Solo and Small Firms Face Many Challenges, Survey Shows, But Few Have Made Changes to Address Them | Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites

… when you combine the numbers for firms that have either implemented changes or that have plans in place, the numbers of firms that are addressing their challenges range from roughly half to two-thirds:

  • Challenges acquiring new client business, 63%.
  • Getting paid by clients, 65%.
  • Demonstrating the firm’s value to potential clients, 65%.
  • Keeping up with competition from other firms in your practice areas, 54%.
  • Lack of internal efficiency, 55%.
  • Spending too much time on administrative tasks, 47%.
  • Cost control and expense growth, 54%.
  • Managing staff, 68%.
  • Clients demanding more for less, 42%.
  • Increasing complexity of technology, 52%.
  • Retaining client business, 67%.
  • Increasing pace of legal and regulatory change, 46%.

Source: Solo and Small Firms Face Many Challenges, Survey Shows, But Few Have Made Changes to Address Them – Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites, November 30, 2017, Robert Ambrogi

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The Legal AI ‘Barbarians’ Have Already Taken the Gates |Artificial Lawyer

Strangely, it’s not the legal IT people in law firms who seem to have most grasped just how important AI and automation is, it’s the managing partners. This is because it’s their job to look at the bigger picture, the economic and strategic picture, not just how the machine functions day to day.

Great list of legal Artificial Intelligence providers. Looking forward to “AI and blockchain fusion initiatives.”

Source: The Legal AI ‘Barbarians’ Have Already Taken the Gates – Artificial Lawyer, December 01, 2017, Richard Tromans

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From bots and AI to counterfeit reality and fake news, Gartner’s top predictions for 2018

3. Legitimized Cryptocurrencies

By the year 2020, the banking industry will derive $1B of business value from the use of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies — When compared to the estimated $7.6 trillion that is the industry gross output of the world’s banking industry, $1 billion may not seem like much. However, the value is more about the tacit endorsement of cryptocurrency as a legitimate option by the banking industry. With the legalities of cryptocurrencies also being worked on and more than 900 cryptocurrencies on the market, the banking endorsement could open doors to other industries.

Source: From bots and AI to counterfeit reality and fake news, Gartner’s top predictions for 2018, Daryl Plummer, Gartner, October 17, 2017

Thanks, Laurent!

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As IBM Ramps Up Its AI-Powered Advertising, Can Watson Crack the Code of Digital Marketing? – Adweek

Watson Ads

“Weather impacts your mood and your emotions, and your moods and your emotions are a huge input into your decision-making modality,” says Cameron Clayton, the former CEO of The Weather Company who is now general manager of IBM Watson’s Content and IoT Platform.

Last year, IBM began using Watson to create actual ads powered by AI. Since its launch in June 2016, Watson Ads have been used to leverage natural language to let users interact with ads from brands like Toyota and Campbell’s so they can get information about car inventory or recipes.

Source: As IBM Ramps Up Its AI-Powered Advertising, Can Watson Crack the Code of Digital Marketing? – Adweek, September 25, 2017

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Chatbots for customer service will help businesses save $8 billion per year – Watson

A new study released this week estimates that that chatbots will help businesses save more than $8 billion per year by 2022, which is a huge increase from the $20 million estimated for this year. In 2022, the success rate of bot interactions in healthcare sector will increase from the current 12% to over 75%, and in the banking sector this will climb to 90%.

Source: Chatbots for customer service will help businesses save $8 billion per year – Watson

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How artificial intelligence can deliver real value to companies | McKinsey & Company

… early evidence suggests that there is a business case to be made, and that AI can deliver real value to companies willing to use it across operations and within their core functions. In our survey, early AI adopters that combine strong digital capability with proactive strategies have higher profit margins and expect the performance gap with other firms to widen in the next three years.

Significant gains are there for the taking. For many companies, this means accelerating the digital-transformation journey. AI is not going to allow companies to leapfrog getting the digital basics right. They will have to get the right digital assets and skills in place to be able to effectively deploy AI.

Source: How artificial intelligence can deliver real value to companies | McKinsey & Company

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Big law is having its Uber moment – Macleans.ca

AI-powered tools are potentially more accurate. Whether they realize it or not, even the sharpest lawyers inevitably bring their own biases to legal research. That, in turn, skews their ability to realistically gauge their chances before judges, who harbour their own preconceived notions of how law should be applied. Tax Foresight, by contrast, isn’t concerned with how a judge should rule, but rather what’s the most likely outcome based on past experience. It’s essentially Moneyball for tax lawyers.

Source: Big law is having its Uber moment – Macleans.ca

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