How IT Outsourcing Boosts Law Firm Productivity

How Do You Know It’s Time to Outsource Your IT?

Not every law firm needs to outsource their IT — yes, we really mean that. Your firm may be one of those that can get by without any outside expertise. That said, there comes a time in the life of many organizations where it makes sense to hand over some, or all, IT responsibility to an experienced provider. How do you know if that’s you? And how do you know if it’s time to do so?

It All Boils Down to Business Growth

When IT becomes a roadblock

If your firm’s growth has flatlined, or isn’t up to your standards, IT can become a roadblock that prevents your organization from reaching its true potential. Hiring new, qualified IT staff in a timely manner — while successfully managing your current in-house team — brings its own headaches. Recruitment, training, and integration take their time and slow your business.

The fact is that some law firms can produce steady levels of growth and be perfectly fine with an in-house IT staff. The trick is to recognize whether your firms is one of them.

Ask yourself:

• Does your law firms suffer downtime on a weekly basis due to technology malfunctions?
• Do your employees complain that technology runs slowly or prevents them from working?
• When your technology breaks, are your current IT staff slow to fix it?
• Have you or your staff made poor technology decisions that have resulted in downtime or lost profits?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, chances are it’s time to seriously consider outsourcing your IT. By doing so, you’ll enjoy a noticeable upsurge in the productivity levels among you and your staff.

1. Gain the Focus to Grow Your Business

IT distractions = headaches

IT distractions are a headache not only for you, but for your entire staff. If your network goes down, if a computer or hard drive breaks, or if there’s a hiccup with your email or server, your entire office and its productivity come screeching to a halt.

Your staff loses focus, and the next thing you know everyone has left for an extended lunch break, an afternoon watercooler pow-wow, or are simply distracted playing on their phones.

Let’s do the math.

Let’s say a technology breakdown causes a 20-minute break for a staff of 20 people.

20 x 20 = 400 minutes wasted
(or 6 hrs and 40 minutes of downtime).

That’s 6 hours and 40 minutes of salary you just paid your employees for doing nothing! Say something like this happens once a week for a year.

Now you’re talking serious money!

Based on an average salary of $40 per hour, that’s over $12,800 in lost wages. And this doesn’t even include the amount of time it takes for you and your staff to regain focus; this could easily tag on a few thousand dollars more of wasted money.

With outsourced IT, you and your staff will be able to concentrate on the task at hand, produce results, and focus on growing your business. IT distractions or breakdowns won’t slow your organization because your technology infrastructure will be proactively monitored and problems will be addressed before downtime takes place. Your technology will truly be out of sight and out of mind.

2. Alleviate HR Headaches with IT Outsourcing

Your in-house IT staff are only human

People get sick, take vacations, have family emergencies, and are out of the office for countless other reasons.

So what happens when one or more members of your in-house staff are out of the office over the same period? And what if there are more IT malfunctions than your shorthanded staff can manage; what does your business do then? The rest of your regular employees will have to sit and twiddle their thumbs, while the few technicians available clear up the downtime massacre that’s killing your staff productivity and bottom line.

Your technology never takes a day off

Technology needs constant attention, and that’s what you get with outsourced IT. Your technology is monitored 24/7/365 — even on holidays.

What’s more, with an in-house IT staff you have to deal with new hires, paperwork, training, employees showing up late, and potentially underperforming staff members. Dealing with all these annoyances can cost your business time, money, and sleepless nights as you try to bring order to your in-house IT department.

Outsourced IT services saves the day

IT distractions are a headache not only for you, but for your entire staff. If your network goes down, if a computer or hard drive breaks, or if there’s a hiccup with your email or server, your entire office and its productivity come screeching to a halt.

Your staff loses focus, and the next thing you know everyone has left for an extended lunch break, an afternoon watercooler pow-wow, or are simply distracted playing on their phones.

3. Ease Technology Anxiety

While alleviating technology anxiety sounds great, you may be scratching your head and wondering how it boosts productivity. Imagine the following scenarios where you’re in your office preparing to revise your business plan 

Scenario 1: Staff emergency

You sit down at your desk, prepared to draft a new year end review when you open your inbox and are greeted by the news that two key IT staff members have quit. How easy is it going to be to focus after something like that? As an office manager, you likely have a million things on your mind, and now you have to deal with this.

