking, Wave is a good option. 
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Melio is a good choice for businesses seeking out an accounts payable or accounts receivable solution to streamline bill payments. It helps small business owners find flexibility with how they pay their bills, either through ACH or credit card, even if the vendor doesn’t support these options. 
Melio is a tool to help business owners streamline their AR and AP processes, and help them to accept online payments. Plus, using Melio, businesses can even receive same-day bank transfers for just a 1% fee, though their service can only be synced with QuickBooks. All of Melio’s services are completely free, except for the credit card fees, international transfer fees, and expedited check delivery. In addition, Melio seamlessly sends out 1099s to contractors ahead of tax season and is a great option for any business dealing with international parties. 
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Odoo is a great choice for someone running a small business and provides enough flexibility for growing businesses to scale up. 
Odoo can be highly customized and easily integrated with a number of other online business solutions, making it a great choice for online businesses today. The pricing is very reasonable compared to other options on this list, providing great value for the prices customers pay. On their platform, customers can track income, track inventory, view financial reports, create invoices, and more. All in all, it’s a great tool to help businesses automate their accounting services and reconciliations within their website or their mobile app. 
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Zoho Books is a great service that is highly affordable and accessible for all businesses. They have good support options and document storage and are overall a solid service. 
They recently integrated payroll capabilities for all states, so Zoho Books is quickly becoming a top provider for both small and large businesses. Overall, Zoho has a wide range of other business support services like a customer relationship management platform, email, and more, with their accounting software for small businesses just one of them. With this, the accounting service can be integrated with its other apps. So, the flexibility and depth of their services make them a top choice and a feature-rich accounting platform. 
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GoDaddy Bookkeeping is another great service offered by GoDaddy, known for its web domain registrar platform. Their accounting software is best for online sellers who want to streamline their accounting process, track expenses, and more. 
They have a great bookkeeping platform that’s simple to use and intuitive for users without a deep understanding of accounting. Their service is mostly used among sellers on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and GoDaddy’s online store platform. Their platform gets rid of data entry tasks and purchase invoice management. Plus, it integrates with business bank accounts and e-commerce sites to provide real-time reports on financials and has affordable pricing tiers. 
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ZarMoney is one of the best small business accounting software options available. It has a wide range of capabilities, and customers like how they infuse humor into the platform.  
They have a full bookkeeping system and accounting service, in addition to comprehensive invoicing and billing, project management, expense management, and more. They make it easy for businesses to accept payments online, send notifications for payment reminders, and other helpful notification features to keep businesses and their customers on track with payments. Their platform ranges in pricing as well based on the functionality needed, so it can be a great fit for businesses at any stage. 
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Oracle Netsuite is a comprehensive solution for accounting software, with additional features and capabilities provided throughout the rest of the platform. This is best for medium-sized businesses with advanced needs and expense tracking, plus it is more expensive than other affordable accounting software options on this list. 
Using an ERP like Oracle Netsuite gives business owners an all-in-one financial management platform. So, this may be overly robust for what some businesses need, though it can be a good solution for those who want these details all in one place. This platform lets business owners automate many crucial accounting tasks like accounts receivable or accounts payable, which can make their financial management processes more efficient and convenient. 
When choosing the best accounting software for small businesses, there are some elements you will need to consider in order to find the right accounting solution for you. 
Above all, when you’re looking for the best accounting software, you need to consider the general functionality of the platform you’re reviewing. Take a look and see if it has all the necessities you need, at a reasonable price. 
Consider whether it has capabilities for invoice tracking and management, integration with other third-party applications, payroll functionalities, unlimited invoices, tracking payroll taxes, and any other tools that are generally required by all businesses like to track expenses. 
Once you’ve determined that an accounting platform has great general functionality, you may consider additional criteria based on the industry your business operates in. While some businesses only sell goods online and need a streamlined way to track their inventory, other businesses might only provide online services, in which case this would not be a priority of theirs.

