Compared to other industries, the legal sector has been reasonably innovative when it comes to technology: new developments and working practices have been welcomed and there is an underlying commitment to use it to improve operations. We work very closely with both the legal and real estate sectors at Calvis and I can say hand on heart that the former is head and shoulders above the latter in terms of technology adoption.

However, this pioneering attitude seems to have created some unexpected issues – especially in relation to integrating some of the 'best of breed' solutions that have been installed as the promise of interoperability seems to have been a false one. Conversely, in real estate this is not a problem. Due to its technological reticence, the property sector is in a position to learn from the mistakes of other sectors and bizarrely is now more agile in relation to software implementations.

The poignancy of this situation is particularly apparent when you read the recent coverage surrounding enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Traditionally, law firms have ignored the benefits of ERP and preferred to cherry-pick back-and front-office systems. Practices have signed up en masse to the logic that merging 'best of breed' solutions is the most cost-effective and rational way forward.

Time and experience has indicated that this is not necessarily the case – the bottom line value of the best of breed approach is questionable, key systems do not integrate easily with one another (let alone the existing data infrastructure) and isolated information silos are needlessly created. There is no doubt in my mind that the market's perception of the benefits of a single software supplier is softening. In reality, legal IT directors are currently scratching their respective heads and reviewing how to maximise front and back office functionality, a view substantiated by Irwin Mitchell's recent announcement that it was in the market for an ERP system.

In comparison, the real estate sector, especially in the US, has been more than happy to jump on the ERP bandwagon and avoid the risks associated with developing bespoke technology. When I say risks, I specifically mean the inhibitors inherent in deploying best of breed – disconnected silos of information and the inability to access a true '360-degree view' of a client. Moreover, the real estate market has been on a globalisation drive for some time and this is where the benefits of ERP become more apparent.

ERP is nothing new and has been around for a long time, but the benefits it can provide are now being examined more earnestly. Having said that, it has had quite a negative history – ERP projects are notorious for taking too long, costing a fortune and not delivering the efficiencies promised. To anybody who works in IT, I am sure that sounds all too familiar.

Admittedly, some of this is true, but it must be put in context. Many organisations try to speed up the deployment of ERP by failing to install the modules that deliver return on investment. This is crazy – ERP installations are far too expensive to be approached half-heartedly. Today, the ERP market is dominated by Oracle (following its digestion of PeopleSoft) and Germany's SAP. Earlier this year Microsoft Business Solutions was launched, representing Bill Gates' foray into ERP. This business unit has been tasked with redesigning four separate ERP product lines, assembled through a series of acquisitions, to compete with the big two. The fact that Microsoft is placing such an emphasis on its ERP offering reflects the growth in demand for ERP solutions. My own company is a partner of both Oracle and Microsoft and I can vouch for their appetite to deliver ERP solutions into vertical markets like real estate and legal.

If you also look closely at the ERP offerings of the two major players, it is no surprise to find that a real estate solution exists, but a legal one has yet to be developed. The generic benefits of an ERP system to real estate companies are many but, put simply, include: web-based collaboration with partners, tenants, employees and vendors; a single point of data entry for all transactions; real-time data access and reporting for your entire portfolio from a single database; and automated and streamlined processes. In essence, you get an integrated solution that increases back office efficiency and reduces operating cost.

Generally, ERP applications promise to increase productivity, improve business insight and accelerate business strategies. As stated earlier, it is particularly relevant in the highly competitive global environment, as companies can extend their processes to include customers and suppliers. Naturally, the speed with which a company can react to its customers and market has a dramatic impact on performance and growth. ERP is a big enabler here.

ERP application users are frequently located in back-office departments such as finance, accounting, operations, manufacturing and human resources. The reality of the situation is that that the back-office is becoming ever more front-office and these users are key interfaces to customers, suppliers and employees. The real benefit of ERP is that it seamlessly enables these users to personalise interactions, integrate new functions and processes and improve collaboration – the bottom line is that it provides a 360-degree view of the customer, unifying all sources of customer information and increasing productivity.

However, all is not rosy in the ERP garden and it has been rejected for good reason by many organisations. Software implementations have become so complex, expensive and integral to business processes that when you need an upgrade a hidden agenda suddenly emerges. The reality is that an 'upgrade' can cost up to 30% of the original implementation price, often takes up to a year to complete and may require a complete overhaul of existing infrastructures and business practices.

In today's business environment, the ability to extend business processes to include customers and suppliers is critical to success. Virtually every department in an enterprise interfaces with these entities and how well they do that has an impact on performance and growth. Therefore, it is critical that solutions are in place that provide back office workers with interaction capabilities – blending the traditional lines between the front and back office. If your systems cannot talk to each other, you are starting with a clear disadvantage.

Ironically, due to years of minimalist spending on IT, real estate has a clear advantage over legal. It is agile and more able to change. In this article, I have not spoken about budgets and many real estate firms have access to global spend whereas legal firms might not. But one thing is for sure: the way we conduct business is changing, and the way we communicate with all our various stakeholders is becoming more important. If this means spending more on back office integration then so be it – but contacts within the legal community tell me that it would be a bitter pill to swallow. Chris Lees is chief executive of Calvis.