Technology likely plays a prominent role in your day-to-day operations, no matter what type of law you practice. Outsourcing your legal IT needs to a reliable IT company with a high level of expertise can benefit your firm or practice in many ways.
When a business focuses on its core competency— providing quality legal representation and advice— it allows it to serve its clients better. Outsourced IT increases core competency by allowing attorneys and their staff to focus on what they do best and are passionate about and develop their individual talents, all for the benefit of the law firm.
The practice of law is demanding and often highly stressful. To keep stress to a minimum, lawyers need to focus on clients’ needs instead of the firm’s technical requirements. They also need fast and easy access to reliable systems designed to increase productivity.
Most outside IT companies employ high-end tools and best practices since they are deep in the IT industry. They must keep on top of their game when it comes to new technologies, just as you keep on top of changes in case or statutory law. This makes it easier for them to identify the root causes of network problems and technical issues—something that would be extremely difficult for a focused law firm to do.
A reputable outside IT services company for law firms will monitor your systems on a 24/7/365 basis. They also have emergency resources and can respond appropriately to whatever your IT system might be facing. In addition, they will offer a sense of security, reliability, and availability.
Having a designated IT company handle your IT needs is almost like an insurance policy. Instead of reacting to a disaster and having to come up with the money to fix it, your IT company serves to prevent disasters and mitigate them when they do happen. Since you pay a relatively fixed fee to your IT company, you don’t have to worry about most unplanned IT expenses. When you budget for IT services each month, you already budget for issue avoidance, prevention, and service optimization.
You know you need a legal IT services company that will help keep your company running securely, efficiently, and smoothly. Still, you may not know where to start looking for one. Here are the top five providers of legal IT services for law firms.
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Gallop Technology Group (the parent company of the well-known “Legal Technology Solutions”) is our recommended pick as we’ve had personal experience with the company and its founder. Since 2004, this company has proven itself to be the clear leader in legal IT solutions. We have also heard many in-person reviews from Legal Technology Solutions’ clients who are happy and highly impressed by their level of expertise and customer service.
In addition to their award-winning customer service, Gallop Technology Group handles all of the firm’s technology needs, from helping lawyers navigate through the complex cyber security ever-changing requirements, to providing helpdesk services for day-to-day support, to cloud hosting and phone service, to email security and backup solutions. They work with both small firms that have no technical person in-house, as well as supplement the in-house IT department for larger firms, with added knowledge, tools, 24/7 helpdesk and security monitoring, and other technology needs.
Dataprise provides legal IT support to more than 100 law firms in the U.S. For more than a decade, legal clients have turned to them for help meeting their technology needs and optimizing their tech budget. For one DC firm, they determined that the existing infrastructure wasn’t adequate to support a modern document management system. They then designed a network upgrade plan based on the firm’s goals – create a new IT infrastructure strong enough to support the latest document management systems while still providing the necessary data security legal regulations require. Using a combination of virtual server technology and their own cloud-based services, Dataprise implemented a comprehensive solution that would support the firm’s ever-changing IT needs for now and for many years to come.
IT Solutions has served law firms in the Philadelphia area for the past two and a half decades. They are well-known for their non-traditional approach of recommending and supporting the right IT environment for every client instead of requiring the client to adapt to what they offer. They can also provide legal compliance expertise. IT Solutions complies with SSAE 18 Type II, PCI Compliance; it is also an ALA business partner, and a Worldlox reseller.
Ntiva was founded in 2004, growing to serve more than 1000 clients from many different industries, including the legal sector. They help law firms and solo practitioners keep up with the day-to-day challenges of legal IT services, navigate the complexities of new technologies, and battle evolving security threats. Ntiva constantly listens to their clients’ needs and suggestions to improve their services.
Nutanix can orchestrate all your IT environments with end-to-end visibility and automated app lifecycle management. They can help you let your applications define your firm’s infrastructure, not the other way around. Here’s what their users are saying about them:
Selecting the most appropriate providers for legal IT services for your law firm or solo practice needs is one of the most important steps you will take for your business. Nearly everything you do has some connection to IT. We encourage you to use our Top 5 guide to dig further into what each of these companies offers and determine if they might be the right fit for you.
Attorney at Law Magazine is a national legal publication, publishing content for and about private practice attorneys as well as resources for legal consumers. The staff at Attorney at Law Magazine interview attorneys as well as other industry professionals to provide educational content as well as to highlight the individuals and firms driving success in the legal industry.
