Many law firms, especially those that support work in the commercial sector, are accustomed to the practice of outsourced legal processes. The firms support businesses with expert legal advice and methods, while their clients have the opportunity and freedom to focus on their own specialist work. When it comes to IT, law firms face a similar choice themselves, between trying to come up with in-house solutions or opting for outsourced IT services.
Outsourcing IT services provides a variety of benefits for lawyers and law firms. This is especially true in a post-COVID work environment, where digital optimization and remote work have become the norm.
Data Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality
While data creation and analysis are crucial to most modern businesses, the protection of especially sensitive information is a need specific to a handful of industries, one of them being the legal industry. Law firms often handle sensitive data in the course of their standard business, which requires specialist digital tools to organize and protect from data breaches and cyber security threats.
Working with an outsourced IT service, especially a Managed Service Provider (MSP) allows law firms to gain access to the most up-to-date technology and processes within the IT industry. This is because MSPs are incentivized to stay abreast of all new developments in the IT industry in order to stay competitive. Additionally, when it comes to ensuring that information stays confidential not only to external actors but to staff within a law firm, outsourced IT service providers are best placed to offer optimal privacy solutions that ensure the correct users have access to the right information.
At Inland Productivity Solutions, we offer data protection services and ensure our client’s data is backed up regularly, providing them with the peace of mind they need to carry on their normal business activities.
Staying on Top of Technological Innovations
The past three years have brought with them significant changes in the way most businesses work, but this has been especially true for the legal field which has seen significant changes to its more traditional, in-person processes. Most law firms have had to adapt to the introduction of video conferencing, e-signatures, and digital productivity and workflow tools intended to allow remote or hybrid teams to communicate more easily.
Staying current with these rapid developments, and others that are sure to come can be a difficult, time-consuming task. This is where outsourced IT service providers are most qualified to assist law firms, allowing them to remain current and provide best-in-class services to their clients.
The support available through an MSP also means gaining access to a wider variety of specialized professionals within the IT field, when compared to an in-house service. Lawyers can make use of the wealth of knowledge from these professionals to enhance their legal work using cutting-edge technology such as machine-learning-powered modeling.
Expanded and Scalable IT Capabilities
Law firms come in many sizes with a variety of business-specific needs. When it comes to smaller firms, it can be difficult to justify budget expenses for a specialist IT team. Even where firms have clear plans to scale up in size, it can be very expensive and time-consuming to effectively scale up an in-house team. Moreover, knowing how many staff members are needed and what expertise they need to have for different types of IT projects requires the kind of technological knowledge that law firms are looking for in the first place.
This is where outsourced IT service teams shine. Whether the lawyers in question are looking for support on a short-term project to update hardware and/or software, set up a network or recover data, or for support on long-term projects such as data security, the maintenance of a cloud computing system, or IT desk support, MSPs can assess the need and make recommendations on the best course of action for the law firm. As needs change the services of MSPs are adaptable and can be updated with the business, without incurring exorbitant costs or losing time on complicated processes.
27/7 Support
When it comes to productivity, law firms are renowned for providing bespoke services for their clients on a range of issues and projects at a moment’s notice. In order to maintain this level of productivity, they need high-quality, ongoing IT support that can keep up with their business models.
Outsourced IT service providers have tech-support services designed to be available 24/7, and often even during holiday periods. This ensures that systems stay up to date, data remains protected and any software or hardware issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.
Reduced service and system downtime allows lawyers to remain consistently available to their client base, which results in both savings and improved revenue.
Cost Saving
The implementation of new hardware and software can be an incredibly costly endeavor for any business, law firms included. Outsourced IT providers have the advantage of access to IT technology at reduced or discounted costs, due to their volume buying power. They are thus able to pass these savings on to their clients, ensuring that law firms can maintain healthier budgets.
Cost savings can also be made in respect of recruitment and training expenses. Fees for MSPs are often lower overall than the cost of sourcing in-house staff and dedicating budgets to salaries, training, and benefits. Additionally, pricing models tend to be flexible, meaning law firms only need to pay for the services they are utilizing and costs can be increased or decreased as needed within a short notice period.
At Inland Productivity Solutions, we offer a fixed monthly rate that is flexible and adaptable to our client’s business size and needs, ensuring that they never spend exorbitant amounts on high-quality outsourced IT services.
The Bottom Line: Law Firms Should Make Use of Outsourced IT Services
On the whole, utilizing outsourced IT services gives law firms access to specialist knowledge, higher productivity levels, greatly improved cybersecurity, systems that protect the confidentiality, and technological advancements that can elevate the firm’s business. They also provide an opportunity to save money and time and to focus on delivering excellent legal services to their clients.
To provide themselves the best chance of staying adaptable in an increasingly technologically advanced world, law firms should definitely opt for outsourcing IT services.
