As technology has become more intertwined with business, many law firms are realising that it is difficult to manage all of one’s in-house operations internally whilst, at the same time, pledging the necessary time and energy to their clients. This is especially true for smaller organisations, and individual practitioners – getting bogged down with internal operations makes it harder to compete in the market. We spoke with a provider of managed IT services London based law firms have used in the past, to ask about the benefits of managed IT services in the legal sector.
Managed Services for Law Firms
The company we spoke to, TechQuarters, stated that managed IT services for law firms is about organisations outsourcing all management and support of their IT infrastructure to a professional provider. This means that the organisation can focus more of their time and energy on their clients and business, while the managed service provider ensures that their IT is running the way it should.
As an IT support company London law firms have had success with, we asked TechQuarters what they feel are the top benefits that companies in the sector can get from managed IT services – this is what they said:
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Reduced Overheads
Managed IT services can help law firms lower their bottom line expenses which, in a passive way, can increase profits. For some, it may see like a costly investment at first, but the long term savings you get from managed IT services are worthwhile. According to TechQuarters, businesses can eliminate the expense of in-house hardware and software by outsourcing to an MSP. Managed service providers can also help law firms leverage new technologies that could offer further savings on overheads, and deliver proactive support that reduces downtime (an indirect form of overhead reduction).
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Streamline Workflows
Most professionals will know how one’s workflow can easily be disrupted by inefficient processes and administrative tasks. It may not seem like much time has been lost, but all those little tasks can incrementally add up to large chunks of billable hours. A professional IT service provider can help law firms find ways of streamlining workflows in many ways. They might recommend a solution to automate processes, or implement more fluid communication protocols. TechQuarters, for instance, recommends standardised cloud storage to make file sharing quick and easy. But these are just a few examples of how managed IT services can streamline a law firm’s work.
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Increase Security
When asked, TechQuarters stated in no uncertain terms that security is a priority in the IT support law firms receive from them. This is because cybercrime is a risk for every business, but law firms in particular need to be vigilant, due to the amount of sensitive data that they handle for their clients. Most law firms don’t have the time to research and implement the latest security solutions, but IT service providers will be able to recommend the right security solutions for their clients, and manage the implementation of those solutions for them.
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Make Compliance Easier
The legal sector has a lot of regulations that practitioners need to adhere to. Due to the sensitivity of the information law firms work with, they need to adhere not only to the compliance regulations of their own sector, but also the regulations from other sectors – for instance, if a law firm wants to access the medical records of a client, they will need to be mindful of the HIPAA regulations. The way in which compliance regulations are constantly changing makes this even more difficult to deal with. Luckily, if one is working with a managed IT service provider, this will be much easier. An MSP must be clued into all the regulations that their clients are obligated to comply with, and will be able to recommend technology solutions that ensure their operations are always compliant. For example, TechQuarters recommends Dynamics 365 Compliance Manager.