Plus, depending on where your customer base is located, you will want to pay attention to whether the software you’ve selected will support multiple currencies and allow you to accept payments from clients around the world. 
Lastly, you want to seek out an accounting platform that will be able to scale and grow with your business. Just because you only have a few employees now and are hitting a certain sales volume doesn’t mean it will always be that way.

So, look for an accounting platform that can grow with you and support further expansion. If invoicing capabilities are limited, or the platform can only support up to five users, you may want to seek out a better option that will still support your business when it’s reached a new level. Thus, while the best free accounting software may seem like a great option at the start, if it’s only a basic platform with limited capabilities, you may want to pay a smaller fee than other providers charge.  
All in all, online accounting services are highly valuable for business owners and can help with overall financial management and automate time-consuming tasks that fall on the owner’s plate. 
All of the software options listed above will be a great fit for a small business, and generally speaking, most will work. The problem that a small business owner may face is if they’re paying for advanced software, they may be paying for capabilities and functionalities they don’t even use. So, they should consider their priorities and search for a platform that is reasonably priced and fits their needs. 
The online accounting service that is easiest to use is Wave. It is the simplest option on this list, giving it a straightforward interface that anyone can use.
While many of these platforms offer pre-configured pricing structures, some may offer more custom pricing if you have specific business requirements, or based on your size. 

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SS&C Blue Prism combines robotic process automation (RPA), business process management (BPM), AI and No-code offerings to deliver a comprehensive intelligent automation suite
WINDSOR, Conn., Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced at its SS&C Deliver Conference the rollout of its intelligent automation portfolio under the SS&C Blue Prism brand. SS&C Blue Prism combines RPA, BPM and low and no-code capabilities to provide a comprehensive menu of intelligent automation (IA) services.
“SS&C Blue Prism’s comprehensive suite of products and second-to-none support options are a critical part of our business processes,” said Giovanni Gentile, Managing Director, Bionics, at State Street Bank. “By utilizing its intelligent automation platform and extensive industry expertise, we’re able to deliver high quality and innovative services.”
Supported by technologies such as Process Intelligence, AI/ML, and Intelligent Document Processing, the portfolio enables businesses to unify the workforce, transform customer, employee and user journeys and scale enterprise-wide.
 SS&C Blue Prism’s recent integrations and developments include:
In addition, SS&C Blue Prism will release several key product enhancements and delivery options in the coming months, with more information being released to customers attending the SS&C Deliver conference.  
“We are proud of the progress we’ve made in the seven months since SS&C closed on the Blue Prism acquisition, delivering a comprehensive IA solution with BPM, RPA, no code and AI capabilities,” said Bill Stone, Chairman and CEO, SS&C Technologies. “The flexibility of our model ensures we can tailor versatile, scalable solutions to our client’s businesses. Our deep expertise and industry experience ensures we can support our clients’ accelerated business growth.”
More than 2,800 customers worldwide run their operations on SS&C Blue Prism, digitizing operations across financial services, insurance, health and pharma, banking, and more. Learn more about SS&C Blue Prism here.
SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, and has offices around the world. Some 20,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world’s largest companies to small and mid-market firms, rely on SS&C for expertise, scale and technology.
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Additional information about SS&C (Nasdaq: SSNC) is available at www.ssctech.com.
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Today, more quality managers are using tablets and mobile devices to create, track, and review documents. Source: Ideagen
Keeping track of documents is essential for maintaining an audit-ready quality management system (QMS). Document control software has existed in some form since the late 1980s, but has evolved over the past decade to mesh with higher-tech, business-boosting trends like automation and real-time data exchange on smart factory floors.
For more insight into modern document control, Quality asked Dave Hunter, director of product management and user experience at MasterControl, and Jennifer Sillars, product marketing manager at Ideagen, to share their top trends and tips that manufacturers should know. 
According to both Sillars and Hunter, the most ntable trend is Cloud-based collaboration. The use of tablets and smartphones to automate the entire lifecycle of documents in a virtual collaboration workspace is growing, too, and all of this is bringing new challenges to the fore.  
