These three words are part of any law firm consultant’s everyday life.

I find lots of professionals generating data, very few with information and almost none with action.

What is the difference among these terms?

• Data is any piece of information that is stored and collected later on;
• Information is the use of that data in a useful way;
• Action is the reasoning that happens based on that information.

These three elements are key to a steady and relevant growth of any law firm.

A practical example: a law firm logs into a registry or a spreadsheet all new clients within a week period. These are data. If from these data they can conclude how many clients actually closed deals with the firm and how many didn´t come through, then data turns into information. Now, if before this information a firm’s partner decides to invest in marketing, to reform the firm procedures or any other decision, we are facing action, meaning reacting against former procedures, i.e. evolution.

This idea is quite similar to PDCA.

In as much as PDCA, data, information and action lead us to the same goal: to analyse the present status and think of new ideas, changes and better procedures.

The fact that we never had problems or that things have always been done the way they are now, is no reson to stand passive .

There is always room for improvement and to evolve. Just take no less than that.

Standardize data, extract information and come out with actions to update your practice. That is the key to success.