What is Helm360’s “Managed Services” Offering?
Helm360’s Managed Services offering is the most efficient and sustainable IT staffing strategy for law firms.
Technology is your firm’s lifeblood; your success depends on it. It facilitates productive work and a profitable bottom line. And yet, many firms have little to no designated staff overseeing their IT system. They choose to risk their mission-critical systems’ well-being on an inadequately manned talent pool. A sure recipe for disaster.
This doesn’t have to be. More importantly, the work it takes to develop, manage and maintain a robust system doesn’t have to fall on your to-do list.
Application managed services in particular are one of Helm360’s most popular offerings. Usually overlooked and under-valued, this solution is a true game-changer. It makes establishing and maintaining healthy internal systems, customizations, and integrations over the long term easy, efficient, and cost-effective. The best part? It allows our experts to work with you to bring best practices to your firm. It puts this work in our professional hands. Not yours.
What are “Managed Services”?
In general, managed services are staffing support packages that remove the burden of internal management in a specified area of business. They relieve a firm from the time and expense involved with hiring, training, managing, and maintaining a skilled internal workforce in a designated support area. These support areas can range from financial (i.e. bookkeeping, payroll, etc.) to human resources to technology.
This arrangement may seem daunting and expensive at first glance. However, bringing in professionals produces impressive ROI on various levels, particularly when it comes to IT.
How can Helm360’s Managed IT Services Benefit My Legal Practice?
The obvious benefit of contracting managed services for IT with us is convenience; everything is handled by our team. This gives you an immediate positive ROI for time. It frees you up to focus on other areas of your practice. Here are other areas positively impacted by managed services:
Staffing
Our managed services can save you thousands on staffing. They negate the need to hire, manage, train, and promote full-time staff. Not only is this process expensive, but it can also be frustrating if you don’t have the experience needed to hire qualified IT professionals. Using our managed services also gives you access to an experienced talent pool for a set price. You can access the talent you need without breaking your budget.
System knowledge continuity
System knowledge is a valuable asset. It supports your firm’s business continuity, prevents poor performance, and contributes to data security. Typically, it’s lost every time there’s a staffing turnover. A managed services agreement with us prevents this by placing your system knowledge in our managed environment where it can be accessed quickly and easily regardless of the individuals involved. It mitigates disruptions and eliminates learning curves, allowing your firm to run smoothly and continuously.
24/7 support
On-premise IT teams typically work standard business hours. What happens if there’s a weekend emergency or someone on the team goes on vacation? Our managed services contracts include 24/7 (or 24/5) support from our pool of IT professionals. Our offering also includes a Service Level Agreement (SLA) outlining response times in the managed areas. This gives you dependable, expert support whenever you need it.
Increased productivity
The 2019 Report on the State of the Legal Market revealed that law firms lose $70,416 per lawyer per year due to decreased productivity, which hinges on technology responsiveness. In other words, if your IT fails, your attorneys’ productivity screeches to a halt. They need a consistent, reliable IT infrastructure to keep business humming. Partnering with us for managed services gives your team a technology ecosystem they can count on.
What does the Technical Side of Managed Services Look Like?
The above are overarching benefits to our managed services. There are technical reasons this is a sound direction to take as well. For instance, Helm360’s Managed Services do all of the following:
- They provide consistent database maintenance, performance monitoring, and regular analysis.
- They allow for performance troubleshooting, customizations, and data integrity checks.
- They ensure that all your customizations are documented, reviewed, and adjusted on a regular basis.
- They allow for upgrades to be scheduled, planned, and executed efficiently.
- They facilitate disk performance monitoring and SQL Server database recommendations.
- They ensure that your system adheres to best practices and compliance guidelines.
Having our eyes on these technical issues regularly ensures your system is healthy, up-to-date, and future-ready. It positions your firm for efficient upgrades, migrations, and extractions, saving time and money on preparation work and data readiness. It allows for seamless adaption or implementation of new software. In short, managed services strengthen your firm’s foundation, making today’s work efficient and preparing for tomorrow’s growth.
The Helm360 Bonus
As an experienced managed services provider, we combine technical expertise with extensive knowledge of financial management platforms central to the legal sector, such as ProLaw, Elite Enterprise, and Elite 3E.
Conclusion
Like each IT system, no two managed services contracts are the same. We tailor each one to fit budgets, company size, business plans, and future goals. We highly suggest contracting for at least three years. This time frame will ensure that our team truly knows your system, understands your practice’s needs, and has ample time to fine-tune your IT appropriately.
Technology is great when it works. It’s revolutionized how we do business and how we live. And it changes in the blink of an eye! Now we have cloud computing, hybrid systems, and artificial intelligence. Is your legal tech keeping up? Cultivating a strong technology environment for your law firm has to be a priority. Your competitiveness depends on it. Our managed services offering is designed to make this task easy, affordable, and stress-free.
Helm360 provides Managed Services to law firms around the world. We’re happy to discuss your firm’s specific needs! Contact us to set up a consultation today.