“You think of Google Docs, real-time collaboration, and the challenge there is to marry that to a regulated space—making sure the content there is approved and distributed appropriately,” Hunter says. “That means creating a Google Docs-like experience in the creation and the revision process; and then downstream of that, making sure the documents are controlled and released appropriately to the right people, and making sure those people are trained to the new revisions.”
Sillars characterizes 2017 as “the year of collaboration by any means necessary.” Social collaboration platforms widened the sphere of influence in document review, she says, giving more people a voice. But there was a catch: As more voices were allowed front and center in the social stream promoted by various collaboration platforms, frustrations grew—especially for manufacturing companies. 
“Chat only gets you so far towards a decision point,” Sillars explains. “Buyers need document-centric collaboration because they strive for excellence in business-critical documents.”
Thus, Sillars contends that 2018 will be “the year of document-centric collaboration.” As proof, she points to three concurrent trends: 
Collaboration fatigue: The abundance of collaboration tools in the market has created a collaboration paradox: the more tools available to us, the more fragmented our interaction becomes. Users are tired of endlessly shouting into the abyss and will retreat from tools that aren’t focused. 
The document management module within Ideagen’s Q-Pulse software allows the user to manage documentation, regulatory or otherwise, from creation right through to approval, publication, and distribution. Source: Ideagen
SaaS Supremacy: Geographical barriers and time zone differences are common barriers to document-centric collaboration. Whether due to the rise of working from home or the reality that decision makers are often on the road, buyers are looking for software as a service (SaaS) solutions to overcome these barriers. The majority of new spend in 2018 will be on SaaS solutions.
Collaboration beyond the Firewall: While 2017 saw great strides made in internal collaboration, document-centric collaboration with third parties failed to develop beyond traditional email chains. Now we will see efforts made to improve collaboration with suppliers, customers, partners, and industry groups using the same tools they are using internally. In response, vendors focus more on access control and security.
The old standby with keeping documents up to date is a review policy. What’s changed with modern document control software is being able to distribute some of that workload, Hunter says, so that the person reviewing a particular document is the content expert. 
“You want to make sure that the tool is flexible enough to be sending out the right alerts to the right people, relative to the right document, because one person getting inundated with documents doesn’t work very well,” Hunter says. “Having a robust review process is key in quality, but another piece to that is being able to track changes to the next revision easily, and having software that can facilitate that.”
Sillars says that the document creation phase also has witnessed an evolution in recent years, particularly in the area of co-authoring and redaction. Ideagen’s PleaseReview product, for example, allows many complex pieces of documentation to be reviewed by multiple stakeholders at the same time—tying in with the top trend of collaboration.
Additionally, manufacturers are being asked to produce more regulated documents than ever before, Sillars says, but without sacrificing time and labor that could be funneled elsewhere. For instance, a first article inspection process can be time-consuming and labor-intensive when being completed manually. “If an airline engine has 30,000 parts, then manufacturers are required to sign off every single measurement on a part and ensure that they are correct,” Sillars says. “That’s a huge task, and also time spent doing paperwork and away from actual production of a product.” 
By automating the process with document control software, Sillars says manufacturers “can improve the productivity, efficiency, and reliability of their quality inspection work.” At the same time, a module dedicated to a specific process—like Ideagen’s Q-Pulse FAIR solution for first article inspections—can help manufacturers validate that a product has been manufactured to the correct specification. 
A large number of manufacturing companies still rely on “read and understand” training with their documents, Hunter says, as in: “Here’s the new revision, mark that you’ve read and understood it.” 
 “I think that’s a constant challenge for quality folks,” Hunter continues. “You write the procedures and send them out, but are people reading them and actually using them? And how do you really know that they’ve read it, without testing the competency?” 
MasterControl’s software offers a concise quiz at the end of each document to verify that the user has read and understood it, “which helps with adoption and the understanding of the procedure,” Hunter says.  
