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How did this Southland law firm transform their IT? [Case Study]

A major Southland law firm was facing the reality that much of their internal IT infrastructure was past its used-by date, and they knew replacing it would require extensive resources, but then they explored a cloud solution with Resolve.

Resolve’s SmartCloud IT platform for lawyers transformed the firm’s spending model, replaced the resources tied up in managing internal IT requirements, and future-proofed their operations.

This Southland law firm is one of the region’s largest with a diverse range of legal specialties. With a team of local and mobile solicitors and offices across multiple locations, agility and forward thinking is an ongoing theme that underlines all operational decisions.

The firm’s IT challenges

The firm’s IT solution was an in-house infrastructure model that required someone to stay on top of licensing requirements, replacing hardware, upgrading software and set-up and support for virtual access for mobile employees. This was an ongoing responsibility and taxing on resources.

Their key IT challenges included:

• owned a lot of aged hardware that was overdue for replacement
• trapped in a cycle of ‘review and renew’
• growing number of employees wanted the option to work remotely and hybrid working arrangements
• managing increasingly sophisticated cyber-security threats and ransomware risks
• taxing resource requirements to keep licences, software and hardware up to date
• investigating operational cloud tools and software to use in the future, which would result in a complicated mix of onsite/offsite IT
• ensuring compliance with evolving data protection and privacy requirements

The solution

Facing another cycle of replacing the existing infrastructure, the firm’s General Manager Sue Boyle was motivated to look into alternative IT solutions. She started researching the advantages of cloud computing and managed services, recognising the benefits it would have for their progressive firm.

With Resolve’s client base being primarily law firms, they felt that our team would understand their needs at a deeper level than a general IT provider, and would know more about the intricacies of their software and compliance requirements.

Resolve’s New Zealand-based SmartCloud IT platform ticked all the boxes. In particular, the per-user pricing model and comprehensive security framework aligned with their operational goals.

The firm values the Resolve SmartCloud solution because:

1. no need for new infrastructure purchases or ongoing capital expenditure
2. per-user pricing is an effective model for easier budgeting and is more agile for changes in team size
3. very responsive help desk that knows the ‘ins and outs’ of the specific software used by law firms
4. proactive cyber-security, threat management and ransomware protection
5. remote and hybrid work set-up is seamless
6. licensing and software updates are all managed automatically
7. compliance with legal sector data protection requirements

Migrating to the cloud

The most crucial part of changing IT providers, especially when going from an in-house infrastructure model to a cloud solution, is the migration or ‘on-boarding’ project across to a new platform.

The firm soon realised that this was going to be a complicated and large-scale project, but found Resolve’s project leadership got them over the line successfully.

“The other providers who interact with your IT environment can be a real barrier to a successful migration project, but Resolve led the way and took care of some of the challenges for us. They just dealt with everything we threw at them,” noted Sue Boyle.

The firm found that Resolve’s constant communication with their IT-savvy team member was a key factor in the success of their particular migration – though our team has developed processes to support firms regardless of their internal IT expertise.

Our team has successfully on-boarded over 50 law firms to Resolve’s SmartCloud platform, with this Southland firm being one of the larger and more complex migrations completed. According to recent New Zealand Law Society research, cloud adoption in the legal sector has accelerated significantly, with security and remote work capabilities being primary drivers.

“Due to the wide variety of factors involved in a migration project, each one requires a slightly different approach. We’ve refined our processes significantly over the years, and our methodology continues to evolve. Our clients benefit from this accumulated expertise – we understand their unique environments and regulatory requirements,” explained a member of our operations team.

Ready to explore how cloud technology could transform your firm’s IT infrastructure? Get in touch with our team to discuss your specific requirements and challenges.

Simon Falconer
Director, Resolve Technology
When he’s not finding a reason to buy the latest gadget, Simon is probably setting it up, breaking it, and fixing it again — all before breakfast.