Law Firms and Managed Service Providers

The way in which newly available technologies affect the delivery of goods and services has positively impacted just about every industry imaginable, and that effect has been especially apparent in the legal sector. In order to make their operations more efficient, many law firms have implemented solutions like Unified Communication and Collaboration as a Service (UCCaaS) offerings to pass along information to clients and the courts. It enables businesses and government agencies to facilitate enterprise adoption of UC&C in a fixed or mobile environment with predictable per-seat pricing. New capabilities include seamless call transfers from fixed to mobile phones and the use of “presence” technology, such as instant messaging, to initiate audio, Web and intra-company video conference calls both in and out of the office.

However, of all the new technologies available to lawyers, perhaps none have had such an impact on regular business processes as these trends:

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

As smartphone and tablet adoption rates rise, these devices invariably make their way into the corporate environment. This is especially the case in the legal sector, as industry professionals looking to always be available now have that option readily available to them.

Having a bring-your-own-device policy in place can make a law firm far more efficient and effective, but it also opens up attorneys to a number of security and compliance-related concerns. Since many mobile devices lack standardized security features, they are prone to data leakage that can put a client in serious jeopardy if BYOD is left unchecked.

Cloud computing

Of all the technologies currently available to legal professionals, perhaps none is as potentially powerful as the cloud. A quality cloud computing solution enables attorneys to more easily access stored information and communicate with clients via tools such as UCCaaS. Plus, since hosted solutions are often far more cost-effective than legacy on-site systems, even small firms can afford to implement cloud-based tools.

Virtualization

As legal professionals further utilize technology, their legacy IT infrastructure design can quickly become strained from the additional workload. After all, solutions designed with PCs and on-site hardware in mind will likely not be able to effectively run cloud-based applications or support mobile devices. To account for this rising usage, it is recommended that legal services agencies utilize a virtualized infrastructure to more effectively provision IT resources.

Microsoft Office 365

Lawyers have used Microsoft (MS) Office, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook, for many years. While there are plenty of choices for productivity suites, Microsoft’s new Office 365 adds some intriguing options, including online collaboration, subscription-based pricing, lightweight browser-based editing tools and online file storage. Solo and small firms may have the most to gain because Office 365 adds functionality formerly only found in server-based applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Lync.

There are some major benefits to this new model. Added functionality is certainly one of them. Helping firms stay up to date with current versions of the MS Office suite is another. Unlike “pure cloud,” this hybrid approach of installed software and cloud collaboration/access addresses many law firms’ concerns about ownership versus access to firm data, backing up cloud-only applications and what happens in the case of a loss of access to the Internet.

With all of these new technologies suddenly entering the fore, law firms may not know where to begin in regard to implementation. Luckily, Magnet Solutions Group can help. As a Managed IT Services company, Magnet Solutions Group can assist internal enterprise legal departments and law firms maximize their IT investments to better succeed today and in the future. Whether an organization wants to revamp its IT infrastructure design, implement a quality cloud computing solution or start using UCCaaS, Magnet Solutions Group can assist organizations every step of the way.