Press releases
Harbor MarTech Survey Reveals Rising Demand for Data Integration to Drive Law Firm Growth
As law firm COOs prioritize investments in Marketing and Business Development, CMBDOs are pushing to connect marketing infrastructure amidst fragmented tech stacks
November 18, 2025 (Chicago, IL) – Harbor, a leading global legal technology and consulting firm, today released the findings of its 2025 Marketing Technology Survey, a benchmarking study examining how law firms are investing in marketing technology and leveraging data for business growth.
“In a recent gathering of leading law firm COOs, they clearly signaled that enabling Marketing and Business Development is the No. 1 prioritized area for transformation to accelerate growth in 2026,” said Sarah Happy, Director, Legal Technology + Operations, Harbor. “This year’s Marketing Technology Survey is timely because it highlights the main challenges facing CMBDOs as they step up to expand their influence beyond ‘pockets of excellence’ to enable firm-wide growth.”
The survey reveals that while adoption of marketing technology systems is widespread, most firms continue to struggle with integration, data quality, and lawyer engagement – key barriers to realizing full ROI on MarTech investments.
According to the survey, the average law firm marketing department now uses four to five core systems to support business development and client engagement. Among respondents, client relationship management (CRM) and eMarketing platforms lead adoption at 97% and 93.9% of firms respectively, yet only 18.2% of lawyers actively engage with CRM tools, a sign of ongoing challenges in lawyer participation and user adoption.
Other key findings include:
- Only one in five firms report having most of their marketing technologies integrated, despite investment in sophisticated systems, while a third rely primarily on manual data transfers.
- The majority of firms cite data quality as a persistent obstacle, with 82% facing outdated contact data and nearly 80% reporting duplicate records across systems.
- When evaluating new marketing technology, 91% of firms ranked system integration and data sharing as their top investment priority, followed by improved reporting and analytics (67%) and enhanced data quality (67%).
The data underscores a growing recognition that integrated technology ecosystems are essential for firms seeking to deliver proactive, data-driven client service.
“These findings highlight an urgent need for firms to build connected infrastructure that supports scalable, strategic growth,” said Zena Applebaum, SVP of Market Development, Harbor. “Better integration and cleaner data aren’t just operational wins; they’re foundational to delivering high-value client insights and firmwide collaboration."
Join Harbor’s Webinar: “The State of Law Firm MarTech 2025”
To help firms interpret these findings and chart a path forward, Harbor will host a webinar on Tuesday, November 18, at 12 p.m. ET, featuring insights from Harbor’s Marketing Technology team. The discussion will explore practical strategies for improving data integration, adoption, and ROI across marketing systems.
Brent Turner, SVP of Client Engagement, Chris Fritsch, VP of Marketing Technologies, and Sarah Happy, Director of Marketing Technologies, will discuss:
- Strategies for modernizing legal marketing in the age of AI;
- Current challenges with data quality and system integration; and
- Rethinking technology adoption and enablement for maximum impact.
About Harbor
Harbor is the leading provider of professional and technology services to the legal industry, encompassing strategy, technology, operations, and intelligence.
With a global team of 900 professionals, Harbor works with over 80% of Global 200 law firms and 500 corporate legal departments to optimize performance and enable business and digital transformation. Headquartered in Chicago, the firm has offices in London, Belfast, Moncton, and Sydney.
Harbor, a BayPine LP portfolio company, is advancing its next phase of growth—broadening its technology, data, and managed services capabilities to serve as the distributor of innovation for the legal sector. For more information, go to www.harborglobal.com.