Who Needs an IT Department?
by Steven Bradley
Whether you realise it or not, you are probably already outsourcing at least some of your IT via
the Internet and it is likely that you will be outsourcing more and more in the future. In this short
article I will show why it makes sense to give serious consideration to this form of outsourcing,
as well as looking at a few of the pitfalls to avoid and (in the end) showing why you probably do
still need your IT department.
The most obvious example of outsourcing via the Internet is the hosting of your web site.
Almost all organisations do this since running a web server can be an expensive business,
particularly if yours is a busy web site. Not only must you buy and maintain the hardware and
run a faster than normal Internet connection but you also then need to keep the web server
itself secure. This is particularly challenging as it involves keeping one step ahead of the
cyber-vandals who seek to deface and hack into Web Sites. So, do you really want the
headaches of keeping on top of the latest security scares or do you want to get on with your
core business?
Think for a moment about what you actually did when you outsourced the hosting of your web
site. You delegated all the responsibilities for service, maintenance and security to your hosting
provider and in return you pay an agreed charge. Your provider gives you a service level
agreement and usually offers compensation if there is a disruption to the service it provides.
With outsourcing you know what you are getting and how much it costs.
Web hosting is just one of many IT services that are being delivered via the Internet and in fact
most of your core IT services and requirements can now be outsourced in this way. For
“in-house” IT departments, the writing would appear to be on the wall but as we shall see later
on, this is not necessarily so.
Here are some examples of IT services that can be outsourced via the Internet:
• Backups & data storage
• Chambers/Practice Management
• E-mail hosting
• Faxing
• Intranet and web site hosting
• Marketing systems
• Productivity Applications (e.g. WP)
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• Research
• Spam, virus & content filtering
• Technical Support and admin
• Telecoms provision
• Training
• Typing & dictation
• Web hosting
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Outsourcing can fix or reduce costs whilst providing a defined level of service. It can also
enable smaller organisations to gain access to technologies or services that were, until recently,
realistically only available to the bigger firms.
Telecoms
A good example of the new opportunities provided by outsourcing is in the area of telecoms.
For years, telephone systems have been expensive to buy and maintain with little innovation
but there is now a growing market in the provision of Internet based telephony systems and
providers. Not only do such services offer reduced call rates and free internal calls, but they
also provide small companies with the same sophisticated call routing, phone menu systems,
voicemail and conferencing facilities enjoyed by their bigger competitors. With set up and
configuration all done via the web, your firm can have its own state of the art telephony service
in a few minutes – all you need is a reliable and fast Internet connection. Costs are very flexible
and usually determined by the number of “extensions” you need along with the features you
want to use. Some providers offer services starting from £10 per month.
Even large organisations can benefit from outsourced telecoms. In the event of some systems
failure or business disaster, you can move over to the Internet based system in minutes and
because it is managed through a web interface you can adjust it to suit your circumstances
quite quickly. Whether your staff are sent to work from home or to a second location, your
clients probably won’t notice any difference and your business keeps running.
Downs and ups
Does outsourcing via the Internet really play out in the real world of solicitors firms and
barristers’ chambers? In fact, it does not always go smoothly.
We have recently been retained to look after a firm of solicitors and manage their various IT
service providers. Shortly after starting, we were asked to urgently retrieve a large amount (over
10Gb) of information from their outsourced online backup system (which we have inherited).
No problem, click a few buttons and sit back as the information is brought back from the
providers' remote data store. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite what happened. The first stage of
restoring the files took various attempts over several days because the service kept dropping
out and we had to restart the process each time. Next, whilst restores were in progress (during
the day) the overall speed of the Internet connection dropped significantly – we were not
popular. Finally because it was taking too long, we asked for a disk copy to be sent. When it
arrived the next day it didn't have the files we needed. All of this wasn't quite the secure backup
picture painted when the service was originally sold to the firm.
In another example of outsourced services, a chambers that uses SMS extensively to keep in
touch with its barristers had a particularly important text message "lost" somewhere along the
line. Because various different parties were involved, unravelling what had actually happened
took a great deal of time and effort. This probably would not have been the case with an in-house IT department.
It isn’t all outsourcing doom and gloom though. Another chambers that took up a managed
service to host its various applications was recently forced to look at alternatives following the
cancellation of this service. Undaunted, they took on the hosted service provided by Mountain
Software, www.mountainsoftware.co.uk. A few months on and it is everything they hoped for
when they originally signed up to the service.
