Making Your Firm More Productive

There are fundamental laws that IT managers in the legal industry often break:

1. Protecting the digital assets of the law firm;
2. Using innovative technology for competitive advantage and enhanced productivity;
3. Using IT resources efficiently and economically; and
4. Responding to client needs and the new mobile environment.

But there is the possibility for acquittal. IT managers who abide by these laws will be considered valuable assets who contribute to the success of their firms. Those who commit these infractions, however, will not be viewed so highly. Below, I make a case against legal IT managers who are not following the letter of the law when maintaining a firm's valuable infrastructure, and how you can learn from their mistakes.

Failure to Protect the Digital Assets of the Law Firm

In addition to their own files, law firm associates and attorneys must access a wide range of documents, such as court transcripts, public records, dockets, verdicts and news reports. Attorneys and staff can access free online resources for most of their research. But, according to a report by Stephen Lastries called “Rebooting Legal Research in a Digital Age,” LLRX.com, there is a growing trend in which law firm associates spend about eight hours per week using fee-based in-depth online research services.

We all know that your firm's employees are storing this data ' from e-mail communication to research documents, case files, briefs and more ' for future use and reference. But are you, as IT manager, doing what you need to safeguard it within your practice's internal IT systems? Unfortunately, the answer is often no. A survey entitled “A New Era In Information Security and Cyber Liability Risk Management,” Advisen Ltd., found that about 30% of responding firms did not have any type of IT disaster plan in place.

Protecting your firm's digital assets ultimately comes down to protecting the firm itself. While natural disasters are infrequent events, one-third of servers crash each year. And firms can be targets of cyber attacks, which impact the security of data.

Your job of protecting against data loss, hackers, disasters and downtime is sometimes under-appreciated, but it is certainly vital. No one may call to “thank you” after averting a server crash or recovering quickly from a denial of service (DOS) attack, but they certainly will be in touch if you don't effectively protect against these problems. You must take responsibility for establishing backup and replication procedures, and building redundancy into your systems for fast and easy failover and recovery. You also must set and enforce policies and procedures for data protection and security. And finally, another important element of your job is to create and routinely test disaster recovery plans, which should be performed without disrupting production operations.

Failure to Innovate Technology for Competitive Advantage and Enhanced Productivity

IT can be a primary tool for lowering costs at law firms by streamlining processes, communications and storage requirements. Law firms need to leverage technology in order to conduct research and produce briefs more efficiently, store data for quick access and improve revenues and profits by maximizing billable hours. The firms that will reap the greatest reward are the ones with forward-looking legal IT teams that deploy new technology solutions ahead of others to achieve a competitive advantage.

I believe that innovation continues to offer opportunities for law firms to set themselves apart from the pack and for IT professionals to demonstrate initiative and how they can contribute positively to the bottom line of the firm. Virtualization and cloud computing are two significant and promising technology trends. Even incremental or tactical innovation is valuable, such as keeping applications up-to-date to ensure legal compliance in protecting private identification information. Another critical consideration is ensuring you have the proper backup and disaster recovery infrastructure to protect applications, even in a virtualized environment, so downtime is minimized.

The time for innovation is now. Because of the nature of competitive markets, you need to either expand, adapt and evolve your IT infrastructure, or risk falling behind. So I challenge you to think big, take the long view of success and don't be afraid to take risks in delivering innovation to your firms.

Failure to Use IT Resources Efficiently and Economically

When looking at your IT infrastructure, it's important to maximize the use of resources and minimize total cost of ownership. For the typical law firm, purchasing a turnkey solution makes more sense ' and is likely more cost-effective ' than cobbling together a complex arrangement of multivendor systems that require customized integration. IT professionals, particularly in law firms, have to be generalists, addressing a broad range of responsibilities, from server installation and maintenance to end-user questions about features in software applications. You simply do not have time for unnecessary complexity and management overhead. A single unified, purpose-built solution with a single point of management can save dramatically on total cost of ownership.

However, my experience shows that a majority of organizations depend on four or more unrelated products just to address business continuity and disaster recovery. This approach is expensive, error-prone and inefficient. It becomes even more costly when law firms deploy replicated data centers offsite in response to client demands or compliance requirements. To become more efficient and cost-effective, I would recommend considering virtual, on-demand data centers. This approach is easier to manage than replicating the entire IT infrastructure in the cloud, and the bonus is that it offers a budget-friendly, pay-as-you-go model.

Failure to Respond to End-User Needs

One of the most overwhelming trends you are probably dealing with is desire of attorneys and staff to use their own devices ' such as smartphones and tablets ' in the work environment. This bring your own device (BYOD) and bring your own application (BYOA) movement shows no signs of stopping. According to a March 2013 report on BYOD trends in the legal industry, more than 80% of law firm employees said they were accessing the firm's data on their private devices. See, Dale, Jonathan, “Making BYOD Work in the Legal Services Industry,” MaaSters Center, March 2013.

