The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 26 our firm consists of both technical teams as well as practice support responsibilities in records, docket and litigation. Although the restructure affected everyone, we'll only describe those in the technical area of IT.) • The Technical Services group consists of team members skilled in infrastructure technologies. They became responsible for maintaining the overall environment, including data/voice communications, servers, storage, Exchange, SQL, network IO devices, etc. • The Service and Support group comprises two teams. One team concentrates on all products and services involving the creation, editing, sharing and management of content (i.e., MS Office, iManage, Workshare, BEC, etc.). The other team focuses on end-point technologies (desktops, mobile devices, laptops, etc.) and all other applications. Although these two groups have distinct responsibilities, they are not silos. We stressed the need to work horizontally and collaboratively. Our organizational changes reduced redundant and inefficient responses by IT teams and allowed the teams to work toward achieving set objectives and goals. We then took a major step of converting our outsourced helpdesk service from non- business hours to full time. It took several months by both our team and the service provider digging into every helpdesk ticket and assuring we had well-documented knowledge base articles (KBs). Our professional trainers and engineers worked with the offsite support team to build mutual knowledge of our technology and processes. We finally closed the loop on disjointed service delivery. • We engaged a third party for after-hours and weekend support. This improved response times during non-business hours, but the resolution time was still painful and frustrating to all involved. • We redesigned our monitoring and provided Tier 3 engineers as a service. REORGANIZING AND RESTRUCTURING With early successes under our belt, we continued to raise the bar on our service delivery. Our next move was to reorganize the entire department. We were able responders ready for any incident, but we were not preventing or containing problems effectively. As a remedy, we reorganized, dividing IT into two groups: Technical Services and Service and Support. (As a note, IT within INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS As we took a hard look at building a premier service offering from our helpdesk, we recognized we were struggling to see the forest for the trees. We had elements of a traditional helpdesk system to manage data properly, we had implemented a call center model to best connect end users to technicians, and we monitored key areas within the environment. Yet we still did not meet our customer and IT objectives. As we broke down each objective and began to adjust our approach, we experienced incrementally better results. • We developed an ITIL-light approach to how we performed services. This seemed to help us identify large (versus isolated) incidents. Documentation (finally!) became important. CASE STUDIES About the Author Brian Clayton, Chief Information Officer at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, plays a key role in the use of technology to provide value-added service to the firm's clients. He is accountable for creating a competitive edge for Taft using technology, people and process. Brian's areas of responsibility include information technology, practice support, litigation support, e-discovery, and records and docket management. He has over 20 years of experience in technology management and operations with over 17 years in a legal technology leadership capacity. Contact him at clayton@taftlaw.com. From Helpdesk to Concierge Desk Moving from a helpdesk to a service-oriented model has provided great value to our firm. In some firms, the helpdesk can be perceived as a necessary evil, often providing reactionary services. Even when steps are taken to trim response time, there is still much room for improvement. Our firm looked to redefine our service model to create high customer satisfaction and to achieve IT project successes. A true service center with concierge-level offerings was in the best interest of our firm.