Money is one important element in the cost of IT, but building and maintaining a system also takes time and knowledge. The Legal Workspace cloud provides firms with the IT infrastructure they need without the guesswork and expense that comes with maintaining an IT department.
The Money: Traditional versus Cloud IT Infrastructure
An average firm building a traditional IT infrastructure from scratch can easily spend $22,000 for the initial set up and $45,000 for annual maintenance and licensing.
Here’s how:
Hardware (average lifespan 3-5 years):
- — Server and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): $11,000-14,000
- — Backup Appliance with offsite Data Recovery: $5,000
Software:
- — Windows Server: $2,000 annual licensing
- — Exchange Server: $4,000 – 6,000
Personnel:
- — IT support: $43,000 -52,000 per year. Standard IT companies charge $175/hour. It takes about 250-300 hours per year to support hardware.
The cost spirals out of control quickly. An outmoded or overloaded infrastructure can seriously hinder a law firm’s success by reducing efficiency and limiting opportunities. High-profile clients in regulated industries often perform cyber security audits and require security certifications before hiring legal counsel.
Legal Workspace operates on a pay-as-you-go model, so customers escape upfront costs. Per-user pricing allows for straightforward scalability — new users can be added in less than 24 hours. Legal Workspace includes hosted Exchange and email, preferred Microsoft Office suite version, data and app storage, nightly redundant backups to US-based tier III data centers, and unlimited tech support between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mountain Time.
Legal Workspace continually updates software and hardware so firms are always working with the most secure versions. Redundant enterprise-level firewalls, encryption, and secure, temperature-controlled data centers with generator backup make data security stronger than a law firm could implement locally.
Eliminating headaches
Problems with IT happen because of equipment failure, lack of know-how, or just plain human error. These brief examples show how using the cloud eliminates bad technology situations:
- — Ransomware encrypts computer files so users cannot read files without paying a ransom fee. Legal Workspace retains at least two weeks of backup files so firms infected with ransomware can simply delete infected files and restore backups.
- — Legal Workspace clients, such as Berry Odom, report moving to the cloud has reduced their time spent worrying about IT by 75%. That means more time practicing law and less time on the phone with IT.
- — Workers are putting in more hours at home and on the go. Legal Workspace’s cloud environment allows users to collaborate safely and securely from any device. If devices are lost or stolen, data is safely stored and protected in the Legal Workspace cloud.
Positioning for success
Legal Workspace removes technological barriers so firms can spend more time landing top-tier clients and less time managing IT.
- — Legal Workspace is a complete cloud solution created exclusively for law firms
- — Full IT management and maintenance offered
- — Enterprise-grade security to protect against cyber threats
- — Access Legal Workspace from anywhere using any device
- — Military grade data centers located in the US
- — Host all of your legal and business applications, no on-site servers required
- — 99% uptime guarantee
Legal Workspace is a pioneer in cloud-based work environments and data storage designed specifically for law firms. Learn more or arrange a free demo at 877-713-8302 or sales@legal-workspace.com.