Law Firms: A Growing Opportunity for the IT Channel

 When you think of lawyers, IT is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But as with so many other fields, legal professionals must count on IT to accomplish a multitude of critical tasks. Some IT solution providers already realize legal service firms represent a growing business opportunity.

Law firms are even proving to be a source of good news given the recent recession and the still precarious economy. Nearly half of the law firms in the U.S. expect revenue and IT budget increases in 2010, according to the recent CompTIA study IT Opportunities in the Legal Services Market. Furthermore, 1 in 5 indicate IT budget increases of more than 5% over 2009. These are quite optimistic growth percentages for IT companies looking to break into the legal services market sooner rather than later, or for those wanting to increase sales among current customers.

Legal professionals rely heavily on technology and currently utilize a variety of IT products, systems and software. Software that protects against security threats, enhances productivity or contributes to the bottom line is used by substantial numbers of practices. For example, 59% of law firms use case management software, while 66% use document management systems and 57% document assembly applications.

Looking ahead, 2010 IT purchases will revolve around many core areas such as laptop PCs (24%), desktop PCs (22%) and smartphones (22%).

New opportunities will lie with emerging technologies and solutions that reduce complexity, add capabilities or improve efficiencies. For example, 1 in 5 law practices currently use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, while 18% use some type of virtualization solution. The next wave of legal services customers, however, will require more education and assistance from channel partners. The data suggests there are a number of knowledge gaps to overcome. For example, only 30% of attorneys are familiar with the concept of cloud computing, while only 45% know the concept managed services.

Roughly half of law firms primarily handle IT functions in-house, while the other half relies on some type of outsourced IT model. Among those with internally managed IT, 27% expect to increase their use of outsourced IT over the next two years. More expertise, better service and cost savings are the main reasons law firms plan to outsource more of their IT functions. Among those at least somewhat dissatisfied with the IT in use at their practice, attorneys cite reliability as the top source of frustration.

Our IT Opportunities in the Legal Services Market study was fielded via an online survey to more than 400 legal professionals in the U.S. in January 2010. The full report is available at no cost to ourmembers. Go to the members section of CompTIA.org or contact research@comptia.org for details.