There’s no way around it – success for a legal practice means meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving technological landscape. But that’s where it gets tricky because the legal field is not one that readily accepts and integrates technological change.
Attorneys that have practiced for decades tend to be unwilling to acclimate to changing times. You’ve probably heard “but we’ve always done it this way” more times than you can count. And it’s not just the attorneys, it’s also the long-serving judges that earned their positions during a time in which the fax machine was a giant leap forward.
We can’t expect people to be able to change at the pace the world does but running a business means you don’t have the luxury of not adapting. To keep your clients happy, your firm productive, and your business model competitive, you need the assistance of legal IT support in Florida.
Because it’s highly unlikely that you have tech experts in-house and staffing full-time technicians can get expensive, this is why hiring IT consulting is the key to keep you ahead of the competition.
Competitive Customer Service
A recent survey by Thomson Reuters showed that responsiveness is more important than price when choosing a law firm. That is huge! That means that potential clients are willing to pay more if they know that their attorney will be responding to their request in a timely fashion. So what does legal IT support in Florida have to do with responsiveness? The answer is everything.
IT support does more than just scan for viruses and clean hard drives. A team of information technology professionals can help optimize the way your email and phone systems work. This means a more effective method of screening emails, less correspondence going where they’re not supposed to. Fewer things falling through the cracks, fewer phone calls not coming through; those changes at the margins improve the overall ability of your firm to respond to client requests and by extension, improves how clients perceive you.
Avoid Unsavory Surprises
What happens if your firm is in the middle of a complex business litigation case and a massive hurricane strikes? These cases involve thousands of documents of all types, from contract to emails, to video depositions. If you are like the average law firm, this data is likely stored in-house and if you don’t have the right back-up systems in place, a disaster can mean losing an unfathomable amount of information that can be very difficult to recover from.
Legal IT support can help you create a disaster recovery plan that will leave your firm prepared even for the worst-case scenario. Disaster preparedness is comprehensive and covers hardware and software as well as data back-up and storage. This is essential in minimizing downtime and keeping your firm productive while others are too busy trying to rebuild.
Improve Efficiency and Make More Money
Have you ever wondered how much time your staff spends locating files, organizing documents, or running into technical issues they don’t know how to troubleshoot? If you were to sit there and time the amount of time all these roadblocks take you would be looking at a lot of earning potential being wasted.
This drain of efficiency brought about a poor technical infrastructure is an alarmingly common problem that many law firms face. Just think about how often a paralegal saves over the wrong file or a legal assistant can’t get a dictation system to work. These are wasted billable hours that compound day after day and year after year.
Legal IT support can help your firm solve these problems by instituting the right platforms to create that technical infrastructure your practice needs. This can look like organizational applications that help easily search for the documents you need. Or perhaps creating a document back-up system that allows staff to retrieve the information they thought was lost. You add this to a dedicated team of professionals that know how to troubleshoot common technical problems and suddenly those drains on your practice are plugged. This ultimately means that the overall earning potential and efficiency of your staff increases.
Is Your Firm in Need of Legal IT Support?
PalmTech Computer Solutions has experts with combined decades of experience in the IT field who know exactly which type of problems your legal practice is facing or will face. We can improve your communication systems, help you prepare in case of a disaster, and enhance your efficiency across the board. For a worthy investment that will pay for itself, give us a call today!