Another important aspect of document control for manufacturers is the distribution of controlled copies to manufacturing lines, suppliers, and other locations. MasterControl streamlines this process by allowing users to create customizable watermarks, sequential numbers, and location tracking. The software also tracks new revisions with automatic histories—including reasons for every change, when it was approved, who approved it, and the approver’s signature—and cuts off access to the previous version, thus preventing the accidental use of obsolete or unapproved documents.  
“The tracking of controlled copies is still an issue for some customers, though it’s less of a problem now that you have tablets on the manufacturing floor,” Hunter says. “We recommend being able to track those controlled copies electronically, and to have all of your suppliers in that same system.” 
A diagram of MasterControl’s document control and change control process. Source: MasterControl
Be open to change in the first place.
Sillars: The first piece of advice we provide clients rolling out our software for document management is to think of it not just as a tick-the-box exercise but as a process which is going to be absolutely critical for their organization—which it is. Once you standardize and automate the document control process, the burden is being taken from you and your quality team. This lays a foundation for regulatory compliance and develops a framework for operational excellence.
An organizational shift is needed from managing documents as a difficult exercise and bureaucratic necessity to managing documents in order to strengthen the foundation of your business, and this is where a lot of organizations fall down. It is a culture change, from simply ticking a box to making document control work for you across the business.
Keep it simple.
Hunter: One caution from a best practices standpoint is that simpler is generally better. Usually we encourage clients to simplify their processes before they implement the system, because it’s a good opportunity to streamline. You don’t necessarily need 50 different approvals. Who really is approving it?
Focus on productivity.
Sillars: The biggest thing I see within the manufacturing industry today is a reluctance to accept technology and software that will reduce time wasted and enhance productivity. There are still a lot of manufacturers that aren’t investing in technology in regard to quality in general, but specifically in document management and internal document collaboration. They are creating documentation manually; and although they might have a system for distributing, what is the point in distributing something if it’s not a great document or has mistakes throughout it?
Ensure that metrics are clearly defined. 
Hunter: Be careful with metrics: You will get what you’re measuring. If the goal in measuring a document approval process is a shorter cycle time, you may get it, but is that really what you want? People may take shortcuts along the way that aren’t desirable to get that cycle time down.
A lot of times, you’ll want to pair metrics together with other metrics. For example, if you have a shorter cycle time metric, you might want to have a quality metric along with it to balance it out. Overall, you want to be careful with what you define as success and how you measure it, and analytics—being able to pull that data out, and having the flexibility to track and measure trends—is a key part of that. Q

Leah Pickett is a former editor of Quality Magazine.

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The worldwide shift to a hybrid workplace has pushed us all to embrace ubiquitous connectivity. Those new connections have helped us become more collaborative; routinely editing and sharing documents in real-time from wherever we happen to be working. Instant messaging went from being a tool of convenience to a cornerstone of communication. People in business, operations, and technical roles became adept at stitching together disparate solutions to meet changing needs.
But constant connectivity brings evolving, inherent risks. Over the past two years, organizations have seen a massive increase in their digital footprint, leading to data fragmentation and growth across a multitude of applications, devices, and locations. The Great Reshuffle left blind spots within ever-enlarging data estates.¹ Dark data, which organizations pay to store, but goes underutilized in decision making, is now growing at a rate of 62 percent per year.²  Even the virtual office has created the risk of new collaboration mediums opening doors to harassment, sensitive data leaks, and other workplace policy infractions. It’s a big digital world for any organization to try to manage. 
Just as today’s big-data, multiplatform, hyper-connected workplace brings new vulnerabilities, the responsibility for protecting it is also in flux. For example, an organization with a Chief Data Officer (CDO), Chief Risk Officer (CRO)/Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and Chief Information Officer (CIO) has to choose whether they will duplicate, compete, or collaborate. Conditions that are driving the need for integrated risk management include:
”In a tracking survey of over 500 US decision-makers, nearly all (95 percent) are concerned about challenges they face regarding data protection in 2021.” ³
The market has responded with dozens of products that force security, data governance, compliance, and legal teams to stitch together a patchwork of solutions. This approach not only strains resources, but it’s also ineffective. Security outcomes are worse—audits are failed and brand reputations are damaged.
