How to avoid making a big expensive mistake it services perth it support perthThis is a very important message for all equity principals, partners, directors and practice managers. If you outsource some or all of the IT services and IT support for your Perth professional services firm, this blog contains very important information that will be extremely beneficial for you to know now that could prevent you from making a very big, expensive mistake that may cost you your firm if you don’t make a tough decision now.

About this time last year, I was contacted by a law firm with around 10 on their team. They were having ongoing frustrations with their technology that was causing them a lot of lost time. It turned out this lost time was worth $730,000 in lost revenue over the course of 1 year, more on that later.

Before I had met with them, I got some information ahead of time from them about what they were currently using. This allowed me to research the system and be well prepared before we met. As I sat in the meeting with the directors and practice manager of the firm, I asked the question.

  • Are you prepared to consider replacing your practice management system?

The answer I got was a definitive No from the directors of the firm. They then proceeded to explain to me they had spent approximately $350,000 in software licensing for this solution, and this was not possible, not even in the slightest possibility, to consider replacing it.

So, from there I continued with my process of asking questions to identify the pain points they were having and where we might be able to help. It was in asking these questions I made the discovery about the amount of time being lost due to the system being slow and inoperable. This was working out to about 1 hour a day per team member or $2,000 a day, which when you extrapolate over the course of 1 year works out to be $730,000.

So, let’s do some simple maths here. The system they already had was costing them $730,000 in lost billable time in 1 year. They had already invested approximately $350,000 into the practice management system licenses. When we add these up there is $1,080,000 down the drain. This obviously doesn’t include any other costs such as software licenses, internet services, computer hardware, telephony and management of the system by their current IT company.

Now to try and turn the ship around, there were other considerations that had to be taken into effect with any replacement system to run the law firm’s systems. Some of this was driven by the practice management software underlying requirements to run. Others was the need for system to effectively be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is before you even start considering the security aspects, how valuable the firm is and what the cost of 1 cyber attack would be to the firm.

All in all, it was going to either require a significant once of capital investment by the firm plus ongoing management costs or a much higher operational investment in an alternative cloud environment than their current IT company’s offering.

So, what can you do to avoid making the same mistake?

As I wrote about in my recent book, Protect Your Legacy How To Confidently Protect You And Your Firm From The FINES, LAWSUITS, CUSTOMER LOSS, RUINED REPUTATION & PR NIGHTMARE Resulting From A Data Breach And Cybercrime.

You want to ask yourself the following questions

  • What will it cost me and my team in time, wages, and fees to find a solution ourselves?
  • What will it cost me, my team, and the firm in lost productivity if the solution doesn’t deliver?

Then consider the value of investing in our services

  • What benefits do we get from concentrating on our strengths, and not finding an IT solution on our own?
  • Where can I re-invest time and money saved into the firm’s growth?

Another lesson my dad taught me, measure thrice, cut once. He was custom cabinet maker and custom furniture builder who always got repeat orders. I can say I’ve also learnt this lesson the hard way. I needed a new tech platform to grow my business but was distracted by the cost of the service.

I decided to try to make a 'cheaper' solution work. What I ended up doing was costing myself hundreds of hours on a solution that didn’t solve anything. My biggest mistake was not understanding the value the service would provide me. My patched-up solution failed, and I made the smart decision to purchase the more “costly” service.

Finally, one of my mentors recently released a video talking about a similar thing, titled “This is when it’s time to quit”. Sometimes you just have to know when to hold em and when to fold em.

Would you like to have us conduct our proprietary 23-point IT systems assessment, so we can help you avoid making a similar big expensive mistake? Complete and submit the form on this page or call our office on +61 8 6244 2556.

Not ready for the assessment and want to learn more about how to avoid making a big expensive mistake with technology and what you can do provide for your family better, for your Perth professional services firm? Click here and signup for our free on demand training titled “The 3 Secrets To See More Clients, Get Paid Faster Without Having To Move A Couch Into Your Office.” In it you’ll discover how to make smart decisions with technology to allow you provide for your family and get your life back.