Discovering the efficiency of managed IT services
Perspective Law is a boutique firm specialising in Estate Planning, Business Succession, Property, and Commercial Law. Based in Brisbane with a team of 14 people maintaining these areas, fast and efficient IT infrastructure is a priority for the firm as they build their particular expertise. The increasing volume and complexity of legal issues for business in this digital age is a challenge.
The Challenge
Perspective Law sought the services of Sentrian for broad technical support and IT management services on the recommendation of colleagues across Brisbane’s legal community. With a practice management system unable to keep up with the pace of their business and technical support tied to a company about to restructure, they needed a change. They required a technology partner they could trust to just “make IT happen” without them needing to be too involved on a day-to-day basis.
The Solution
To address the requirements of the new practice management solution, Sentrian was initially engaged to upgrade the firm’s server and establish a common desktop experience for all staff. Proactively supporting and maintaining that infrastructure was the next priority and so a Sentrian managed services agreement was established. Sentrian take care of monitoring network performance against a range of criteria and automatically ensure software updates and patches are installed and potential issues identified before they turn into down-time for the firm.
Dealing consistently with a dedicated Managing Engineer is one of the features that has kept Perspective Law a satisfied client for the past seven years. In addition to serving as the “go-to” guy for incidents and service requests that can’t be immediately resolved by the Service Desk, the Managing Engineer essentially takes on the role of de facto IT Manager, developing the detailed knowledge of the firm’s IT infrastructure and business requirements needed to address complex issues and provide sound strategic advice.
The Outcome
Perspective Law’s Chief Financial Officer, Linda Bartley says the managed service approach really works for them. The all-inclusive monthly subscription makes budget forecasting easier, and takes all the guess work out of deciding what’s covered and what’s not when things do go wrong.
But the best thing by far is the quality of service that comes from working with a dedicated team over the long term:
“We simply don’t have to play 20-questions going over all the same old information every time we pick up the phone for support”
The Service Desk Engineers know me when I call and have full access to our system configuration and service history. If there is a more complex issue, it can be escalated to Graeme, our Managing Engineer, who has been with us from the beginning and knows our business, as well as our IT, inside out.
Graeme Wilson is one of Sentrian’s long-serving System Engineers, who took on the Perspective Law account in his first week on the job back in 2007. Building a strong relationship and working knowledge of the client organisation over this length of time adds real value to the concept of managed IT services. As Linda puts it:
“In a smaller firm like Perspective Law, all of us have a pretty full workload to be getting on with”
“No one wants to add ‘IT guy’ to their job description, but if our office systems are not up-to-speed that’s lost time and ultimately lost revenue for all of us. Sentrian lets me stop worrying about IT and get on with my day-job.”
