Serengeti Tracker has been transforming legal department operations for over a decade. Jim Sullivan, Assistant General Counsel at FMC Technologies and one of the platform’s earliest adopters, shared his insights during the 2014 Serengeti Summit on how his team utilizes the tool to enhance legal operations.
While Serengeti Tracker is often recognized for its electronic billing capabilities, Sullivan emphasized that its full potential extends far beyond that. With access to over $10 billion worth of anonymized invoicing data processed annually, legal departments can analyze their legal spend in greater detail. This data provides valuable insights for evaluating costs across business units and specific cost centers.
During an analytics breakout session at the summit, participants explored how Serengeti Tracker’s data points can uncover trends and issues, leading to more informed, actionable decisions. By leveraging these analytics, legal departments can benchmark their spending against industry peers, ensuring their practices are both efficient and competitive.
Sullivan also highlighted FMC Technologies’ ACES (Alliance Council Engagement System) program, which incentivizes outside counsel based on performance. Under ACES, a portion of each payment is withheld until firms are evaluated within Serengeti Tracker, with withheld funds being distributed based on performance assessments. This results-based payment system encourages high-quality work, benefiting both the legal department and external counsel.
Another key feature discussed was FileZone, a centralized document repository within Serengeti Tracker that helps streamline document management, discovery, and review processes. By consolidating documents in one accessible location, legal teams save time and money while improving overall efficiency.
In conclusion, Sullivan emphasized that by fully utilizing Serengeti Tracker, legal departments can better plan and budget, leveraging data to make more informed decisions and drive performance improvements across the board.