”A survey of US decision-makers showed that to meet their compliance and data-protection needs, almost 80 percent had purchased multiple products, and a majority had purchased three or more.” ⁴
To meet the challenges of today’s decentralized, data-rich workplace, we’re introducing Microsoft Purview—a comprehensive set of solutions that help you govern, protect, and manage your entire data estate. This new brand family combines the capabilities of the former Azure Purview and the Microsoft 365 Compliance portfolio that customers already rely on, providing unified data governance and risk management for your organization.
The new Microsoft Purview:
Microsoft Purview brings together data governance from Microsoft Data and AI, along with compliance and risk management from Microsoft Security. Microsoft Purview is also complemented by identity and access management, threat protection, cloud security, endpoint management, and privacy management capabilities—creating a truly comprehensive approach to security.
Because organizations now operate across multiple clouds and on-premises platforms, we’ve expanded Microsoft Purview’s capabilities to include data protection for macOS users, as well as offering new data classifiers, protection for mobile devices, and data lifecycle management.
Employees don’t gather around the water cooler anymore. They’re communicating across digital channels and personal and corporate devices. Microsoft Purview helps protect your organization’s data with Insider Risk Management, eDiscovery, Communication Compliance, and more.
Microsoft Priva complements Microsoft Purview’s data governance and compliance portfolio. Acting as a separately available privacy management solution that proactively identifies and helps protect against privacy risks, Priva provides visibility into organizations’ privacy postures. This includes associated privacy risks arising from personal data transfers, overexposure, and hoarding. Priva’s policy-driven templates also help customers adhere to common privacy regulations and requirements.
At the same time, Priva provides the flexibility to customize policies for user groups, data locations, conditions, and notifications. As the foundation of enterprise privacy management, Priva automatically recommends risk-remediation actions and subject rights requests at scale—offering built-in review and redact capabilities and integration with business processes and APIs.
Regulations regarding data governance don’t exist in a vacuum. Their purpose is to help create a more ethical digital world. A strong solution is built around strong principles. It’s designed to protect customers’ data, keep employees’ workplaces safe, and protect the business. At Microsoft, we don’t do these things just because they’re required, we do them because they’re right.   
There’s no going back to the days of perimeter-based security. Enabling an effective Zero Trust approach requires the ability to govern, protect, and understand data coming from an ever-widening array of endpoints. Similarly, the number of tools we use for work will also grow. And with it, the challenge of having to protect data and manage risk across a multicloud and multiplatform environment. 
The unification of Microsoft’s data governance and compliance capabilities to Microsoft Purview reflects our belief that the world needs a simpler and more unified approach to data. We want to help you get the most out of your data while simultaneously managing risk and compliance. If you’re already a Microsoft 365 E5 or Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance customer, head over to the revamped Microsoft Purview compliance portal to check out some of these changes. If you’re an existing Azure Purview customer, visit the new Microsoft Purview governance portal. To learn more and get started, visit the Microsoft Purview website or start a free trial today.
Join other cybersecurity professionals at the Microsoft Security Summit digital event on May 12, 2022. Hear exciting product announcements and discover solutions you can use to lay the foundation for a safer and more innovative future. Register now.
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
¹How Microsoft can help reduce insider risk during the Great Reshuffle, Alym Rayani, Microsoft Security. February 28, 2022.
²Shed light on your dark data before GDPR comes into force, CIO, April 2018.
³September 2021 survey of 512 US compliance decision-makers commissioned by Microsoft from Vital Findings.
⁴February 2022 survey of 200 US compliance decision-makers (n=100 599-999 employees, n=100 1000+ employees) commissioned by Microsoft with MDC Research.
