Installing new software may entail a learning curve for any organization, including a law firm and corporate legal department.

But when its business model hinges on the billable hour and being accessible to clients, the slightest inconvenience or error can be frustrating and potentially revenue-breaking for the legal industry.

"Usually there's a period of time [law firms] are slower to do things when they're learning something new," said Diane Camacho, founder and CEO of DLC Consulting Services, a law firm management consulting provider for solo and small firms. "It can be very frustrating and it could take people longer to do things than usual."

She added, "Sometimes there's a lot of frustration. The work doesn't stop when there's a change—you are expected to produce the same amount of work."

But when the firm is moving slower, it's most likely doing and billing less.

While taking on large projects such as migrating to the cloud or switching offices presents potential challenges to running the firm smoothly, Camacho noted that even smaller tasks like installing a new billing or accounting system could result in revenue loss if there are errors in that technology or new workflow.

"The errors would be the reports not balancing in the accounting system, because everything is mapped in the back end."

To avoid a potential mishap, Camacho recommended law firms run both the new and legacy system in parallel for a month as a safety net to ensure the accuracy of the content collected.

But it's not just the billing or accounting systems that can cause trouble if not properly installed or managed. While not perhaps revenue-breaking, HBR Consulting IT managed services chief technology officer Matt Coatney also noted document management tools can cause operational risks for lawyers who are constantly sending and receiving emails.

"These document management systems have to be tightly integrated into emails and folders lawyers use," he explained. "Given how much content lawyers work on on a daily basis, that's a ton of content that needs to flow from system to system."

However, Coatney noted it's difficult to correlate lost revenue to working harder or longer to redirect documents or files. "Yes, it is a bit of a tax on lawyers' productivity, [but] if they are browsing between folders, that takes 30 seconds," he said.

Still, legal tech platforms' complexity and integration into other various software can lead to greater likelihood of malfunctions or instability, Coatney said.

"It's largely in their customization of the Microsoft suite. That's probably the most common example where the tools that are tightly integrated and what the tools can do can be pretty invasive," he said.

To avoid integration complications, Coatney advised law firms and legal departments to carefully consider if a new application is needed. However, if installing new software is essential, the new platform and the organization's current tech should be analyzed for any potential stability concerns, he said.