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CMS launches idea hackathons with Crowdicity portal

11 December 2018

CMS UK has today launched #hacks, a new portal to make it even easier for everyone at the firm to share their good ideas, discuss and refine them. Each quarter, the firm will select ideas with the most potential to be reviewed, tested and turned into reality.

Incentives will include an opportunity for seven people to head to the US West Coast to explore tech, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The portal is built on a platform called Crowdicity, a client of the firm and one of the tech start-ups in the CMS equIP programme.

The launch of #hacks follows the setting up earlier this year of CMS By Design, a new group within the firm responsible for delivering the future of legal service design, delivery and technology to clients.

Each quarter the firm will run three ‘challenges’ – questions on topics relating to the way the firm works, its culture, and how it delivers legal services to clients. Anyone at CMS can submit an idea either a ‘quick win’ – which the firm can realistically make happen within weeks, or a ‘big idea’ - which will require investment or more time to implement.

Stephen Millar, Managing Partner at CMS, commented:

“If you ask people to come up with an idea or to be more innovative, they often get stuck or think they have to invent something entirely new and ground-breaking. In fact, it’s lots of small improvements that incrementally help businesses become more innovative. But we’re also after those big, ambitious ideas too and those don’t necessarily come from Partners.”

Incentives are a key part of encouraging people to participate and the firm has agreed the following:

• potentially seeing an idea turned into reality;
• recognition in appraisals for contributing an idea to CMS #hacks as part of the innovation component of the firm’s people proposition ‘Modus’;
• if an idea becomes a CMS project, the person who came up with it will be invited to be part of a team with an allocated budget to turn it into reality;
• at the end of the first six months the most active contributors to CMS #hacks will be invited to join an innovation group with the CMS By Design team;
• after 12 months, seven people who came up with ideas (implemented or accepted as a project), will have an opportunity to travel to the US West Coast to explore tech, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Phil Raymond, Director of HR at CMS, added:

“Building a culture of innovation is at the heart of the firm’s strategy in both our Innovation & Technology and Culture & Values streams. It is a central part of Modus, our people proposition which encourages key behaviours and is how we reward our people. To continue to attract the best talent, it’s important that we encourage, implement and reward good ideas.”

The first series of ‘Challenges’ kicks off today. In the spirit of experimentation and iteration, the firm is welcoming suggested improvements to the portal itself over the course of the next 12 months. Ultimately, CMS also sees potential to use the portal to brainstorm ideas with clients.