Who Says Bigger Is Better?

I recently read an interesting article called “For LPO clients, small is beautiful”. What makes it interesting is it highlights the valuable role of “smaller” LPOs. 

The survey supports the view that global companies outsourcing legal work seem to prefer doing business with smaller companies. The survey conducted across 6,547 clients globally shows that smaller vendors, including LPO vendors are satisfying more clients and to a greater degree compared to their larger counterparts. The survey was conducted by the Black Book of Outsourcing in 2010. 

UK-based Datamonitor’s Research Director, Eamonn Kennedy, said in a press statement, “Although feedback on the big names, such as IBM and HP, has been generally positive, the companies that have excelled and delighted, through the services they provide, have been smaller players.” 

The client survey covered all outsourcing fields, including legal process outsourcing (LPO). Kennedy was quoted as saying “Smaller outsourcing providers ….. have been pushing their specialist knowledge and deep client understanding as their unique selling point for some time now, claiming that specialists provide a better service. While all outsourcers talk up their ability to specialize, this survey suggests that ……. relatively small players are best positioned to deliver on that promise.” 

Also on the UK front, the UK’s Managing Partner magazine, in an article titled “Uncorking the Genie,” reports that there is a “clamour around legal process outsourcing (LPO),” as law firms “are finding the intensity of competition in the marketplace increasing at a frightening pace,” causing management teams to look at offshore legal outsourcing, as they “search hard for competitive advantage“:

In Canada, there is increasing discussion, debate and interest in LPO. I recently participated in a panel discussion called “Budget-busting in 2010”. The panel was hosted by the Corporate Secretary THINK TANK. Although LPO was not the only topic covered, I can assure you that LPO was a dominant part of the discussions. Still in Canada, the Sixth Annual Canadian Bar Association Law Firm Leadership Conference (on November 22^nd and 23^rd) is moving ahead full steam. The conference features Professor Richard Susskind in a session on “Unbundled Work/Unbridled Success: Sourcing Canadian Legal Services Differently.” This promises to be a lively debate about LPO in Canada and around the globe and will address how law firms and clients are sourcing work differently.