Finally, at a more hands-on level we regularly use a hosted service to let us provide remote
support and training to the people we look after when they are working from home or
elsewhere. When they call with a problem, we can set up a remote control session to their PC
and they can watch (or go and do something more useful) whilst we fix the problem. Instead
of a 40 minute telephone call where we are asking them to click this and tell us what that says,
the work is usually done in a few minutes.
Things to check
These examples of some of the ups and downs of outsourcing aspects of your IT show that you
should be prepared to do your homework first. Apart from the usual checks you make when
choosing any kind of supplier, here are a few other aspects that I suggest you consider:
• The quality of almost all Internet based outsourced services is largely dependent on the speed
and quality of your own Internet connection. You cannot blame the provider if service is poor
because of this. Although ADSL connections are fast at getting information from the Internet
down to you, they are slower at transferring it back again - particularly important for telecoms
and online backup services. Be prepared to invest in an SDSL (same speed both ways) or a
leased line connection.
• When choosing a service provider make sure you speak to other customers that operate
similar businesses to your own and be persistent in finding out what they are not telling you -
a good provider should be honest and upfront.
• If the market providing the service you are interested in is immature and the technology or
service involved is new, be prepared to pay the price for leading the way. Despite reassurances
to the contrary, expect service to be variable and don’t be surprised if providers fall by the
wayside.
• Recognise that outsourcing is not always the right choice. Keeping a service “in-house”
provides you with flexibility and the ability to join different internal services together, allowing
information to be shared more easily.
• Be realistic about costs when making comparisons. In particular, ensure you factor in the
hidden costs of time spent managing and maintaining “in-house” systems.
• Almost all providers offer free trials so make sure you put aside plenty of time to thoroughly
understand and test a service. Also, remember that this is a cost too.
Outsourcing via the Internet offers something for everyone - just make sure your Internet
connection is up to the job and you fully understand the pro’s and con’s of the services you are
looking to outsource. And the IT department? They will remain a valuable asset of any
organisation, becoming the glue that holds all these different services together - providing they
embrace the changes and opportunities that are coming.
Steven Bradley is the Managing Director of Chambers Technology Support,
www.ctsltd.net, a
firm dedicated to the provision of technology services and support to the legal profession.
Email steve.bradley@ctsltd.net.
Steve has prepared a selection of Internet IT Service Providers on his site,
www.ctsltd.net/briefings/links.htm.
Further note from Delia Venables relating to Outsourcing IT for Solicitors
Steven Bradley notes in particular a number of Hosted Chambers Management Systems, Hosted Email
Services, Telephony Service Providers, and Online Backup Service Providers. This short note
covers some other services used specifically by solicitors.
Outsourcing accounts and practice management
Solicitors can outsource their accounts and practice management systems thus avoiding the
need to buy or maintain the hardware and software normally required for in-house operation.
This type of service is particularly attractive for new firms and indeed virtual firms. Here are
three of the best and longest established legal software companies now offering hosted
services:
Quill, www.quill.co.uk, offers Pinpoint Office which enables a
firm not only to have the accounts
software owned, managed and located at Quill, but also to use Quill’s cashiers. Quill have
nearly 200 practices using the service and they employ 45 legal cashiers. Other Pinpoint
services include payroll, digital dictation and word processing.
Pracctice, which now operates mainly under the name of their key software, Osprey.TM,
www.osprey.tm, offers their practice management (which includes accounts and case
management) online i.e. the software and data is held by Pracctice and the system accessed
online as required.
SOS offers a new outsourced cashiering service called Virtual Practices,
www.virtualpractices.co.uk. This provides full management of the accounts with free .NET
software for online access and other services, including time recording, fee earner software and
matter management.
Outsourcing case tracking
Another area of interest is case tracking, particularly for conveyancing, where the matter
software and data information is held on a third party’s system; the firm provides updates to this
as milestones are reached. Although some of the existing software companies are able to
provide hosted services of this kind, the key players in this market are newer companies:
ConveyanceLink, www.conveyancelink.com, provides the software for online case tracking on
its own site, as a service, and charges on a pay-as-you-go basis. Their software also links in
with estate agents’ software and provides HIPS modules as well.
Easyconvey.com, www.easyconvey.com, provides a range of conveyancing software most of
which is run on the firm’s own systems but also provides a module called Track-a-Matter, which
is run on their own secure servers.
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