These actions clearly represent special IT challenges, in terms of network security, data protection and application uptime. But it is your role to ensure that your firm's data and systems are not compromised, while enabling attorneys, associates and staff to work from their preferred devices, since doing so makes these employees more productive for the firm.

Law firm attorneys and staff also are becoming more dependent on cloud-based solutions, which carry higher expectations than are typical when using traditional enterprise software. Users are accustomed to having Web applications running constantly and will expect the same of any enterprise cloud app you deploy. In the IT role, you must consider how easy it is to use these cloud apps for the end users, as well as any challenges the applications may introduce to IT management. When implementing cloud solutions, you'll need to be sure they are based on secure SaaS platforms that provide the support you need. Not all cloud solutions are the same, so you should consider your firm's individual needs as you evaluate your options and select one that will deliver the most value.

Conclusion

Whether it's the “bring-your-own” trend, or increased reliance on the cloud, it is your responsibility to be proactive and responsive in addressing the IT needs of your firm and its employees, which will in turn, enable the IT team to deliver critical solutions to protect your firm's most vital asset ' professional time.

In an industry where accurate information is at the core of the business, and time is money, protecting the vast amounts of data stored within the myriad of applications, and ensuring immediate access to that data, is paramount.

As an IT professional, you are a central figure in enabling your firm's operations and ensuring that all the data, applications, and overall IT infrastructure will support business needs, not only today, but long into the future. Reviewing how to protect the company's data and applications should be at the top of your priority list and you should engage senior executives to ensure the firm is up-to-date with current technologies, has appropriate security measures in place and knows what is required to maintain business continuity if disaster strikes.

Todd Scallan leads product vision and engineering execution of the Axcient platform, and has more than 25 years of product management and engineering experience. He may be reached at [email protected].

The legal field is certainly one of the most data-intensive and data-sensitive practices you can find. We've all seen how the proliferation of technology tools has dramatically fueled data growth and the need to protect sensitive data, which in turn has increased the exposure and loss of billable hours legal firms might face as a result of IT downtime. In addition to legal expertise, owners and partners at law firms must learn more about the commercial realities of competition, pay attention to client retention, counter the increased security risks to private data on the cloud and understand how technology can reduce operating costs.

The impact and importance of technology in such a traditional industry places a serious duty on the IT manager to protect the firm's private information and steward its means of producing it. The May 2012 “Legal Week Information Technology Report” revealed that more than two-thirds of law firms surveyed agree that adopting cloud technology would make their firms more agile, but about 75% of law firms identified security as their number one concern about cloud-based applications. See, http://bit.ly/1al0e6Y'(free trial available).

While IT can be a source of competitive advantage and firm stability, if done poorly, it can sabotage a law firm's ability to compete or retain its most valuable clients, and adversely impact the bottom line as a result of lost productivity.

There are fundamental laws that IT managers in the legal industry often break:

1. Protecting the digital assets of the law firm;
2. Using innovative technology for competitive advantage and enhanced productivity;
3. Using IT resources efficiently and economically; and
4. Responding to client needs and the new mobile environment.

But there is the possibility for acquittal. IT managers who abide by these laws will be considered valuable assets who contribute to the success of their firms. Those who commit these infractions, however, will not be viewed so highly. Below, I make a case against legal IT managers who are not following the letter of the law when maintaining a firm's valuable infrastructure, and how you can learn from their mistakes.

Failure to Protect the Digital Assets of the Law Firm

In addition to their own files, law firm associates and attorneys must access a wide range of documents, such as court transcripts, public records, dockets, verdicts and news reports. Attorneys and staff can access free online resources for most of their research. But, according to a report by Stephen Lastries called “Rebooting Legal Research in a Digital Age,” LLRX.com, there is a growing trend in which law firm associates spend about eight hours per week using fee-based in-depth online research services.

We all know that your firm's employees are storing this data ' from e-mail communication to research documents, case files, briefs and more ' for future use and reference. But are you, as IT manager, doing what you need to safeguard it within your practice's internal IT systems? Unfortunately, the answer is often no. A survey entitled “A New Era In Information Security and Cyber Liability Risk Management,” Advisen Ltd., found that about 30% of responding firms did not have any type of IT disaster plan in place.

Protecting your firm's digital assets ultimately comes down to protecting the firm itself. While natural disasters are infrequent events, one-third of servers crash each year. And firms can be targets of cyber attacks, which impact the security of data.

