How Much a Law Firm Benefits from IT: A Case Study
A review of the positives Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors see from managed IT services
Meet Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors:
In order to stay relevant, the modern law firm needs to be able to serve a wide range of legal needs for its clientele.
This is not a problem for Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors, a law firm that has operated out of Berri since 1994.
As a self-described “all-rounded country law firm,” their specialties cover matrimonial, property law, estate planning and wills, as well as criminal legal aid covered by one of their junior solicitors for anyone in need of legal services all across Riverland.
You might have noticed that information technology isn’t listed as a specialty amongst the firm’s six total employees—which, when one considers how crucial IT is to modern business operations, can and should be seen as a weakness.
Fortunately, Andrew & Dale has been working with a managed service provider since that provider had rebranded itself into its current iteration—eManaged—and has enjoyed many, many benefits as a result.
What eManaged has done to improve the law firms information technology
According to Michelle, the biggest benefit that she and the rest of the team sees day-to-day is the response time that eManaged offers and how it directly reduces the amount of downtime they need to deal with. She also points out that eManaged accepts her input concerning how urgent any issue or need that does emerge is, and prioritises that issue or need so that it is resolved swiftly.
This, as Michelle points out, is particularly important when it comes to dealing with the courts. After all, the court will not take kindly to downtime or connectivity issues during a remote hearing.
The close relationship between the staff at Andrew & Dale and the staff of eManaged has created a positive and productive working environment, with relatively little downtime and a palpable respect for the law firm’s needs. For example, it wasn’t long ago that eManaged assisted in implementing the “Modern Office” setup, consolidating the in-office IT infrastructure and protecting it with an uninterruptible power supply while moving many processes to the cloud. The fact that this was accomplished despite COVID-19 creating scheduling challenges is all the more impressive.
More recently, the Modern Office implementation that eManaged delivered allowed for a server to be removed, having been made redundant, and for their internal infrastructure to be consolidated. All of the firm’s IT was wall-mounted, allowing the space to be used more effectively. Lower-profile equipment replaced older solutions, including a SonicWall firewall and an APC enterprise-grade uninterruptible power supply, and despite COVID-19 creating scheduling concerns, the project otherwise went off without a hitch and produced a quality outcome.
How working with eManaged has proven beneficial to Andrew & Dale
Over the years, the relationship between the managed service provider and the law firm has shown its value. After all, Andrew & Dale’s office manager Michelle Kennedy describes the law firm’s technology as “critical.”
“It’s in almost everything we do, everything is online and cloud based these days, whether it’s doing the property transfers or uploading to family law courts, the majority of it is online and we are sitting in front of the computer doing something, it’s critical.” — Michelle Kennedy, Office Manager of Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors
Fortunately, Michelle is able to attribute the office’s stable and reliable IT on eManaged.
In addition to reliability, eManaged keeps the firm more secure
It is an unfortunate fact that law firms operating in South Australia have experienced cyberattacks in the past, despite the minimum cybersecurity requirements they are expected to uphold.
Naturally, this makes cybersecurity a priority for Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors—a priority that eManaged addresses for the law firm.
This is all the more important due to the law firm’s hourly charges they make their money through, making downtime and cybersecurity interruptions particularly damaging.
As a result, Andrew & Dale would and has recommended eManaged’s services
The relationship between eManaged and Andrew & Dale Barristers & Solicitors has resulted in no small amount of confidence present in the law firm. In fact, Michelle has had discussions with other firms where she has been able to say that “we have no problems like that”—quite the feather in eManaged’s cap!
If you’re interested in finding out how eManaged’s expert IT services could benefit your business, reach out to them and find out! Visit their website at emanged.com.au, or give them a call at 1300 363 308 to learn more.
“It’s in almost everything we do, everything is online and cloud based these days, whether it’s doing the property transfers or uploading to family law courts, the majority of it is online and we are sitting in front of the computer doing something, it’s critical.”
— MICHELLE KENNEDY, OFFICE MANAGER OF ANDREW & DALE BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS