5 Technology Mistakes Costing Your Firm Money
At ServiceScaler, we work with law firms and legal practices everyday to help them achieve their long-term goals. For this blog, we have compiled a list of the common technology-related mistakes we see firms getting wrong, and what simple fixes you can put in place to make sure you start getting them right! Equating to cost-savings, better workflow and increased efficiency.
Oversubscribing to software licensing fees
One of the biggest mistakes we see is firms retaining user subscription licences for personnel who no longer work in the business. This is unnecessary, as many systems will allow you to archive that users data, and reallocate the licence to a new user. How many software licenses do you have? Now, how many of those do you actually use? Ask your IT provider to run an audit on your licensing agreements. Review what subscriptions you are using and identify if there are any of these you can downgrade on. For example, there is no need to be paying for the full Adobe suite if you are only using Photoshop. You may also find that you are paying for licenses for employees that are no longer in your organisation, or for people within departments who wouldn’t necessarily need them (for example, Marketing may need access to the full Adobe Suite, but Accounts may not). Auditing licenses is a simple way to make instant cost savings; just a pro tip, make sure you archive any content that needs saving before you remove them!
Using outdated technology
Now what we do not believe in is buying the shiny new version of every device that comes out. But when your laptop starts to sound like an aeroplane leaving the runway every time you turn it on, it could be time to consider an upgrade. When buying your new device, it’s important to look at what specs you actually need. For example, there may be a great deal on a UHD computer display screen, but unless your working in design, do you need more than the standard 1920x1080px (Full HD) screen anyway? Of course, we don’t want to deter you from buying new devices though. New technology can have great benefits, such as increased storage capacity and scalability. Sometimes it’s better to bring in a second opinion, an expert (not the sales assistant at your favourite retailer, or your nephew who loves gaming) who will take the time to understand your businesses needs and figure out what specifications would be ideal for the way you operate. This is especially beneficial if you are looking to acquire multiple new devices.
Hiring and retaining IT staff
In-house IT is expensive, typically costing upwards of 6 figures for a highly skilled employee. Is in house IT the right fit for your business? Reviewing your own needs and speak to similar businesses within your industry to gather insight into what they’re doing may help. Typically, you will find that most SME’s have a Managed IT agreement. Managed IT agreements are becoming more flexible these days, with no lock in contracts and fees scalable to your business size becoming the norm. This means that you can make huge cost savings by not having to worry about hiring and retaining staff that constantly need upskilling. Instead, you will have Service Desk Engineers at your fingertips and a dedicated Account Manager who is incentivized purely by their own KPI’s which revolve around seeing their clients succeed.
Buying for right now, and not for your goals
You should know by now that technology is an investment, not an expense. So when you’re investing in new technology, make sure your thinking about the long-term direction of your business. You should be looking at systems that are scalable. That not only accommodate for growth but actually promote it. We recommend that the best way to go about this is to speak to an expert technology consultant in your field, as they live and breathe the current market surrounding relevant technologies and will be able to determine what you need to put in place to make your business goals a reality.
Learn about our Tech to Success plans here.
Needlessly investing in technology that can’t be integrated or automated
What good is having a great document management system, if it can’t connect to your print and scan tracker? Modern workplaces can’t afford to be that counterproductive. What you should be investing in, is software that can be integrated and automated. For example, why would you be paying for a Zoom account to host meetings when you could be using Microsoft Teams, already included in your Office 365 stack? This way, you can set up automation that is designed to fast track processes and leave no room for error. Keeping your activity in the 365 stack means that you could set up an automation that looks like this:
—> Finished a meeting on Microsoft Teams?
—> Instantly email all attendees that survey that you mentioned via Microsoft Forms
—> When users complete the survey, all of the results are added to your CRM (Microsoft Dynamics)
—> After 3 days, it sends an email to everyone who hasn’t yet completed the form, reminding them to do so.
It’s really that simple! You won’t be kept up at night wondering “did I send that?” or “has everyone completed the form?”.
So there you have it! If you have any questions about anything you’ve read here today, or would like to speak to an expert from our team, get in contact with us here.
enquiries@servicescaler.com | (02) 9146 6339 | www.servicescaler.com