IT Support for Law Firms: Are You Getting What You Need?

In this new age of remote work or flexible work brought on by the rapid changes presented by COVID-19, many law firms around the country are discovering that their current IT support is no longer sufficient. In the blink of an eye, lawyers and their support staff were removed from their traditional workspaces and forced to do their work using laptops and cell phones at home. This exposed a serious need for improved IT support for law firms.

Not only does effective IT enable employees to do their best work safely, it also ensures law firms can continue to keep up with compliance and security while working remotely. Bare bones IT support won’t cut in 2020, and the need for managed IT services will only continue to grow in the coming months and years.

The Risks of Poor IT Support

Having quality managed IT services in any business is important. In a law firm, where sensitive information is accessed and shared every single day, there is even more emphasis on security and IT support.

Vulnerability to Cyber Attacks

2019 saw an increase in devastating cyber-attacks, including ransomware attacks. With some state-supported  hackers developing new attacks, businesses must stay up-to-date on their cybersecurity. In a law firm, a ransomware attack that locks down files on a computer, or even an entire network, can bring business to a halt. This means new clients can’t be onboarded, files that have undergone hundreds of hours of work are potentially lost and vulnerable, and deadlines could be missed.

Increased Downtime

If an essential service or software goes down, how quickly can it be fixed?

What happens when every employee is working from a different location?

What if the IT person is sick, on vacation, or taking an extended lunch?

Every hour that employees are left digitally stranded is an hour that can’t be billed to clients. Expand that across multiple staff over multiple hours and the numbers add up fast.

Inefficient and Expensive

It’s not a perfect analogy, but IT services are like maintenance on a vehicle. Taking a car in for regular maintenance and oil changes will increase its lifespan and help avoid major, costly issues. The same is true for managed IT services. Staying on top of the little things can help prevent a costly, time consuming fix in the future.

The Benefits of IT Support for Law Firms

Big cities are a hub for business and innovation that affects the entire world. Law firms need to have the right IT support to ensure they can deliver what their clients expect.

Expertise On-Demand

Likely the most important benefit of IT support for law firms is the convenience of having technical expertise at all times. No more worrying about what happens when the IT person takes vacation.

This is essential when responding to emerging cybersecurity threats or simply looking to deploy a new software application to the company’s employees.

Ensuring Compliance

Law firms are much like medical offices when it comes to dealing with sensitive documents. Clients trust legal professionals with their most personal information. Having this data compromised can be disastrous. Clients may lose trust in the firm, there could be liability for exposed information, and fines may be levied. In any case, the long-term reputation of the firm will be permanently damaged.

Managed IT support for law firms is designed to maintain compliance with state regulations, document storage protocols, and more.

Lower Costs

In many cases, having in-house IT staff is more expensive than having a team of experts providing managed IT services. The average IT professional’s salary is more than $62,000, and one IT professional can only do so much on their own.

Due to time constraints, many in-house IT professionals end up chasing down problems rather than being proactive. As mentioned previously, this can lead to more costly issues down the road.

Get Quality IT Support

IT support for law firms is becoming a more essential need with every passing day. Staying ahead of issues rather than chasing them down leads to reduced downtime, reduced costs, and an overall more effective business operation.

To learn more about managed IT services, contact the trusted experts at RJ Young today.