Take heed of these five key issues when choosing a specialist legal managed service provider, says David Ricketts.
As your business grows and your IT infrastructure becomes more complex and expensive the question arises, is now the time to outsource the management to an organisation designed for this role.
Your current model can leave you vulnerable to hackers, ransomware and often poor advice around the direction of your technology. Most of our clients now recognise they are not an IT business and they need to focus solely on their core activities to generate profitability.
Most legal businesses, especially in the mid-market are not IT or IT security businesses. And as businesses are likely to suffer repeated cyber-attacks, now more than ever is the time to invest in improved levels of protection.
Engaging with a managed service provider delivers a level of support and access to knowledge that you may not currently have. We can quickly identify vulnerabilities with your current system, offer best practice advice and improve your overall defensive posture with technology built for the job.
A successful attack will affect your productivity, damage your brand reputation and reduce customer confidence in your business – mitigating risk should be a major consideration when engaging a new MSP.
Engaging an industry-specific MSP means not only do we have an understanding of IT technology but an unrivalled breadth of knowledge of the specific technologies you use.
It would be uneconomic to employ technology when for most of their day they would probably be underutilised. Engaging with an MSP ensures you have access to expertise when you need it but pay only when you use it.
Technology develops quickly, and trends within the UK legal sector are changing as quickly, so it is beneficial to remain current with all this knowledge, whilst running your law firm efficiently.
A specialist legal MSP is constantly exposed to current developments, improvements and importantly, what technology is on the horizon.
As a legal service provider to your increasingly demanding clients, being a few months behind the technology trends may not seem a problem, but when you fall years behind, there is a risk you will never catch up.
A full in-house IT team can be expensive, especially when recruiting specific talent that can be underutilised in their daily role. Also, the technology your organisation requires must be purchased correctly, continually monitored, patched,and updated to keep it current and secure.
An industry-specific MSP such as my own, Quiss, will support and develop a managed service plan tailored to specific needs, giving access to experience and expertise needed when you site firms, including overseas offices.
David Ricketts is Head of Marketing at Quiss.