Law Firm Experiences Increased Productivity From Going Cloud with Boxtop
Amabile & Erman, P.C., is a law firm with more than 30 years of experience representing clients in the areas of medical malpractice, health care law, and all types of complex litigation. Its main office is in Staten Island with additional offices in Brooklyn, NY and West Orange, NJ. For many years, the firm had an on-premise server that was managed by an IT consultant, which was costly to maintain. With approximately 36 employees, Amabile & Erman had an increasing need for remote access, but their system was unreliable. With these aging and unreliable systems holding the firm back, Amabile & Erman knew it was time for a change to a more modern and dependable solution. To solve for these issues and simplify their IT, Amabile & Erman moved to the cloud with Boxtop in early 2019.
Challenge
As a busy litigation firm, Amabile & Erman had a clear need for a dependable and robust IT system. The firm is very heavy on indexing cases and had several programs that they relied on for things like time management and document management. Amabile & Erman had on-site servers with off-site backup that was managed by an external IT consultant. One of the greatest challenges the firm faced was the cost to own and maintain these servers, which requires a great deal of work and money. Using an external IT consultant also meant that any time there was an issue, the firm had to wait for the consultant to travel to the office to fix the issue. Service from the consultant was often reactive, rather than proactive, and Amabile & Erman felt that the overall quality of service was declining. Management felt they were spending too much time worrying about the firm’s IT.
The firm also had an increased need for remote access so lawyers and staff could log in from home, client offices, or during travel. The firm’s solution was very slow and users often experienced glitches. In addition, the firm’s administrator was planning a move out of state and so a more reliable solution was necessary.
Approach
Amabile & Erman was referred to Tabush Group by another long-term client and met with Tabush Group in late 2018. The firm ultimately decided that the Boxtop cloud solution would solve its most pressing technology issues and generally simplify Amabile & Erman’s IT. The migration to Boxtop was “pretty much seamless,” says Jonathan Erman, Partner at Amabile & Erman. “We generally had very little downtime and everyone was able to come into work after the migration and just get back to work.”
Results
According to Jonathan, “one of the most important factors in choosing Boxtop was that Tabush Group would take over our IT, and that has been a success.” Tabush Group maintains everything for Amabile & Erman, from applications to data, in its Boxtop cloud. Tabush Group’s helpdesk is accessible by phone and email with both on-site and after-hours emergency support available. Plus, technicians are able to remote into Boxtop to quickly address issues. This allows users at Amabile & Erman to get their IT questions solved and get back to work as fast as possible.
It was essential for Amabile & Erman to have the ability to bring all of the necessary software, such as Worldox and Time Matters, over to the Boxtop cloud without having to change programs or learn anything new. “Everything works exactly the way it did before Boxtop but with the added benefits of the cloud,” says Jonathan. With Boxtop, the firm enjoys the benefits inherent in cloud, such as backup and business continuity, so Amabile & Erman no longer needs to maintain separate backup servers.
Another benefit Amabile & Erman is experiencing is an increase in productivity and quicker email response times since attorneys and staff are now easily able to log in remotely and get to work right away. In addition to increased productivity, giving the attorneys and staff the ability to reliably log in and work remotely has improved employee morale and made them more accessible to their clients.
