On Monday morning, your team is juggling Outlook, a DMS, a practice management app, Slack, Zoom, a time tracker, and three browser tabs for research. By Friday, it’s grown to include a document signature tool, a CRM, and maybe a half-abandoned intake form platform.
In 2025, firms aren’t just overloaded with tasks; they’re overloaded with tools. Lines of business now manage 56% of all enterprise applications, a sharp rise from just 4% the year before. That weight shows up as lost time, forgotten logins, redundant licenses, and scattered data.
How do you cut through the noise without disrupting your workflows or confusing your staff? Let’s take a clear-eyed look at how to consolidate your legal tech stack and boost operational efficiency while you’re at it.
It starts innocently: one tool for calendaring, another for document sharing. Then a partner wants something “simpler” for intake. HR signs up for a separate onboarding solution. Next thing you know, your firm has three platforms that all schedule meetings, and none of them talk to each other.
This kind of app sprawl is expensive. Beyond subscription costs, there is the cognitive load of switching between interfaces, the security risks of inconsistent access, and the quiet chaos of disconnected data. Most firms don’t have a single source of truth, and that’s a problem.
To be fair, not all cloud tools are bad. But without a strategy, even great tech becomes a liability.
Let’s not pretend there’s a one-click solution. But firms that take a phased, intentional approach can trim their tech stack, improve collaboration, and get more value out of the platforms they keep.
What’s in use? Not just what’s purchased, but what gets opened every day.
Build a full inventory that includes:
This alone will reveal a surprising overlap. You might discover that your billing tool also has intake forms, or that your document management system has features nobody’s using because they weren’t turned on.
Furthermore, don’t overlook apps slipping past IT’s radar. A recent Zylo report found that nearly 85% of SaaS apps are unknown and unmanaged within organizations, leaving a significant blind spot that puts businesses at risk of compliance failures and security breaches.
Every tool doesn’t need to do everything, but every tool should play well with your core systems. Start with the tools your team uses, such as email, DMS, and practice management. Then build out from there.
Microsoft 365, for example, has quietly evolved into a central hub for law firms. From built-in task tracking in Planner to secure file sharing through OneDrive, it’s worth revisiting just how much functionality already exists in your current license. Firms that focus on productivity with Microsoft 365 often uncover hidden efficiencies without adding new tools.
Make integration the standard. If a new platform doesn’t connect easily with your DMS, Outlook, or Teams, it’s probably not a good fit.
Your document management system shouldn’t store files and further guide your workflows.
That means:
If you’re still running an on-premise DMS, it may be time to shift. Cloud DMS solutions now offer greater scalability and often reduce the cloud infrastructure risk compared to maintaining internal servers, especially when paired with multi-factor authentication and SOC 2-certified vendors.
Many firms are falling into the trap of adding a new app just for AI.
It’s tempting: a clever drafting tool here, a contract analyzer there, but these one-off solutions often fragment data even further.
Instead, lean into platforms that embed AI features natively. Many DMS platforms are now rolling out AI-assisted tagging, smart search, or summarization. Microsoft Copilot is integrating directly with Outlook, Word, and Teams.
According to ILTA’s 2024 report, 37% of law firms already use generative AI, mostly for summarization, drafting, and research. But adding too many point solutions creates redundancy and security blind spots.
The goal isn’t to become an AI-first firm but to become an AI-ready one. That means ensuring your systems are centralized, searchable, and secure enough for machine learning to pull useful insights without exposing client data.
Consolidation doesn’t have to mean sacrifice. In fact, most firms are overspending without realizing it.
Here’s where to look:
Many organizations are also sitting on unused credits or overlapping features. A tool you use for e-signature might already exist in your DMS or practice management suite. Evaluating those options is the first step toward optimizing cloud costs without scaling back productivity.
You don’t need more tools, you need the right ones, working together. That’s where we come in.
At Vudu Consulting, we help law firms cut through bloated tech stacks and create systems that actually work, lean, secure, and ready to scale. Whether you’re dealing with outdated tools or platforms that don’t play well together, we’ll meet you where you are and get you moving forward. Ready to simplify? Contact Vudu Consulting today to get started.
