Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/16612
successive infrastructure initiative builds on and enhances previous ones so that past capital expenditures and their associated benefits continue to be leveraged. Each step in the organic growth of the infrastructure must be correlated to an end-user benefit, which demonstrates that expenditures on technology are meeting business needs and are delivering on the vision set in the technology plan. Most importantly, there must be trust between the firm leadership, fellow administrative units and IT. The challenges we faced are typical of many IT departments within law firms, and involve securing support for infrastructure components that are “behind the scenes” for typical end users. Because the technology is often not understood by the firm leadership, it can be difficult to procure funding for acronym-based (SAN, WAN, MPLS, VoIP, WAAS, iSCSI, POE, etc.) technologies that aid the overall operations of the firm. This can be overcome by avoiding direct discussions on the technology. Rather, it is better to focus on how these technologies provide the foundation for services that users understand better, such as dial tone, file storage, digital dictation, faster access, working from home, etc. Similarly, because users are exposed to high-speed unlimited Internet access at home at a very low cost compared to business-class services, there is often sticker shock regarding the cost of the infrastructure. This can be alleviated by ensuring decision makers understand, by extension of the analogy, that the cost of the infrastructure compares more to the investments required by the Internet provider, and that the end-user cost is similar to that of the at-home Internet customer. Likewise, a regular return on investment analysis showcasing the increased productivity and efficiency as a result of the technology reinforces the benefits gained by these technologies and increases management’s support. Because the firm philosophy is to use best-of-breed products in the appropriate price class, there is not always the natural integration or interoperability between products. The team will often need to stretch the boundaries of the technology design to leverage greater functionally than the original vendor design intends. Finally, infrastructure upgrades typically need to occur without any downtime or user disruption (like changing the oil on a car when it’s running at 60 mph). Effective planning, user communication, testing, rollover and rollback planning is critical to avoiding users becoming annoyed with beneficial technologies. So, what path did we follow to get from the old to the new infrastructure? We had a multi- phased approach outlined below. Prior to the www.iltanet.org Infrastructure Technologies 33