A review of research with 60 legal buyers suggests technology plays an important role in driving overall client satisfaction.

Although IT is not an explicit decision-making criterion when it comes to selecting a legal supplier, technology is an important component when it comes to effective service delivery and a subconscious driver of client satisfaction.

An independent Acritas survey asked legal buyers to rate the importance of "enhancing service through the use of advanced technology". The buyers rated it one of the least important, scoring it on average six out of 10. They see technology as an enabler for other service attributes rather than a standalone aspect of service. As such it is often taken as a given, a typical comment being: "Our company has to be up to date with all the latest technology, so we certainly expect our suppliers to be."

There was some correlation between buyers awarding higher importance scores for use of advanced technology and those with close working relationships with their suppliers, suggesting that it may be a lack of awareness that leads buyers to place low importance on the attribute. Hence, by educating clients about the technology behind the service delivery, it may be possible to make this more important in their buying decisions – a great advantage if your firm spends large sums on technology.

When we analysed which attributes were the most influential drivers of overall satisfaction, by considering how the most satisfied segment of buyers rated their suppliers on various service attributes, technology came much higher up than expected. Technology is clearly a subconscious driver of overall satisfaction, perhaps due to its significant impact on other service attributes.

Clients rated responsiveness as the most important aspect of service and unfortunately this had the largest performance gap. Technology can play a vital role in enabling fee earners to respond quickly and effectively through easy access to information and e-mail. Related to this, teamwork received some criticism; again, using technology to share information between client teams about the progress of client matters can only help to improve perception in these areas.

"Keep me informed about/track costs" is the second largest performance gap. Clients hate surprises in their bills. They want to be informed regularly, whether this is via online access to billing information or receiving regular updates from their supplying firm. Clients are most interested in improving the speed with which they can access the lawyers who know about their work. They also want to know how much they are spending. Technology plays a vital role in both these areas.

The message appears clear – by leveraging your firm's technology across all areas of service delivery and making it more visible to clients, it is possible to improve overall satisfaction and ultimately increase client retention. Which might make your next big technology spend a little easier to justify!

Lisa Hart is a director of research company Acritas.