b'Local Government Lawyer 7What is no longer working? Table 7: Which of the following technologies are you currently or planning to use?Perhaps a more insightful way of looking at the responses this year is to focus on whatLegal Research 87% 13%departments are not doing.It is clear that in the five years since ourDocument Management 59% 18% 23%last survey, some approaches have either provided as much efficiency gains as possibleDocument Automation 37% 24% 39%and are no longer useful, or have fallen out of favour among management. Workflow mapping 30% 37% 33%For example, only 8% of respondents said they are looking to restructure theireBilling 24% 16% 61%departments into more specialist teams,Contract Management 19% 15% 65%which is down from 32% in 2019. Interest in shared service agreements,Contract Review 11% 17% 72%once seen as a solution to workload pressures, has also dropped, from 31% of respondentseDiscovery 7% 9% 84%planning to pursue an agreement in 2019 to 14% now.Proofreading 6% 91%Some still predict growth in the strategy,2%with 29% believing the number of sharedAlready Using Planning on introducing in next 12 months Not aware of plans to introduceservice departments will increase moderately, although the majority (54%) see the number of such departments staying the same (Seesector is turning its back on sharing. Butdeliver any savingsbut it can certainly affect table 6).responses suggest enthusiasm is fading. morale negatively and is initially disruptive, It is not apparent whether this isSome responses also suggested thatone person said.because the majority of councils that couldoperational complexities make theseThe benefits of sharing are enjoyed mainly have already entered into shared servicepartnerships less effective than initially hoped. by smaller district authorities, where teams agreements have already done so, or if theIts unclear if shared services actuallycan pick up more knowledge, they added.'