Microsoft is a leader in cybersecurity, and we embrace our responsibility to make the world a safer place.

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What it takes to manage a successful law firm has shifted. A firm’s accolades and long-standing tradition are now just a drop in the bucket for prospective clients. 
While some law firms still aren’t sold on the use of legal technology, the top-performing firms today embrace legal technology by aligning their business operations with the digital processes that influence their clients’ daily lives. By implementing modern processes these firms experience predictable cash flow, increased visibility, improved productivity, and increased client satisfaction, to name a few. 
You’ve probably heard the phrase legal automation or legal technology used more frequently in the legal industry, but you may still be wondering what it means. Simply put, legal automation is the use of software to automate manual tasks in a lawyer’s workday. 
While legal automation can fill gaps in your business operations, it is not a complete replacement for your law firm’s process. It should be used as an enhancement, simplifying your daily tasks so that they’re easier and faster to complete.
For example, lead generation and onboarding take a substantial amount of administrative work that often consists of routine tasks. This is where a streamlined process with automated intake forms will save your firm time. Automated intake forms virtually eliminate the backend administrative and manual paper processes typically needed to onboard a new client. 
You and your staff are then free to give the client the attention they need and start working on their case much faster. 
The beauty of legal technology is that it is designed to meet the specific needs of law firms, no matter the practice area. If your firm is serious about implementing legal technology resources like law practice management software, you need to analyze your current processes to determine how the platform can best support your goals and relieve pain points.
A good place to start is with processes where your firm spends the most time. Common examples include trouble finding client files due to an unorganized or paper-first document management process. Your firm may also notice a high volume of late invoices that your staff is spending non-billable time following up on.
Once your firm has identified the areas of improvement in your business operations, you can start researching the best law practice management software that aligns with your goals. After you’ve narrowed the list of law practice management providers, you’ll want to schedule demos to see the platform’s functionality in action. 
A few items to consider in your search: 
The onboarding timeline 
Ease of the migration process
Availability of support and training
Native features versus integrations 
Client enhancement opportunities 
Security and data management 
While integrations to the platforms your law firm uses on daily basis like Outlook are beneficial, an all-in-one solution is more cost-effective and offers more visibility into the inner working of your firm. 
A law practice management platform that requires more integrations or third-party subscriptions to function than native features will contribute to your firm’s overall monthly expenses. 
We’ve covered how legal technology can improve your firm’s efficiency, and within this lies how these processes can improve overall profitability. 
The easier it is for a prospective client to find and contact your law firm, the more likely they are to close. With a search engine-optimized website equipped with online intake forms, a client can submit a request for services or more information in a few seconds. This is typically the time, your firm has to capture their attention. 
Once you’ve cast your net to attract the leads, it’s time to reel them in. Follow-up is a crucial touchpoint to closing new business but many firms struggle to find the time. Using communication features like 2-way business text messaging is a quick way to engage a lead without a huge time commitment. 
Time is a luxury not always afforded to busy lawyers. Managing several clients at a time without a standardized process leaves room for human error and missteps. 
Billing and invoicing can eat up a large portion of your firm’s resources and staff bandwidth. This is especially true if you’re constantly chasing down late payments or running to the bank. 
Having an automated billing and invoicing process will make your law firm more efficient, reduce billing errors and even get your firm paid faster.
About this Author
Kamron Sanders is the Marketing Specialist at PracticePanther, an all-in-one legal practice management software. She is responsible for creating engaging content across multiple channels including social media, articles, videos, and more. Kamron views marketing through a customer-focused lens and equips legal professionals with the information and tools to automate their practice.
 

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Webinar Preview: Electric content management is the future—here’s why  Smart Industry
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AI continues to rise in importance as forward-thinking organizations strive to elevate services, enhance information access, reduce costs, respond faster to opportunities and threats, and create better products. AI and a host of related technologies such as augmented intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, process automation, and natural language processing are being deployed in areas as diverse as supply chain management, manufacturing, healthcare, medical research, and financial services.