With the added anxiety, will you be able to revise your business plan effectively? Probably not.

Scenario 2: Peace and quiet

You sit down, close your door, and sit in complete silence, ready to draft a new business plan. Because you’ve outsourced your IT, you’ve eliminated in-house technical staff and there’s no chance of them quitting. With one less distraction, how quickly do you think you’ll finish the plan? And how good will the content be?

The point is that peace of mind provides the focus for you and your staff to be productive. Outsourced IT won’t solve all your problems, but it gives you one less thing to worry about.

A predictable IT budget produces less anxiety, and more productivity

With a qualified, legal focused Managed Services Provider, you’ll never worry about unexpected IT department for a flat fee that covers all your technology maintenance and repairs every month.

You’ll never worry about unexpected IT breakdowns that cause your budget to skyrocket. Instead, you can sleep soundly knowing your technology is always operating smoothly. And when you wake up in the morning, you’ll have crystal clear focus that allows you to get your job done effectively.

Working remotely opens up new possibilities for small businesses and countless benefits that are often overlooked by business owners. For one, allowing your staff to work from a location of their choice can enhance productivity by cutting down on travel time and commuting problems for a start.

Employees can work on the move and make use of the many cloud-based business applications in development. And the cloud’s ability to enhance collaboration and communication is invaluable to a company, both internally and externally.

4. Give Vision to Your Technology

Working technology = working employees

IT distractions are a headache not only for you, but for your entire staff. If your network goes down, if a computer or hard drive breaks, or if there’s a hiccup with your email or server, your entire office and its productivity come screeching to a halt.

Your staff loses focus, and the next thing you know everyone has left for an extended lunch break, an afternoon watercooler pow-wow, or are simply distracted playing on their phones.

Outsourced IT providers also bring vision to your IT strategy. They maintain your technology and provide the following:

• 

  Updates

  Keep your hardware and software up-to-date

• 

  Protection

  Ensure your business is armed with the latest IT security

• 

  Wisdom

  Senior-level consultants guide your organization with their years of IT experience

• 

  Recommendations

  Advice on whether or not to implement the latest technology trends

• 

  Strategy

  Develop a long-term technology plan that syncs with your business’s goals

5. Operate More Efficiently

During the Industrial Revolution, there was a radical process that completely transformed the way businesses operate. It was called the assembly line. Although you’re undoubtedly familiar with this, many people forget that the fundamental principles that made this efficiency model so successful are as relevant today as they were hundreds of years ago. When one person works on one task over and over again, he or she becomes efficient and skilled at it, and the productive output of the entire team increases because of this.

When you outsource your IT to a reputable company, you’re essentially putting one task, one building block of your business — your technology — on the assembly line.

You are leaving it to experts who focus on doing one thing, every day, to the utmost levels of efficiency — optimizing IT. And in the process, your business becomes more efficient than you ever imagined possible.

Leverage the efficiencies of the assembly line

When you leave your IT to the experts, productivity increases among your employees; they’ll have one less ball to juggle, one last task to handle. Your staff can focus on their jobs, without the distraction of technology, and complete them to a higher degree of proficiency.

Your business can become a well-oiled machine, and outsourcing your IT makes that possible.

Helpful Articles on IT Outsourcing

• How to Compare IT Providers
• 5 Tell-Tale Signs It’s Time to Change Your It Provider
• 8 Things to Look for in an MSP
• Beware of Cloud Sprawl…
• 4 Key Benefits of vCIOs For Law Firms
• Law Firms – Leverage It to Prepare for the Next Business Disruption
• Renew Your Focus With IT Infrastructure Outsourcing
• How Law Firms Use IT Strategic Planning to Facilitate Digital Transformation

Helpful Resources

• Technology Practice Tips
• Technology Guidelines
• The LSO Technology Guideline
• Canadian Lawyer
• MSP 501 – Channel Futures

Outsourcing Your IT: Next Steps

Discover what cloud computing and hosting can do for your organization

Curious how these methods can skyrocket your business’s productivity, and even save you money? Call us today to talk with one of our seasoned consultants. We’re happy to answer your questions, provide recommendations, and audit your current IT network.

Call us today (416-860-7555) or contact us below, to talk with one of our seasoned consultants. We’re happy to answer your questions, provide recommendations, and audit your current IT network.