The Power of Managed IT Services for Lawyers
By Larry Gray
Dec 8, 2023
Time-Saving and Business-Optimizing Strategies: 7 Benefits of Managed IT for Lawyers
Today’s legal landscape demands lawyers to focus on their core competencies — most notably, offering legal advice and representing clients in court. But, if you’re in the field, you know all too well how often your days can be interrupted by administrative tasks and IT issues.
Managed IT services can help lawyers save time and optimize their businesses by providing a comprehensive suite of IT services, including efficient IT help, expert cyber security protections, reliable systems that work when you need them to, and much more.
Read on to learn the benefits of managed IT for lawyers and why — whether you practice law solo, are part of a small firm, or are an associate at a large firm — integrating a managed IT solution can help your practice be that much more efficient.
Table of Contents
Why Are Managed IT Services for Lawyers Important?
An IT-managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party provider contracted to proactively secure and maintain a law firm’s technology.
By outsourcing IT to a managed IT provider, law firms can free up valuable time better spent focusing on their clients and growing their businesses.
A managed IT solution:
Keeps systems secure
Saves money
Reduces non-billable hours
Protects data
Facilitates collaboration
Maintains compliance
Prevents downtime
For over 28 years, Fixed Fee IT has been the managed IT services provider for businesses across Portland.
We specialize in IT support for legal firms. Our BHelped for Legal service package offers everything your business needs to stay secure, compliant, and successful. We tailor our services to meet the unique needs of your firm.
With us on board, stopping your workflow to deal with an IT problem is a thing of the past — you’re free to focus on your business and leave any issues to us.
7 Benefits of Managed IT for Lawyers
#1: Keeps Systems Secure
At a law practice, client security is everything — your firm stores sensitive, personal, and highly valuable information about your clients.
Law firms are increasingly finding themselves targets, with five class actions filed in the first six months of 2023, alleging the legal operations failed to protect client data. The rate of global weekly cyberattacks rose by 7% in the first financial quarter of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, according to a recent report.
Even The American Bar Association (ABA) confirmed a data breach in March 2023.
This is why a managed IT service for lawyers is so essential — they help mitigate the risk of a breach.
Having an MSP means that you have constant surveillance from a team of dedicated IT security experts, reducing the response time to any potential threats, and thus, reducing the likelihood of risk and damage.
Not only does an effective MSP detect and respond to threats, but it also proactively fortifies your network by regularly updating systems with the latest security patches and conducting thorough audits.
#2: Saves Money
All that protection must cost a pretty penny, right? Weigh that cost against the price your firm would pay should a data breach happen.
An MSP can save your practice money, unplanned downtimes, and other costly tech issues brought on as the result of a cyber attack.
At Fixed Fee IT, we offer customized IT service packages based on the individual needs and requirements of your business without “nickel and diming” you.
Our per person, per month, fixed fee means you always know what you’ll be paying for IT Services.
#3: Reduces Non-Billable Hours
Spend more time being a lawyer and less time being IT.
Consider the amount of time you (and your team) spend on non-billable IT tasks. This could mean:
Fussing with systems that are not working when you need them to.
Dealing with constant software updates, network outages, and down time.
Worrying about the latest cyber attack and if you are vulnerable.
In an industry that makes the bulk of its revenue on billing hours, any considerable amount of time spent on tasks that don’t directly translate to profit is not time well spent.
Moreover, most lawyers wouldn’t say they went to law school to spend their days doing IT — their job satisfaction comes from doing the work to benefit their clients.
Hiring an MSP can drastically reduce the time you spend on IT tasks while improving the reliability of your systems so that they become the tools you use rather than the wall you run into. They can offer effective management solutions that will allow your team to focus on more meaningful tasks, such as serving your clients.
#4: Protects Data
Managed IT providers keep up to speed with the latest threats — with some providers offering staff training on how to identify and avoid potential cyber attacks
All the features we shared above, including security measures, regular audits, and assessments, along with compliance, aim to protect your firm from any data breaches or cyber-attacks.
MSPs will also conduct routine back-ups and data recovery processes to help protect against any potential data loss, contributing to the overall system stability and reliability.
#5: Facilitates Collaboration
Many cases touch a handful of employees — from legal secretaries to associates to partners alike — while it’s being handled.
A reliable MSP can help your firm transfer pertinent information related to cases seamlessly. This might include setting up and managing your collaboration tools and cloud services so you can coordinate with your team effectively and securely.
If your team has remote offices or workers, collaboration becomes much harder. An MSP can help you implement the tools that allow your team to collaborate from afar as if they were in the same room.
#6: Maintains Compliance
MSPs can support businesses by designing, implementing, and maintaining robust compliance frameworks tailored to the legal industry’s requirements by:
Conducting regular audits, assessments, and security updates to ensure that your IT infrastructure aligns with the latest standards.
Staying ahead of regulatory changes which can help your organization avoid potential legal pitfalls, financial penalties, or reputational damage that non-compliance can bring.
Assisting you with confidently completing your insurance security audit forms.
Fixed Fee IT is one of the few SOC2 Type 2 compliant IT Service Providers in Portland. We’ve been audited (which is a good thing!), and our procedures are rigorously assessed to exceed security and privacy standards.
#7: Prevents Downtime
Time is money, as they say. Losing time due to an outage or server breakdown could cost your firm.
A managed IT provider can help reduce any downtimes thanks to proactive maintenance and monitoring by helping the firm create and maintain backups of private data and software systems.
Should downtime occur, the MSP will completely handle the recovery process and get your firm back in business quickly when time is of the essence.
Fixed Fee IT’s BHelped for Legal: Everything You Need To Keep Your Business Secure, Compliant, and Successful
Fixed Fee IT has been a trusted IT partner of Portland-area businesses for over 28 years.
You need an IT Managed Service Provider that understands legal firms. We’ve helped industry-leading companies for over 28 years stay protected, productive, and happy.
Our IT support provides:
100% US-based IT support and managed service
Tech strategy to make your tech run smoother, faster, and safer
Cyber security and compliance to help keep you protected
We aim to understand the technology needs of your specific firm to ensure your tech is not only up to the task but also driving your business forward.
Contact us today to find out how Fixed Fee IT can benefit your firm, all for a per-person, per-month, fixed fee.
