DLA Piper Sets the Green Bar High- As Covered in Managing Partner Magazine
In the December/January issue of Managing PartnerMagazine (wwwmpmagazine.com) which is hot off the presses, Mattern & Associates’ consultant Brady Schoenrock co-authors an article with DLA Piper sustainability experts Elaine Radford and Jeff Harper to talk about DLA’s initiatives for sustainability and to raise the point that “going green” has real bottom-line benefits that go beyond being a good Samaritan. The article is available to Managing Partner subscribers and can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/35l27tg.
To quote from the article, “DLA Piper has set the global standard for law firms, taking corporate responsibility very seriously. There are four main areas that the DLA Piper Global Sustainability Initiative addresses: Energy, Waste/Recycling, Travel and Procurement. Incorporating advice from experts such as support services consultants Mattern & Associates, the firm has aggressively mandated changes in these areas which have resulted in massive cost savings for the firm. Long-term, sustainability is a money-saver, and there is real evidence to support this fact.”
For more information about green and sustainability strategies for your law firm, especially from an operations or support servicespoint of view, e-mail Brady at bschoenrock@matternassoc.com.
Is it time for a Checkup?
Quality in terms of end-user-experience is best measured through satisfaction surveys. Firms often survey their end-users when it is time to renew their outsourcing contract. These surveys help to identify “pain” the end-users may be experiencing with their current vendor. Results of the survey assist the Firm in adjusting any service level agreements (SLA) already in place and developing new ones for their contract. These SLA’s also create the base for the quality of service to be measure. The SLA’s should then be developed into a scorecard for monitoring and measuring the performance of their vendor providing service to the firm.
It is important to have a “checkup” during the term of your contract. Re-surveying your end-users mid-contract assist the firm in making sure the needs of their end-users have been met and present opportunities to take some preventative measures to address issues that have changed and not wait till it’s time for their outsourcing contract to be renewed.
So, schedule a “checkup” and find out what’s going on with your end-users and not wait until the end of your contract to find out it’s too late for a cure.
Here’s My Two Cents……
Last month, the United States Postal Service filed for a price increase with the Postal Regulatory Commission. First class stamps will increase from $0.44 to $0.46 – two cents. Overall, the increase will average approximately 5.6%. The Postal Rate Commission has ninety (90) days to respond and may change the proposed rates. The new rates are targeted to be effective for January 2, 2011.
While you wait for the Postal Rate Commission to throw in their two cents to the request for a two cent increase, it might be a good time to look into ways to reducing postage cost overall. Does your firm invoice clients electronically instead of mailing an invoice? Does your firm utilize email for newsletters, announcements and/or general correspondence to your clients? These are just a few ideas on ways to avoid the impact of the postal increase if not avoid postage charges altogether.
So that’s my two cents, what’s yours?
