Two specialist legal consultancies joined forces to launch MSC, which is dedicated to helping law firms evaluate the options for outsourcing all or part of their IT;  and, where appropriate, to procure and manage the transition from in-house support to an effective managed service platform.

 

Managed Services Consultancy (MSC) builds on the 35 years’ combined experience of managing directors, Allan Carton (Inpractice) and Bill Kirby (Professional Choice Consultancy) in working with law firms to help them develop profitable legal business, where new initiatives inevitably involve more effective use of technology.

 

Explaining the rationale behind MSC, Bill Kirby comments:  “We are seeing professional services organisations enjoying an increasing range of benefits from outsourcing all or part of their IT infrastructure. The new demands of continuity, compliance and good commercial practice mean that everyone should consider the option.

 

But there are always immediate questions about the true value and viability of outsourcing, about finding the right supplier, making the physical switch, managing the relationship, ensuring quality of delivery and, more importantly, how fundamentally changing the way you resource your IT will impact on the business.

 

These natural concerns and fears about such radical changes have been one consistent limiter to active consideration of the options. The missing link is an organisation that can oversee the complete management of the exercise: an expert guide that can remove the risk and provide peace of mind for a shift of process and culture that can contribute significantly to the performance capability of the firm.”

 

As part of their procurement and programme management service, MSC is establishing an approved supplier list in a bid to improve the tendering process.  Allan Carton says: “By being able to put together an immediate short-list, we can offer a more pragmatic, cost effective ITT process. This will enable quicker, more informed decisions as to the selection of a third party vendor or the retention of in-house IT services. Depending on the outcome, MSC can either head up the programme management to ensure a swift, smooth transition; or work in an advisory role to help clients optimise their internal IT structure to better support the business.”

 

For more information please contact:

 

Allan Carton - acarton@managedservicesconsultancy.com

Bill Kirby - bkirby@managedservicesconsultancy.com

 

www.managedservicesconsultancy.com

 

Editors’ Notes

 

MSC principals are Allan Carton who has run Inpractice/Practical Solutions for 20 years and Bill Kirby of Professional Choice Consultancy, now in its third year and previously a director of a major PMS supplier for 10 years.

 

Background

 

There is an increasing range of benefits being derived by professional services organisations outsourcing the supply of all or part of their IT infrastructure. The new demands of continuity, compliance and good commercial practice mean that every law firm should consider the growing number of options available.

 

The availability of newer technologies for networks, the internet, thin client, storage area networks and so on coupled with a growth in potential suppliers can make this whole process feasible and worthy of consideration against in-house servers, networks and resource management. Much of this could be dependent on scale of resources and the timing of necessary investment to support business objectives.

 

There tends to be a natural and understandable resistance to outsourcing considerations by an IT team unless the team and the firm can see much more enrichment coming from application development to help the firm perform and improve its relationships with its clients. Smaller IT teams these days should be spending a great deal more time working on business process and the use of IT rather than keeping the boxes and networks functioning.

 

One limiter to active consideration of the options that technology can bring has been the natural concerns and fears about such radical changes. The missing link is an organisation that can oversee the complete management of the exercise removing the risk and providing peace of mind for a shift of process and culture that will contribute positively to the performance capability of the firm.

 

The whole process of reviewing the viability and relevance of the business case in line with the firm’s strategy and plans, reviewing potential vendors and the management of selection, running the implementation project and then the on-going management of the supplier against SLAs and the provision of strategic IT advice is now available from one source.

 

Managed Services Consultancy (MSC)

This company brings together the skills available from Professional Choice Consultancy and Inpractice.

MSC will:

• Advise on the outsourcing options available and on potential suppliers where there might be opportunities for a legal practice to improve the way they operate; for example, in relation to:
• Business continuity and disaster recovery;
• Allocation of internal resources to development of solutions;
• Remote working and access anywhere, anytime;
• Technical helpdesks and support, perhaps extending to 24 x 7;
• Unproductive downtime;
• Internal efficiencies and productivity in the IT team
• Handhold a firm through an objective consideration of outsourcing options to select the most appropriate provider if the decision is made to outsource some area;
• Oversee the implementation and management of the managed service programme;
• Provide ongoing strategic IT advice to the firm. 

These services will replace or supplement the activity of the firm’s IT manager who can then focus on the development of applications and client services rather than be diverted into fire-fighting.

 

Services Menu

 

Module 1 – Strategic Review

 

A strategic Review of IT within the firm to assess its current performance against business objectives and the known objectives of the market.  The output is a report on the feasibility of IT outsourcing with advantages and disadvantages, risks and opportunities of such a move. This will include a cost benefit projection to back any recommendation, evaluating costs involved, staff redeployment the opportunities generated by reduced downtime and all round productivity improvements.

 

Module 2 – Exploring Options

 

If managed service or outsourcing all or part of IT is a definite consideration the company will introduce two or three “proven vendors” that are considered most appropriate to the firm’s needs. A minimum of three organisations can be considered, which could include the current support services provider to the firm. On offer is a pragmatic, cost effective ITT process which will enable the firm to consider the selection of a third party vendor or decide to stay with in-house IT, in which case, the exploration often results in improvements in the structure of IT and / or how it supports the firm.

 

Vendors will be selected from MSC’s approved supplier list of organisations with a proven track record within the professional services sector. Each potential vendor is reviewed by MSC and their on-going performance in the sector is monitored.

 

MSC will help with the consideration of any contract between the parties and in the establishment of the appropriate Service level Agreement (SLA).

 

Module 3 – Managing the Transition

 

Experience has taught that after the selection the transition to the new environment needs to be managed with on-going involvement in the project management process and liaising between the project managers of the supplier and customer. Such decisions can have big cultural impacts and it is important to maintain a cooperative and open relationship ensuring that key information is available.

 

Module 4 – Managing Supplier Performance

 

Once the managed service has been put in place there are available many reports against the SLAs that tend to be available on a monthly basis. MSC will receive and analyse these reports and where appropriate bring key issues to the attention of the firm’s management. Within the first year it is recommended that formal face-to-face reviews between client and supplier should be held quarterly and in subsequent years on a six monthly basis unless there are any significant changes made such as a change in a practice management system or significant resource changes because of acquisition or merger.

 

Module 5 – Continuing Strategic Development

 

It is feasible that the structure of in-house IT may change so that IT strategy advice to partners and the firm’s management may need supplementing. MSC will provide on-going strategic IT advice for the firm with regular bulletins and six monthly reviews to coincide with the firm’s business planning cycle. This will ensure that the firm is considering the latest IT opportunities in line with business objectives. This will include the latest information surrounding Practice Management System Suppliers, trends in applications (such as the development of workflow products), add on items such as digital dictation, Sharepoint and document management.

 

 

Both Inpractice and Professional Choice Consultancy will continue to operate in their traditional business areas but Outsource management expertise will be concentrated in MSC, the new business.

 

 

Bill Kirby and Allan Carton

26 May 2008