July 18, 2005
Outsourcing IT
There is a lot of hype about outsourcing, but what are law firms really doing?
Andrew Adkins III, Adkins@law.ufl.edu, is director of the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law. In his article appearing in the June 2005 issue of Law Technology News, Andy gives us a dose of reality. He points out that according to the 2004 ILTA survey on Legal Technology, “outsourcing is not ‘in’. The use of outsourcing for performing IT functions is wide but not very deep.’’ It appears that less than 2% of law firms outsource as much as half of their IT work.
Andy Adkins points out that mid-size firms, typically, have one full time IT staffer for every 20 to 35 users, depending on how much technology is supported in-house. Virtually, all law firms look outside of the law firm for some portion of IT operation. Areas noted by Andy include:
Computer and printer repair
Substantive software systems
Web design and development
Data backup and storage
E-mail service and storage
Training
Training is particularly important. The number one reason for failed technology implementation is lack of training. Too often, law firms shortchange training to reduce initial cost of implementing new systems. My favorite saying is “It only costs a little more to go second class". That is certainly true with training. Training is people-intensive and that means training sometimes costs more than the software itself, but it is the one thing you should not try doing on the cheap!
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