The IT requirements of law firms can vary depending on the size and specialization of the firm. There are also the priorities of the firm’s management to consider. But, some of the more common IT requirements of law firms include:
- A flexible IT infrastructure that can support a wide variety of applications, including legacy software
- Remote accessibility, so that the firm’s employees can access their files and applications from anywhere
- Advanced security and reliable data backups. This is needed to protect the firm’s and its clients’ sensitive data from unauthorized access and data loss. It also helps prevent compliance violations and lawsuits
The best IT solution for law firms with some or all of these IT requirements is hosted desktops.
Hosted desktops are basically Windows desktop operating systems that you can access via the Internet.
Just as they can with locally-installed desktop OSes, users can store all of their files and install and run any Windows-compatible application on their hosted desktops.
Hosted desktops are also similar to locally-installed Windows desktops. In a way that each one is dedicated to a single user. Which also means that user retains all of the user’s applications, files, and settings even after the user logs out.
The ways in hosted desktops satisfy the IT requirements of law firms include:
They’re compatible with almost any application.
You can install any Windows-compatible application on a hosted desktop. Hosted desktops can also be configured to run legacy applications, custom-built proprietary software, and Linux and OS X applications. This allows law firm employees to access all of their files and applications from within a single online workspace.
They can be accessed from anywhere with any device.
Law firm employees can access their hosted desktops from anywhere they can get Internet access, which is pretty much anywhere these days—including courthouses, police stations, clients’ offices and homes, and other law firms.
They can be accessed even from slow Internet connections (hosted desktops usually only need about 100 kbps in bandwidth) and from 3G or 4G mobile data networks. This allows law firm employees to remain optimally productive and access all of their files and applications no matter where they are.
They’re more secure than physical desktop PCs and they’re protected and backed up by the hosting provider.
Hosted desktops are protected from the security breaches and data loss that occur when end-user devices are lost or stolen since their data remains on the hosting provider’s servers at all times.
In addition, most hosting providers protect their hosted desktops with advanced IT security measures such as enterprise-level firewalls, gateway antivirus, IDS/IPS, and enterprise-grade spam and content filtering They also regularly perform backups of their hosted desktops.
Another advantage of hosted desktops is that some hosting providers (Ironorbit among them) will include comprehensive management and support services. This applies most especially for law firms that don’t have their own in-house IT employees,
Services such as performance and security monitoring, patch management, and 24x7x365 help desk support. Hosted desktops for law firms allow employees to focus on their work, rather than on their IT.