Solicitors Case Study
The best feedback an IT support company can receive is that of great customer service. We find that our clients want to talk to a human IT department, with technicians that can help in a way you understand. Not only does customer service mean a fast and efficient level of support but it also means being proactive and attentive to make sure issues are never repeated. A firm of solicitors approached us after they had been complaining of problems that kept arising and were having to wait far too long to get another ‘temporary fix’. They wanted problems solving efficiently and permanently.
The Challenge
Solicitors are often there to help clients through some of the toughest decisions in their lives. This can be very stressful for the client and the solicitor. When an IT issue does arise, they want to speak to a calming, reassuring technician who can help them through the problem.
These solicitors had lost faith in the ability of their IT provider after having re occurring issues with backups and users complaining of slow computers. A lot of these users had computers that were out of warranty with manufacturers and could no longer support the latest generations of software or even internet browsers such as Google Chrome. The servers were also going out of support and their email server would be end of life within 6 months.
In addition to the aging IT infrastructure the provider had not been proactive in their IT strategy and hadn’t warned the company about new regulations and standards that needed to be adhered too. This meant that not only did users experience incredibly slow computers, but they had also become vulnerable to the latest cyber threats. With GDPR looming the company wanted to make sure they were as secure as possible when it came to protecting their sensitive client data.
The Solution
We offer our clients bespoke packages when it comes to IT support. Liberate came up with a solution that guarantees fast response times, supported by experienced and qualified engineers from the first phone call, and getting the reoccurring problems resolved. As part of our onboarding process, one of the first measures we go through with the client is an IT strategy.Â
This is a clear roadmap from their current IT infrastructure, to where they want to be. We audit every user and device on the IT network to identify every potential issue and area for improvement, so that our clients can get the most from their money. Here are a few of the improvements we made when onboarding:
- Inventoried all PC’s to see which computers needed upgrading
- Created a plan to replace all computers outside a 4-year lifespan (due to cost constraints). These computers would be removed from the network, recycled, and disposed of.
- We also removed unnecessary ‘bloatware’ that new computers are supplied with, as well as upgrading the network backbone from 100Mbps to 1000Mbps.
- Migrate their existing exchange server to office 365.
- This server needed replacing or migrating to the cloud. We opted for a low-cost onsite server to take advantage of the lightning-fast file access speeds and granular security control, complimented by the enterprise features of Microsoft Office 365. To find out more about how an Office 365 migration can improve your business click here.
- Installed monitoring tools on every PC, laptop, and server.
- This gave us up-to-date information on all devices allowing whole network monitoring and maintenance.
- Moved the client over to Liberate’s offsite hosted backup solution
- One of the recurring issues was the backups not completing and a subsequent fear of losing data. We implemented a solution where backups are taken throughout the day and are fully encrypted. Since being installed our backup system has been completed 100% of the time. Every night we take a full offsite backup which is encrypted at rest and in transit, over the internet to our secure data center in the east midlands. This provided much-needed security and encryption.
- We provide annual disaster recovery tests as standard, which we ran when the client first came on board. The results proved that onsite backups could be restored instantly, through virtualization technology. Should the worst happen, a new server with a full restore of all data could be delivered to the site in approx. 5 hours including travel time.
- Attained Cyber Essentials Accreditation for the client’s IT infrastructure.
- This accreditation is proof the client conforms with the latest regulations and standards, helping towards being GDPR complaint. Most insurers also provide cyber insurance discounts for Cyber Essentials accredited companies.
In Summary
We guarantee swift response times and expert issue resolution. During the client onboarding process, we developed a strategic IT roadmap to ensure every potential issue was ironed out. A few onboarding improvements we made are upgraded PCs, disposing of outdated hardware, removing bloatware, and upgrading network infrastructure. We also facilitated a seamless migration to Office 365, implemented monitoring tools across all devices, and transitioned clients to a secure offsite backup solution. These improvements optimised IT efficiency, and IT security, aligned with regulatory standards and improved efficiency.