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Is Your Conflicts Technology in Conflict with Business Practices?

By Kandace Donovan
May 28, 2008
Systems that facilitate a firm's new business review and inception processes, such as client intake and conflicts management software, are major technology investments. While the IT department may not always have a place at the table during the vendor selection process, IT is directly involved in the implementation planning, conversions, go-live and ongoing upkeep related to these systems, as well as integration into the firm's larger technology initiatives. Therefore, it's important for you to be aware of what's coming down the road so that you can properly plan for and support the initiatives coming out of your firm's new business intake and conflicts departments.

The Importance of Conflicts Review

Having technologies in place for executing conflicts searches is essential, but alone is not enough to fully protect your firm. When hundreds of conflicts checks are initiated daily, it's the efficacy of the reports that's key. The analysis and vetting of the search results is what, in the end, determines if and how the firm will engage. Consider the adage 'Garbage in, Garbage out' ' the quality and thoroughness of your conflicts reporting and review process could actually undermine risk-mitigation intentions. Whether your firm relies on a time and billing system, a conflicts-management system or a comprehensive client intake system, lack of flexibility in conflicts reporting has been a common, underlying challenge to firms. Though the business world is constantly in motion, not to mention evolving regulations, rules of professional conduct and best practices, static conflicts reports have historically been the industry standard.

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