Remote Workforce Preparedness

McGillivary Steele Elkin (MSE), a top-rated law firm located in Washington DC, is devoted to protecting and enforcing the rights and interests of labor organizations and employees in both the public and private sectors. MSE offers services in drafting and negotiating all forms of labor agreements and drafting and promoting passage of legislation designed to protect worker rights and benefits. Established over 50 years ago in the nation’s capital, MSE’s practice is national in scope.

The Challenge

MSE had been working with a managed IT service provider (MSP) for many years where staffing and services were inconsistent, resulting in unreliable IT support for MSE staff and little direction on how the firm should move forward with future technology investments. MSE expected a better end-user experience and needed its MSP to strategically align the firm’s technology vision with its overall business objectives. With no assigned account manager and onsite technicians changing every several months MSE’s service provider was unable to provide the strategic guidance and deliver the consistent service the firm expected. MSE found itself in a continuous cycle of just getting by with technology, never advancing towards the firm’s desired state of a modern workplace. MSE was constantly pushing its service provider to act rather than the service provider delivering proactive support services and guiding the firm’s IT strategy. Lacking confidence in their MSP, MSE leadership turned to FSi Strategies for world-class end-user IT support services, development of a clearly defined technology roadmap, and execution on a mutually agreed upon technology plan.

The Solution

FSi Strategies quickly established a trusting partnership with MSE, working together on a technology improvement plan (TIP) that balanced the firm’s need for reliable IT support with its strategic vision to deliver a modern workplace experience for all staff.

Phase One of MSE’s technology plan focused on stabilizing the firm’s current IT environment. This included a server room update and hardware upgrades that provided a good foundation for MSE to build on. These projects in combination with onboarding MSE staff for ongoing IT support services immediately delivered the stability needed and ensured a better end-user experience for staff.

Phase Two of MSE’s technology plan will complete the firm’s vision of the modern workplace. These projects will support MSE’s goals of workforce mobility, business continuity, staff collaboration and productivity, and improved security by leveraging Microsoft’s cloud services.

These projects will include:
– Migrating to SharePoint Online;
– Improving the firm’s security position by migrating to Microsoft Azure AD and leveraging Microsoft EMS; and
– Migrating an on-premise JURIS (financials and case management) server to Microsoft Azure server cloud.

The Results

FSi Strategies seamlessly transitioned MSE to its managed IT services, focusing on solving end-user issues holistically rather than just one ticket at a time. FSI’s approach resulted in a 50% reduction in the number of support tickets submitted by staff in year one. MSE now spends 30 minutes per week reviewing support tickets compared to 5-8 hours per week with the firm’s former MSP. Freeing up these 3-4 workdays each month has allowed MSE to focus on more strategic initiatives, including working with FSi on the firm’s transition to the modern workplace. MSE partners and staff are now taking full advantage of Teams for secure meetings, which is increasing collaboration and productivity within the firm as more end-users work remotely. Utilizing Microsoft’s cloud services and M365 MSE has scheduled additional projects with FSi that will further support the firm’s goals of business continuity, providing workforce mobility, continually promoting collaboration, strengthening security, and driving the firm’s future growth.

“I wanted to thank FSi Strategies for the work it has performed and continues to do on our behalf. Most importantly, I do not know how we would have been able to function as well as we have remotely if it were not for FSi Strategies’ foresight to bring our technology up to date as quickly as it did. Daily, I hear compliments given on the work the FSi team has been doing in responding to and resolving IT support issues quickly on behalf of our employees.” ~ Keith Nickerson, MSE

What is the Modern Workplace?

The workplace as we know it is rapidly evolving, and it is more than open concept offices and free lunches. There is a new generation of users who are always connected from multiple devices and they work in a different way. Increased mobility and enhanced collaboration are becoming requirements for every organization, while new security threats are appearing every day. This changing landscape is driving a digital transformation for organizations and requiring a new way of doing business. It is our goal to help organizations have a modern strategic approach to technology, empowering users, all while maintaining security. We achieve this by encouraging teamwork, implementing unified endpoint management, managing training and adoption, and implementing cloud security.

About FSi Strategies, Inc.

FSi Strategies is a recognized Microsoft Partner and managed service provider with over 17 years of experience supporting our clients’ IT needs across multiple industries. FSi has established itself as a pioneer of the modern workplace. We empower our clients by delivering enterprise class solutions that offer mobility, collaboration, security, insights, and productivity that today’s workers demand to perform their jobs from anywhere at anytime. FSi couples its visionary workplace consulting practice with its core managed IT and cloud services for clients requiring ongoing reliable support and innovative technology strategies to run their businesses.