Why Your Law Firm Needs IT Managed Services, Now

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April 21, 2020

Law practices operate at the speed of “now.” The last thing your office needs is slow or outdated equipment, security gaps, regulatory non-compliance issues, and inefficient file storage and sharing. Your law firm needs IT managed services to keep your business’ reputation clear, your client data secured, and your legal services “on the go.” Only a legal managed services provider can offer you the cutting edge solutions you need to keep you compliant, secure, and competitive.

 

What Can a Managed Services Provider Do for My Law Firm?

MSP’s provide the tools, strategies, solutions, and expertise you need to keep your law firm operating at peak efficiency. While increasing your efficiency, an MSP can save your law firm money, too.

  • Increased network performance
  • Increased productivity
  • Decreased IT related downtime
  • Increased protection from cybercrime
  • Predictable IT billing costs

Managed Services Providers take all the guesswork out of maintaining your network. A reliable MSP will proactively monitor your systems, looking for performance issues and alerts that allow them to stop a problem…before it becomes a problem. In addition, they can provide the solutions your law firm needs to stay ahead in the industry.

Managed services providers help you maintain your network and all devices and machines, stopping little issues before they grow into expensive, larger issues. A well-maintained network means fewer IT failures, and that means increased productivity and lowered IT emergency repair costs.

MSP’s like Integris are aware of the rules and regulations regarding privacy and security that surround your law firm and are uniquely equipped to help you remain compliant to industry standards.

If you have an internal IT department, an MSP can work along with your IT professionals and provide solutions and expertise your IT employees need to continue to do their jobs. This is called co-managed services, and it’s just one of the benefits of working with Integris.

 

Your Law Firm Needs IT Managed Services to Control Your IT Budget

Without an MSP, you are risking costly break-fix repairs from companies who do not know your business. Contracting an MSP, like Integris, means your repairs are covered under a service level agreement. No more surprises when it’s time to pay your bill, just a predictable monthly fee.

Your MSP will proactively stop problems before they become big ones, saving you money in costly repairs and downtime.

 

Your Law Firm Needs the Flexibility of Cloud Services (PaaS)

Platform as a Service is an MSP option that brings the flexibility and efficiency of cloud services to your employees. All files and applications are accessed remotely, meaning your entire firm can connect wirelessly no matter where they are.

PaaS gives your team the flexibility they need to bring files to the courtroom, other law offices, clients’ homes, or any place they are needed. Answers and information are just a click away, allowing seamless connectivity for your entire team.

PaaS also offers additional layers of security. According to a 2018 study, over 30% of law firms reported moving to the cloud because of the additional security benefits.

Unlike most verticals, law firms need to be connected constantly and reliably, whether it is in the office or in the courtroom. Your law firm needs IT managed services to stay responsive to clients, wherever they may be.

Your machines need to be synched and running smoothly, your employees need to be able to access files from anywhere, and your law firm needs the competitive edge that a legal IT managed services provider brings to the table.

 

Rules, Regulations, Ethics and More

If there is one thing you can always count on, it’s the inability to count on legal firm regulations: they change every day.

When it comes to law firms, the regulations are already heavy. It doesn’t matter if you are a one-man office or a partnership, these regulations will apply equally to you. It’s hard enough to keep track of the ever-changing governmental oversight rules and regulations;  add to that the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct’s cybersecurity updates, and you may find yourself swimming in a sea of compliancy rules, laws, suggestions, ethics, and regulations.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct were amended to add:

  • Competence – to be considered competent, the law firm has a duty to select and use technology as well as be versed in cybersecurity. To be compliant, the firm can either learn cybersecurity or hire an MSP to handle it for them.
  • 1.6 Confidentiality – your law firm must store and access all confidential information safely
  • 5.3 Non-lawyer Assistance – lawyers must make sure that all third parties are following effective cybersecurity measures.

In 2018, the ABA went a step further with Formal Opinion 483 which specifies a law firm’s duties following a breach:

“How a lawyer does so in any particular circumstance is beyond the scope of this opinion. As a matter of preparation and best practices, however, lawyers should consider proactively developing an incident response plan with specific plans and procedures for responding to a data breach. The decision whether to adopt a plan, the content of any plan and actions taken to train and prepare for implementation of the plan should be made before a lawyer is swept up in an actual breach.”

It’s not just a good idea to prepare for a cybersecurity incident; it’s the ethical thing to do.

 

Is Your Law Firm Ready to Take Tech Up a Notch?

If you are on the fence about hiring a managed services provider, you’re not alone; it’s a big decision for any law firm to make. You’re running the software your practice needs already, you’ve never experienced a breach, and you don’t need a legal managed services provider to help you tie it all together.

Or do you?

Ask yourself these questions about your practice:

  • Is my practice technologically competent?
  • Does my practice make the most of mobile technology to work seamlessly outside the office?
  • Is my firm running systems that are up-to-date and compliant?
  • Can my legal practice currently go paperless by using cloud storage?
  • Are cybersecurity threat assessments done in a routine and organized way throughout the year?
  • Is my data safely backed up in case of a disaster?
  • Do my current strategies keep my operations streamlined and effective?

 

Why Your Law Firm Needs Integris Managed Services Now

Integris is uniquely qualified to provide you the IT services you need for your legal firm. We are familiar with all software your practice is currently running and can work with it, upgrade it, or replace it if needed. It all starts with a free IT services consultation to assess your law firm’s current IT strengths and weaknesses. This is a no-obligation consultation and no sign-on is required.

Integris knows that choosing a legal IT managed services provider can be hard. We don’t want your law firm to be trapped into a long-term contract that just doesn’t fit your needs. We offer one of the best promises in the IT world: no long-term contracts and a 100% satisfaction money-back guarantee.

Your law firm needs managed IT services, and Integris has the expertise and strategies to keep you running smoothly and securely while giving you connectivity and cloud solutions.

We're Integris. We're always working to empower people through technology.

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