Although definitions of AI and what it can provide organizations vary, a widely cited description developed by Gartner is that AI applies “advanced analysis and logic-based techniques, including machine learning (ML) to interpret events, support and automate decisions and to take actions.” While leaving room for differences of opinion, Gartner points out that in order to capture the opportunity of AI, it is important for an organization to articulate and agree upon a generally accepted definition focused on what it wants AI to accomplish.
With companies across industries today attempting to decrease risk, increase efficiency, make better decisions, and deliver better experiences, AI is on the rise. According to a 2021 McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 56% of all respondents’ organizations had adopted AI in at least one function, up from 50% in 2020. The report also noted that AI adoption since last year has increased most at companies headquartered in emerging economies. Across regions, the adoption rate is highest at Indian companies, followed closely by those in the Asia-Pacific region.
As with the last two surveys, the McKinsey study pointed out, “the business functions where AI adoption is most common are service operations, product and service development, and marketing and sales, though the most popular use cases span a range of functions.” Leading the charge as the top three use cases identified were service-operations optimization, AI-based enhancement of products, and contact center automation. “As AI’s use in business becomes more common,” the report added, “the tools and best practices to make the most out of AI have also become more sophisticated.”
With organizations recognizing the great potential of AI, it is not surprising that the market size is also expected to increase dramatically. According to Grand View Research , the global AI market size was valued at $93.5 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.1% from 2022 to 2030. “The continuous research and innovation directed by the tech giants are driving the adoption of advanced technologies in industry verticals, such as automotive, healthcare, retail, finance, and manufacturing,” Grand View states.
As part of our efforts to focus attention on the innovative knowledge management vendors that are imbuing their offerings with AI and automation, in this issue, KMWorld presents the KMWorld AI 50: The Companies Empowering Intelligent Knowledge Management. We invite you to explore the companies on this list to understand why they stand out, and to also review the AI Trailblazer section in which executives of these organizations explain the value of their intelligent approaches.
Be sure to join us as we continue to explore AI and a wide range of other knowledge management topics in person at the annual KMWorld conference at the JM Marriott in Washington, D.C., November 7-10. 
We encourage you to visit the websites of the companies on this year’s list. In the AI TRAILBLAZER Spotlights, executives share their opinions and how their solutions help customers realize their business goals.
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Enterprise content management is a set of defined processes, strategies and tools that allows a business to effectively obtain, organize, store and deliver critical information to its employees, business stakeholders and customers. ECM has rapidly evolved as different forms of content have been introduced to the work environment. However, these tools continue to focus on digitally managing a company’s information in a centralized repository and using the digital content to support business processes and help achieve goals.
Enterprise content management does not refer to a single technology or process. It is an umbrella term that describes the combination of methods, tools and strategies that support capturing and managing content, as well as the storage, preservation and delivery of information throughout its lifecycle.
The definition of content can range significantly, but it generally refers to any information that employees use to do their work. In the context of traditional ECM, content often took the form of paper documents such as invoices, resumes and contracts. As technology has advanced, the definition of content has broadened to include video and audio files, social media posts, email, web content and more. ECM can handle both unstructured and structured content:
ECM software helps streamline the lifecycle of information with document management and the automation of process workflows. It is critical for any organization with large volumes of content to define an ECM plan to eliminate operational inefficiencies, reduce costs and adhere to regulatory compliance mandates. 
Some specific areas of business that benefit from the use of ECM software include the following:
Enterprise content management refers to the collection of strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver key organizational process information throughout its lifecycle.
Organizations can use ECM software to identify duplicate and near-duplicate content, allowing the organization to keep a few copies of a particular piece of content instead of hundreds. This variety of information will be organized in a central location with document metadata stored in folders, ensuring the content is available to the right people at the right time.
Approved users can find specific documents using full-text searches. The ECM platform retrieves the document and presents it to the user, allowing them to read, edit or print a copy of the information regardless of their location or the device they’re using. ECM software also lets users to look for specific words or phrases within the stored documents, decreasing the time spent scanning content and increasing productivity.
