IBM’s 2017 white paper, Business Value of Managed Services, shed a lot of light on the true capital worth of technology, including IT managed services for law. The paper addressed some of enterprise’s biggest challenges in the workplace and how IT managed services could remedy some of those challenges, stating,
“According to IDC research, the biggest challenge that businesses face in executing their corporate strategy is focusing the right people and resources on strategic initiatives. Essentially, firms are looking to ensure that their talent is focused on core areas of their business while optimizing productivity.”
The legal industry faces many of these obstacles within a firm, most of which IT Managed Services for law could address to increase workflow, optimize talent, minimize risk, and overall boost a firm’s productivity and efficiency. zbrella looks at some of the ways in which IT Managed Services for law can deliver some of the biggest Return on Investment (ROI) throughout the lifespan of a firm.
Maximize Talent, Reduce Labor Costs
Managed IT services for law allows firms to maximize the talent they already have while significantly reducing labor costs. Working with experienced and trained Managed Service providers allows lawyers to focus their talents on law while the service providers handle technical issues. This is far more conducive to a productive work environment in contrast to law firms who often attempt to juggle both roles and end up knee-deep in excessive overhead as a result of poorly managed time and labor.
Increase User Productivity
Unplanned downtime can cost a law firm roughly $58,118 for every 100 users. That means the average employee can lose up to 12.4 hours a year due to server downtime and 6.2 hours a year for network downtime. Managed IT services were able to reduce server and network downtime by more than 85% in IBM’s white paper report, illustrating the importance of IT Managed Services for law. Technology should improve user productivity, not hinder it. When it runs efficiently, user productivity increases and law firms see an increase their ROI.
Create Better Centralized Management
IT Managed Services for law mange critical software updates, applications, patches, security threats, and more. This type of centralized approach to managed tech services essentially means that a law firm will experience decreased downtime, reduced cybersecurity threats, have access to 24x7x365 support and communication, and, most importantly for lawyers, address the data security problem that plagues many a firm. It creates a centralized location from which all important applications are managed and monitored, and delivers big on ROI.
Reduce Infrastructure Costs
All enterprise organizations in IBM’s white paper report saved $146,801 per 100 users every year just on costs related to infrastructure alone. When using IT Managed Services for law, the IT service providers take on a lot of expenses, such as infrastructure. Law firms, thereby, can downsize the actual amount of infrastructure they have onsite by using their IT service provider’s data centers. Law firms will see return on investment in reduced hardware expenses, savings on the energy and space required to operate hardware, licensing, training, and consulting. All these services become streamlined and centrally managed by the IT service provider.
Better Risk Management
Most law firms work on multiple sensitive documents at a time, creating the potential for mix-ups, mistakes, and an overall heightened sense of risk. Multiple documents means multiple templates and more people handling sensitive data and information. IT managed services for law can create a systematic approach for each type of document subject, creating protocol and standardization across a firm to mitigate risk. Service providers also implement cybersecurity plans and help firms integrate concerted safety practices to bolster a firm’s digital defense, thereby ensuring the integrity of client data and information.
IBM’s white paper report concluded that the average investment per organization was $274,326 per 100 users. They saw a return on that dollar amount in under six months and an overall ROI of 224% according to their three-year ROI analysis. Investing in IT Managed Services for law is an investment worth the ROI.
zbrella Technology Consulting specialized in Managed Services from small, medium, and large sized legal firms. With expertise in the legal industry as well as legal software (such as Case Management software), our team of engineers and consultants are the leading Managed Service providers in the tri-state area. Contact us here or call 800-750-4296 to protect your firm and boost your ROI today.
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