Law firms are constantly being asked to do more with less, and this is particularly true of their IT departments. The year 2018 saw most law firm IT departments overworked and stretched to their full capacity. The problem is that law firms simply don’t have the IT headcount necessary to accomplish all the tasks needed to support their internal clients. IT staff who are responsible for the firm’s most crucial operations are also being asked to work overnight doing patching, support and other commodity work. The unsurprising result is that the staff are rapidly experiencing burnout.
A key goal for law firms when it comes to planning and budgeting for 2019 should be to figure out ways to make their internal IT staff more productive without overworking them. Due in large part to justifiably increased concerns about cybersecurity, law firm IT departments have become 24/7/365 operations. Current staff always need to be ahead of the possible threats. Already-lean IT departments are now asked to juggle critical projects, strategy and day-to-day maintenance without any additional help.