ECM has become increasingly important and complex in recent years for various reasons. Financial fraud and data breaches — and the regulations designed to prevent them — have made effective information governance essential not only for compliance reasons, but also to help protect the organization’s reputation. Organizations also need to manage content effectively for integration with business intelligence/business analytics (BI/BA) applications that help them to use the available information to guide business decisions.
Furthermore, productivity and efficiency within companies increase when they reduce their dependence on paper documents and create an organized, secure repository of unstructured information that considers business needs. Companies that don’t implement ECM risk losing time and productivity as well as potential noncompliance with corporate policies and regulations. If disaster strikes, companies that don’t securely store content can lose that information, leading to significant business interruptions.
Technological advancements are also making enterprise content management systems more important than ever. The proliferation of remote work has necessitated the business continuity and collaboration features that ECM provides. Advancements in machine learning, mobile and cloud technology are creating new opportunities for businesses. New types of content are also emerging in the form of social media, video and audio. ECM software must continue to adapt with these new forms of unstructured information so they can continue to organize data and optimize business performance.
ECM can be broken down into five major components: capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver. The purpose of each component, as defined by the Association for Intelligent Information Management (AIIM), is as follows:
An effective enterprise content management system provides everyone in the organization with easy access to all the information they need to make business decisions, complete projects, collaborate and perform their jobs with efficiency.
In addition to the obvious benefits of organization and efficiency, ECM provides a wealth of other benefits:
ECM software provides several capabilities, but companies that want more flexibility in choosing content management tools or don’t need all of the components of an ECM suite can purchase one-off applications from software providers to meet their needs. This approach to managing enterprise content — which includes content services applications, platforms and components — falls into the content services classification Gartner created in 2016.
At a high level, key elements of ECM incorporate the following:
Robust ECM software includes these features:
Some ECM software products include Alfresco Software, Box Platform, Hyland OnBase, IBM Cloud Pak for Automation, iManage, Microsoft SharePoint, Nuxeo Content Services, OpenText, Newgen and SER Group’s Doxis4.
Organizations can deploy ECM software on premises or in the cloud. Benefits of cloud-based ECM include flexible licensing models, easier remote and mobile access, and integration with other cloud services. 
An ECM implementation is often a complex process that involves a variety of stakeholders and departments. Before implementing ECM, it’s important for organizations to develop an ECM roadmap or strategy to identify the priorities of the ECM implementation and get clarity on the necessary procedures and technologies it entails.
The first step of creating an ECM strategy is to perform a content audit by documenting all the types of content that the organization deals with, the business processes it’s part of and who handles the content.
Once an organization clearly understands the ECM strategy, the next step is implementation. Other steps to successfully implement an ECM system include the following:
In 2016, Gartner declared that enterprise content management had been replaced by content services — the strategic concept that involves content services applications, platforms and components, but is less concerned with centralizing all information into one enterprise-wide platform. As a part of that initiative, Gartner replaced the ECM Magic Quadrant with a content services Magic Quadrant in 2017. However, organizations still frequently use ECM to organize their information and achieve goals faster.
Content services platforms (CSPs) and ECM are not equivalent terms, and one will not likely replace the other. A CSP focuses on managing transactional content in the context of solving a particular problem. ECM is more broad; it seeks to manage all forms of content within the enterprise, regardless of its type or where it resides.
ECM has also evolved to become an approach rather than a single technology. In the future, enterprise content management strategies and tools will continue to change to adapt to the demands of organizations looking for more agility and integration. As technology evolves, ECM vendors add more features.
More organizations are incorporating team collaboration tools into their ECM approach. Plus, constant advancements in cloud, mobile and analytics technology continue to increase users’ expectations of ECM capabilities. Automation and machine learning are becoming key complements to ECM, and it is becoming more and more likely that cloud deployment will be the key to maximizing an ECM system’s effectiveness.
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