COVID-19’s economic disruption has upended law firms’ financial security, and in response, many are now reining in their IT budgets to prepare for a more difficult market. “People are putting me off for a couple of months,” postponing tech projects and consultancy until fall 2021, says consultant Brett Burney of Burney Consultants. “I saw a lot of the same thing in 2008 [and] 2009.”
There is, however, one big difference: Burney says current IT budget cuts aren’t as severe as the ones he saw during the Great Recession. A part of the reason for that may be that in 2020, technology isn’t just essential to a law firm’s business, but also its ability to continue operating through a pandemic. Indeed, IT budgets have been redirected to a new pressing priority: transitioning to a remote workforce.