Your job of protecting against data loss, hackers, disasters and downtime is sometimes under-appreciated, but it is certainly vital. No one may call to “thank you” after averting a server crash or recovering quickly from a denial of service (DOS) attack, but they certainly will be in touch if you don't effectively protect against these problems. You must take responsibility for establishing backup and replication procedures, and building redundancy into your systems for fast and easy failover and recovery. You also must set and enforce policies and procedures for data protection and security. And finally, another important element of your job is to create and routinely test disaster recovery plans, which should be performed without disrupting production operations.

Failure to Innovate Technology for Competitive Advantage and Enhanced Productivity

IT can be a primary tool for lowering costs at law firms by streamlining processes, communications and storage requirements. Law firms need to leverage technology in order to conduct research and produce briefs more efficiently, store data for quick access and improve revenues and profits by maximizing billable hours. The firms that will reap the greatest reward are the ones with forward-looking legal IT teams that deploy new technology solutions ahead of others to achieve a competitive advantage.

I believe that innovation continues to offer opportunities for law firms to set themselves apart from the pack and for IT professionals to demonstrate initiative and how they can contribute positively to the bottom line of the firm. Virtualization and cloud computing are two significant and promising technology trends. Even incremental or tactical innovation is valuable, such as keeping applications up-to-date to ensure legal compliance in protecting private identification information. Another critical consideration is ensuring you have the proper backup and disaster recovery infrastructure to protect applications, even in a virtualized environment, so downtime is minimized.

The time for innovation is now. Because of the nature of competitive markets, you need to either expand, adapt and evolve your IT infrastructure, or risk falling behind. So I challenge you to think big, take the long view of success and don't be afraid to take risks in delivering innovation to your firms.

Failure to Use IT Resources Efficiently and Economically

When looking at your IT infrastructure, it's important to maximize the use of resources and minimize total cost of ownership. For the typical law firm, purchasing a turnkey solution makes more sense ' and is likely more cost-effective ' than cobbling together a complex arrangement of multivendor systems that require customized integration. IT professionals, particularly in law firms, have to be generalists, addressing a broad range of responsibilities, from server installation and maintenance to end-user questions about features in software applications. You simply do not have time for unnecessary complexity and management overhead. A single unified, purpose-built solution with a single point of management can save dramatically on total cost of ownership.

However, my experience shows that a majority of organizations depend on four or more unrelated products just to address business continuity and disaster recovery. This approach is expensive, error-prone and inefficient. It becomes even more costly when law firms deploy replicated data centers offsite in response to client demands or compliance requirements. To become more efficient and cost-effective, I would recommend considering virtual, on-demand data centers. This approach is easier to manage than replicating the entire IT infrastructure in the cloud, and the bonus is that it offers a budget-friendly, pay-as-you-go model.

Failure to Respond to End-User Needs

One of the most overwhelming trends you are probably dealing with is desire of attorneys and staff to use their own devices ' such as smartphones and tablets ' in the work environment. This bring your own device (BYOD) and bring your own application (BYOA) movement shows no signs of stopping. According to a March 2013 report on BYOD trends in the legal industry, more than 80% of law firm employees said they were accessing the firm's data on their private devices. See, Dale, Jonathan, “Making BYOD Work in the Legal Services Industry,” MaaSters Center, March 2013.

These actions clearly represent special IT challenges, in terms of network security, data protection and application uptime. But it is your role to ensure that your firm's data and systems are not compromised, while enabling attorneys, associates and staff to work from their preferred devices, since doing so makes these employees more productive for the firm.

Law firm attorneys and staff also are becoming more dependent on cloud-based solutions, which carry higher expectations than are typical when using traditional enterprise software. Users are accustomed to having Web applications running constantly and will expect the same of any enterprise cloud app you deploy. In the IT role, you must consider how easy it is to use these cloud apps for the end users, as well as any challenges the applications may introduce to IT management. When implementing cloud solutions, you'll need to be sure they are based on secure SaaS platforms that provide the support you need. Not all cloud solutions are the same, so you should consider your firm's individual needs as you evaluate your options and select one that will deliver the most value.

Conclusion

Whether it's the “bring-your-own” trend, or increased reliance on the cloud, it is your responsibility to be proactive and responsive in addressing the IT needs of your firm and its employees, which will in turn, enable the IT team to deliver critical solutions to protect your firm's most vital asset ' professional time.

In an industry where accurate information is at the core of the business, and time is money, protecting the vast amounts of data stored within the myriad of applications, and ensuring immediate access to that data, is paramount.

As an IT professional, you are a central figure in enabling your firm's operations and ensuring that all the data, applications, and overall IT infrastructure will support business needs, not only today, but long into the future. Reviewing how to protect the company's data and applications should be at the top of your priority list and you should engage senior executives to ensure the firm is up-to-date with current technologies, has appropriate security measures in place and knows what is required to maintain business continuity if disaster strikes.

Todd Scallan leads product vision and engineering execution of the Axcient platform, and has more than 25 years of product management and engineering experience. He may be reached at [email protected].