WHY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS NEED FLEXIBLE IT
SureSkills delivers fully managed IT services that many small or medium-sized firms could have difficulty achieving themselves, explains Mark Feldman, Strategic Relationship Manager, SureSkills
As professional services firms such as legal and accountancy practices continue to grow, they are coming under increasing pressure to serve clients more efficiently, while also meeting a growing number of compliance requirements. At the same time, the way they operate has changed too. Professional services firms need to be flexible around how and where their people work, so they can be as productive as possible regardless of their location. These business challenges force changes to the IT systems that firms rely on. Managing all of this disruption and the existing technology can be a challenge. But technology itself has evolved. The managed services model is fundamentally different to how businesses have bought and consumed their information technology in the past.
MANAGED SERVICES ADVANTAGES
With managed services, in effect IT becomes a utility like electricity. The business no longer owns and runs its IT infrastructure. Instead, a trusted IT partner manages and monitors it on their behalf, ensuring that vital systems are always available, and data is protected. That’s critical for any knowledge-based businesses. Professional services firms want their valued people focused on fee-earning activity, profitability and building customer relationships — not on administrative IT tasks. A managed service also changes the way firms consume and pay for IT services. Instead of incurring significant upfront capital expenditure, firms move to a flexible monthly operating expense. The business only pays for what it uses and can quickly scale as its needs change. One of the benefits of an IT managed service is that the data is always there no matter where you are. For example, employees can access the information they need for their work whether they’re in the office or working remotely. And because it’s sitting in a secure cloud infrastructure, the data is protected. Furthermore, the managed service includes easily accessible, proactive technical support that actively monitors systems, letting firms stay focused on productive work.
AGILITY AND SECURITY
The fully managed IT service provides a level of agility and security that many small or medium-sized firms could have difficulty achieving themselves. The SureSkills’ managed service achieves this by partnering with trusted Tier 1 IT vendors such as IBM. According to Noel Crawford, IBM Ireland’s Cloud Sales Leader: “To reach this sector of the market, IBM works with partners who have the expertise and the experience to serve that customer base most effectively. SureSkills has been an IBM enterprise partner for many years, and we have successfully delivered many critical projects together for professional services firms.” Many of Ireland’s leading law firms, including Beauchamps, Dillon Eustace, Eugene F Collins, Leman, and Philip Lee, have trusted SureSkills to deliver managed services. These successful partnerships are built on our understanding of the culture and practices of professional services firms. Just as firms act as an extension of their clients’ business, we work the same way. SureSkills’ managed services IT model, aligned to industry best practice, helps professional services firms achieve their goals by providing access to IT systems and data from anywhere, backing up critical information so it’s always protected, and reducing the overhead of managing IT systems. This means firms can quickly respond to opportunities as they grow and can adapt to whatever lies ahead.
‘With managed services, in effect IT becomes a utility like electricity’