Office 365 for Law Firms
I created this blog about Office 365 for Law Firms because there is a lot to learn about Office 365 for any company not just law firms. Office 365 marketing can be confusing, so many names, same names, pricing, different levels, products, what is the best and what should you buy and from who? I will try to answer all of these questions in this blog (in progress! adding on as I go)
From my experience as an Outlook Expert helping law firms, I try to do what they want to do first. Many have budgets to consider, not large firms, the need for over doing it is not there, they have other systems in place such as special software for their contacts, documentation, scheduling. Adding in Office 365 can be even more confusing considering the 3rd party software. Will yours work?
In March of 2017 I spoke at the ABA Tech Show about Microsoft Office 365 vs G Guite (read my article at the bottom of this blog) and met many vendors offering Office 365. One was Rocket Matter and their sales team were very friendly knowledgeable and understood where Office 365 was going with law firms. I met others though, Practice Panther and they are more engaging with their webinars and free ebooks, learning, etc. I have participated in an Outlook webinar with them and helped create content for their eBook they are giving away. I saw some demos and what I will let you know before buying into a new program is review your current programs, ask your employees what issues/struggles they are having now and find time to look into a new program that will fit for many years. Upgrading software and programs is an investment but it should have long lasting effects. Time savings, efficiency, mobile use, etc. Honestly, I don’t know what is best as I’m usually hired by Law Firms to support their Outlook issues but see many 3rd party software programs all the time.
Outside of the law firm software, Office 365 for business has many products in the packages that for the price, can’t be beat. Not all are 100% functional but getting there. The two best products are Exchange of course and the software. The next is SharePoint and then Teams. I didn’t say OneDrive because it’s not for team sharing, “OneDrive is for one Person, SharePoint is for sharing”. Many firms already have in house file sharing servers with years of data on them. If you consider moving to SharePoint, be sure to have a lot of discussions with your team about what needs to be archived and what needs to be current. I don’t recommend putting 15 years of data on a SharePoint server. Clean up and put up only new (past 2 years or so) up there.
Your current support and moving ahead
Do you have a managed services company managing your desktops and network? If so, good time to talk to them about Office 365 if they have not approached you yet. Many companies know that a full overhaul to new platform is costly with the migrations/setup, implementation/configuration/desktop setup and training. This is not a fast transition! Expect a lot of quesitons, preparation and many meetings. Most companies I know want to have as many details as possible so their job is better managed and they can managed expectations for you as no transition is “seamless” Even if you have a managed services provider, things can and will go wrong. Expect it!
Support, very important!
Office 365 Plans: What plans should you buy and from Microsoft or a Partner?
Most firms should at least consider the Office 365 Business Premium, it comes with all the basics and now even more is coming. Priced at $12.5o by Microsoft but many partners and vendors charge more for their support. It’s well worth it to have someone you can call that knows your accounts. Some companies like AppRiver are larger, less personal but offer great 24×7 support. I use them for all my Office 365 sales. If you prefer to work with a smaller company that is local possibly or that you really want a more closer relationship to, I can help you find a local Office 365 managed provider.
The Office 365 E5 plan includes many more features that a firm should consider outside of just “Products” (this is all included in the E5 plan and it’s a lot!) Microsoft charges $35 a month per user for this. Vendors and other Partners might charge more but considering they will offer extended support, it’s worth every penny.
- Support
- Active Directory integration
- Updates included
- Administration
- Security
- Reliability
- Office 365 Calling Plan
- Web and mobile app development
- Workflow automation
- Workday management
- Apps for Office and SharePoint
- Intelligent compliance solutions
- Voicemail integration (Unified Messaging)
- Enterprise video service
- Search and discovery
- Enterprise management of apps
- Mobility
- Professional digital storytelling
- Work management (Planner)
- Office Online (online document collaboration)
- Corporate social network
- Intranet and team sites (SharePoint)
- File storage and sharing (OneDrive for one person)
- Analytics tools
- Advanced security
- Threat intelligence
- Advanced information protection
- Document and email access control
- Advanced email (Archiving and legal hold capabilities)
- Email and calendars (Exchange)
- Chat-based workspace (Teams)
- Instant messaging and Skype connectivity
- Modern voice with Office 365 Phone System
- Office 365 Audio Conferencing
- Meeting Broadcast
- Online Meetings
- Office on PCs, tablets, and phones
Partners
I highly recommend using your current company unless they need to go. Meaning, you’ve been wanting to switch companies, this is the time to do that. Review your contract and consider an exit strategy. Many Office 365 partners already have a vast amount of knowledge with Office 365 and can support you better if your current company does not want to move to Office 365 and stay with on premise servers. I know there are a lot of reasons they don’t want to change their business model, so it’s best to be honest and talk to them openly about this.
How I can help
I am considered “extended support” for IT companies or directly hired by law firms. I offer a prepay ticket so clients can call me for fast support and I can work as a “liasion” for the IT company
Articles
My articles
- Microsoft Office vs G Suite Google Apps | Co-authored by John Federico from Affinity Consulting |Presented at American Bar Association TechShow 2017
- Tips for Using Microsoft Outlook For Your Law Practice | Presented in webinar for Practice Panther or listen and watch the webinar here on YouTube
Microsoft
Office 365 Law Matters Article by Microsoft (who supports this though? Need to find out!)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/productivity/mattercenter.aspx
Rocket Matters New: The Complete Guide to Office 365 for Law Firms
Category: Outlook Support
About the Author (Author Profile)
Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
