What Exactly Is A Trusted Guide? How Brightflag Supports Its Customers

Brightflag builds great legal operations software—but that’s not enough to get in-house legal teams where they want to go.

Maybe that seems like a surprising admission, given my job title, but I promise it’s not some scandalous secret. In fact, Brightflag proactively raises this point with all prospective customers.

Because the truth is no technology can offer in-house legal teams a comprehensive solution. The terrain of their operations is too complex to navigate on autopilot.

So, in addition to equipping customers with strong foundational software, Brightflag plays another critical role that success requires: Trusted Guide.

The Value of a Trusted Guide

Capital investments rising sharply. New products launching weekly. Adoption rates growing steadily. All the signals we’ve seen over the past few years suggest a broad consensus around the idea that in-house legal is ripe for a technological reset.

But just because the need for change is clear doesn’t mean the process of change is easy. Legal operations leaders eager to transform their organizations are still likely to face several formidable challenges, including:

• Limited (or currently undefined) budgets for tech investment
• Overwhelmed colleagues with little time to learn new tools
• Concerned colleagues worried about disruptions to service delivery
• Skeptical colleagues previously stung by bad legal tech experiences
• Few best practice guides to follow or peer examples to reference

The combined effect is a high degree of difficulty for getting legal tech transformations right and a high (personal and organizational) price for getting them wrong.

Given those stakes, you can see why legal operations leaders would be receptive to the advice of a dependable resource who can help de-risk their plans. Someone who can map out the fastest and safest route to the desired destination. A person who can see around corners, flagging potential traps and pitfalls. Someone who can calmly respond to unexpected obstacles and steer the party back on course.

Well, as one of Brightflag’s trusted guides, those three traits might be the most concise and accurate version of my job description. But what exactly do they translate to in a typical week?

Below I’ll discuss a few concrete ways we provide support throughout a customer’s journey.

A Trusted Guide Before Traveling

We give every Brightflag customer access to the same software code, but we also recognize that each one arrives with unique characteristics, requirements, and ambitions. So during that critical period between purchase and launch, our trusted guides take several proactive steps to ensure technical features and business factors are properly aligned.

Appoint a dedicated point of contact.

Every Brightflag implementation process is led by a single employee accountable for formulating a plan, orchestrating the necessary resources, and delivering successful outcomes in the eyes of the customer. They initiate action, maintain momentum, and communicate progress at frequent intervals.

Personalize the plan of action.

Brightflag Implementation Managers facilitate the critical conversations that reveal a customer’s operational requirements and strategic priorities. This context is then translated into a customized plan—with timelines, milestones, roles, and responsibilities all confirmed in precise detail.

Make product setup painless.

We want the Brightflag product to feel primed and ready for a seamless launch, but we never want customers to feel like they’re adding a computer science curriculum to their already-busy schedules. That’s why we take the lead on behind-the-scenes necessities like data migration, system integration, and workflow configuration.

Provide comprehensive user training.

We offer free training in a variety of live and on-demand formats to help all users capitalize on Brightflag’s technical potential. Most importantly, we extend this service to both internal (i.e. legal ops, in-house counsel) AND external users (i.e. outside counsel).

A Trusted Guide Along the Trail

Launch day is always one of the most exciting Brightflag customer milestones, but we still regard it as exactly that: one marker along an infinite path. Because transformation is a continuous process, not a one-off project.

So instead of simply verifying their software logins and wishing them well on the road ahead, we walk alongside our customers and play ongoing supporting roles.

A loyal advocate.

Our trusted guides inherently accept the role of champion and defender of the customer’s cause. That means we’ll do whatever needs to be done behind the scenes to ensure Brightflag is repaying the faith they’ve invested many times over.

A consistent voice.

From serving as day-to-day sounding boards to leading quarterly business reviews, our trusted guides quickly start to feel like an extension of the corporate legal department. It’s rare that any Brightflag customer goes a week without hearing from us, even if it’s just reassurance that they’re already on the correct path.

A strategic advisor.

Brightflag has been helping customers navigate the complex terrain of corporate legal operations for nearly a decade. In that time we’ve accrued substantial insight into what is (and is not) working for in-house legal teams and are always available to recommend potential solutions drawn from that collective wisdom.

A responsive supporter.

The unexpected is inevitable in legal operations. That’s why we’ve reinforced our best-laid plans with a customer support apparatus that responds to challenges in an instant. Brightflag offers live assistance 24/7 to internal and external users around the world—and we’re constantly expanding our resource library for those that prefer the self-service route.

Going Far

There’s no shortage of viable tech products capable of fueling a legal ops transformation. Very few, however, come with the added value of a genuine partner.

So as your start to narrow down your list of potential legal tech solutions, be clear about what level of support you’re seeking for the road ahead. Because the old maxim still holds true:

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.