Why Does Your Law Firm Need Managed IT Services?
Your organization needs IT support from professionals with experience in the legal sector. How can your law firm can benefit from Managed IT Services? Are technology-related struggles becoming part of the daily challenges of running your law firm? They don’t have to be.
Why Should technology Be A Priority For Your Law Firm?
The previous decade has proven that managed IT services provide the best model for addressing the IT needs of law firms like yours. Rather than taking a break/fix approach to IT, managed services set you up with a comprehensive stack of proactive solutions, productivity tools, and risk mitigation strategies.
What challenges will arise without fully-managed it?
- Frequent support calls
When your IT support charges by the hour, it doesn’t benefit them if your tech is working the way it should. With no motivation to minimize service call volume, you could find yourself repeatedly calling them to help with a problem that never quite gets resolved.
- Rapid Escalation
A minor computer problem can quickly turn into a disaster if left unchecked. Take ransomware attacks as an example; What starts out with just one malicious email can spread throughout your entire network, locking down your data, and bringing your operations to a halt.
- High Cost Of Downtime
A non-managed IT service will only start working after something has broken — and the clock on downtime has begun.
This is why so many law firms are opting for managed support, which can be best delivered by an IT company with experience in the legal sector. Providers like us are familiar with the needs of law firms, as well as the relevant compliance standards and increased security needs that are involved.
How Will Your firm Benefit From Managed IT Services?
Much of what a law firm does is reliant on technology, whether it be maintaining records, scheduling court dates, or communicating by email. The state of your technology directly impacts your firm’s success. Fully managed IT services are generally considered the best option for keeping your technology working, your staff productive, and your data secure.
In practice, instead of waiting for something to go wrong and stepping in to correct it, an IT company that provides IT services takes on all the responsibilities of a traditional in-house IT department. This means working to prevent issues from happening in the first place.
- Protect Your Firm
Security is one of the most important aspects of modern technology. As the role of tech evolves and the depth of data expands, the number of ways your IT network can be compromised increases. Protective measures must be put in place, and your security constantly monitored.
Working with a managed IT services company, you’ll have access to cybersecurity technologies and best practices that were once only available to large enterprises. Whereas affording enterprise anti-virus solutions, advanced email security software, and end-user awareness training would be cost-prohibitive on an independent basis, doing so with a managed IT services company is extremely cost-effective.
Your IT system is a complex — and often expensive — investment. From budgeting to installation to ongoing maintenance, operating the hardware and software necessary to support a business is a daunting task. It also involves choosing and managing large numbers of hardware and software vendors.
The research for external service alone is enough to frustrate anyone that would rather just have their IT infrastructure meet their business needs without all the hassle. You also need to communicate with vendors in other areas of your firm (copiers, alarm systems, phones, etc.) to address all of your needs.
As their technologies integrate into your IT environment, you need to make sure they’re being managed properly. Your IT support should make use of every industry connection they have in communicating with third-party vendors on your behalf. Whether they are software developers, Internet service providers, copier or telephone companies, your IT company should work on your behalf to get the best solutions, products, and services for your business.
- Improved Efficiency and productivity
Downtime is extremely harmful for businesses of all types. Small businesses with up to 50 million in annual revenue reported last year that just a single hour of downtime cost them $8,600. The main cost of downtime is not remediation, it’s the loss in your firm’s productivity. If an IT-related or natural disaster occurs and takes critical systems offline, employees will be unable to complete their tasks, yet your normal business expenses will carry on.
During downtime, you will incur all the expenses of running a firm without the revenue you would usually generate. Even if downtime does not bring your entire operation to a halt, some of your staff will have to divert themselves from their normal work to mitigate the problem resulting in wasted hours. While your systems are down, it’s almost certain you can’t deliver services, conduct research, or communicate effectively with clients.
The fact is that downtime is often the result of poorly supported IT. The best way to approach downtime prevention is proactively – you need to keep an eye out for minor issues that could spiral into total stoppages. You should implement and test backup solutions to minimize losses from outages. You need to enhance your cybersecurity to protect against cybercrime.
Clearly, that’s a lot of IT to handle on your own, especially when you have other work to focus on. This is exactly why Managed IT Services companies have become so popular in the legal space. They’ll provide 24/7 active monitoring of your systems, enact business continuity best practices, backup solutions, and cybersecurity services that will keep costly downtime at a minimum. Managed IT providers are simply the easiest, fastest way to turn your technology into an asset instead of a hassle.
For more information, call mPowered IT at 678-389-6200 or visit mpoweredit.com.