If your legal team is still on spreadsheets and email threads because you assume legal software is too complex or slow to implement, read this. Xakia's legal matter management software can be up and running the same day you sign up.
When we sign up for a new app in our personal lives (streaming services, financial tools, health records), we expect the process to be fast and simple. It must do what it says. And it must be reasonably priced.
Simple. Powerful. Affordable.
Yet the moment we shift to business software procurement, everything gets complicated. Or so we assume.
Selection. Procurement. Configuration. Adoption. ROI. Each step suddenly requires multiple stakeholders, months of meetings, and a budget line item big enough to make the CFO wince.
For a team of 100 lawyers with a full legal operations function, maybe that's barely acceptable. For a team of seven who just want the pain to stop? It absolutely doesn't have to be this way.
I built Xakia because I've seen small in-house legal teams stuck under this assumption. And it's just that: an assumption. Here's what modern legal software procurement and deployment actually looks like.
Choosing Legal Matter Management Software Doesn't Have to Take Months
Information about legal software is more accessible than ever. Websites, review platforms, comparison tools, pricing pages. A thorough desktop search can be done in days, not weeks. If anything, the risk is going too deep: paralysis by analysis from too many options.
Demo requests are simple. Pricing is (increasingly) transparent. And you can narrow your shortlist faster than you think. Even for a small team without a dedicated legal operations function, selection is a manageable solo project.
Procurement: Credit Card to Live Account, Same Day
Think about how you buy personal apps. Free trial. Credit card. Access granted. Done.
Corporate procurement has a reputation for being the opposite of easy. - For affordable, purpose-built legal software with critical security credentials (ISO 27001, SOC 2, and HIPAA compliant), there's no reason you can't follow the same pattern. Register, enter your corporate card, and you're in.
If your organization requires a formal buying process after a free trial, we make that easier too. An information security pack, a business case template, and a procurement checklist turn what used to be a months-long exercise into something you can complete in days. Request our procurement pack here.
Configuration: Smart Defaults, not a Setup Marathon
The myth: powerful legal matter management software needs an army of consultants to configure it.
The reality: the best systems ship with defaults that work from day one, paired with simple on/off toggles so you can turn features on as you're ready for them. You don't need to understand every capability on day one.
What you do need: training videos that explain things clearly, a knowledge base you can search at 11pm, and in-app support available around the clock. That's what we built.
Do you need integrations with your existing tools? Xakia connects out of the box with Office 365, Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, and more. Your IT team can have those running in minutes, and honestly, they'll appreciate not being needed for the rest of it.
Adoption: The Only Metric That Actually Matters
There's nothing worse than procuring software no one uses. I've seen it happen in legal teams of every size.
Here's what I've observed across hundreds of small in-house legal teams: adoption happens when software is genuinely enjoyable to work with. Not just "functional." Not just "good enough." Actually enjoyable. Something your lawyers want to open every morning.
That bar matters more than you might think. Research shows 64% of small legal departments recognize the value of a technology roadmap but don't have one. The teams that close that gap are the ones that pick tools their lawyers like using.
Adoption is an iterative and ongoing process. Regular events, webinars, and in-product updates keep your team getting more from their investment over time. A good software partner doesn't disappear after you sign up.
ROI: You Shouldn't Have to Wait a Year to See It
If you're spending money on legal matter management software, you want to know it's working. Fast.
Whether you measure it in hours saved, faster turnaround for internal clients, or reduced external legal spend, those signals should be visible within weeks, not after an annual review cycle. "This saved me hours this week" or "that contract came back faster than ever" are the early data points that confirm the investment is landing.
Consider the gap being left on the table: only 14% of in-house legal teams with fewer than 10 lawyers are using any tools at all. Small legal teams are 120% less likely to have access to legal technology compared to their larger counterparts. That's a real competitive disadvantage. For the teams that move now, it's a real opportunity to get ahead while others are still stuck in procurement meetings.
Test your LegalTech ROI here.
Throw Away the Months-Long Implementation Playbook
A legal project team? Months-long RFPs? Configuration meetings that spiral into each other? Repetitive training sessions that half the team skips? None of it is necessary anymore.
Xakia can be deployed in minutes. Not days. Not weeks. Minutes.
Named in the 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Corporate Legal Matter Management, built for small and mid-size in-house legal teams, and available in English, Japanese, Spanish, and French. Xakia is the only multi-lingual matter management platform on the market. And it works from day one.
Sign up for a free trial and get started today. Try Xakia free.
FAQ: Legal Matter Management Software
