LEGAL
GramTel services ensure security of legal firms’ data systems
As the “go-to” company that helps legal firms prevent and respond to emergencies that may cause information technology systems to become unavailable, we know a great deal about time. Billable time – and downtime – and the right time to have a disaster recovery plan.
In our years of providing safe-site solutions for business-critical data to several of the nation’s top legal firms, we have become well aware that downtime equals disaster, and that data systems must be available 24/7/365. That’s why GramTel provides proactive plans and solutions to combat the frustration – and financial losses – of downtime.
We also have learned that many firms that use our services also “sell” our services; i.e., because of the IT security and confidence they receive from GramTel, they can provide that same assurance to their current and prospective clients. As a spokesperson for one of our Chicago law firm clients told us, “Our clients trust us and take it for granted that we’ve covered all the bases, but their expectations have changed. We can no longer just say, ‘We’re covered,’ because our clients want to know details. Now we can outline for them the security services that GramTel provides us with. We’re satisfied and they’re satisfied.”
Services tailored to the legal industry.
Our membership in the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and our knowledge of legal industry certifications and requirements make us well qualified to serve both large and smaller firms. GramTel offers Business Continuity Planning, Disaster Recovery Services, and Managed Services that are specific to the legal industry, and provide the reliability, scalability and geographic diversity needed to keep critical systems available.
Business Continuity Planning
A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) offers firm management the information they need to assess the risk of operational interruption and the resulting financial exposure that may occur, and offers a proactive/preemptive Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that anticipates and reacts quickly to a disaster. Perhaps the foremost questions that need to be addressed are these:
- How would your business be impacted if you were without your document management system, intranet, databases, e-mail and online research services?
- How long could you afford to have your systems down?
- How much money are you willing to lose?
GramTel knows the answers to those questions – and knows how to further identify, analyze and control the risks to your IT assets and business processes. Specially trained GramTel business continuity consultants collect information to identify critical resources, processes, hardware and software, vendors and business partners, plus the financial impact because of lost revenue.
Our experienced consultants then develop a thorough and executable plan by using a proven and tested methodology, working hand-in-hand with your business and technical staff to plan, develop and deploy end-to-end solutions. Your customized continuity plan will have a consistent focus on your business concerns and objectives and will help you implement an infrastructure that is tailored to your unique continuity needs.
When the BCP is complete, GramTel rehearses continuity and recovery strategies with simulated disaster scenarios and follows up with periodic program reviews to help you maintain a high level of preparedness.
Disaster Recovery Services
Having assessed the consequences of IT system downtime and having put together a plan that is preemptive and proactive, the question to ask now is: What will happen to your law firm if a disaster does happen?
GramTel’s Disaster Recovery Services deal with the aftermath of a disruption and answer that question with a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). Measures and procedures are put into place to ensure that essential, mission-critical resources and infrastructures (facilities, network, systems and staff) are maintained or backed up in an appropriate fashion so that IT resources can be recovered and restored to full network functionality with minimal loss of productivity.
GramTel provides co-location, or backup data centers, for critical servers, supported by expert technical staff. We host your data in low-risk secondary markets that are “off the grid.” Offerings include:
- Co-location space
- Hardware
- Redundant power and bandwidth
- Backup
- Experienced people
- Proven processes
- Latest technology
Our “hot sites” safeguard your IT systems in the event of disasters and/or emergency events with Tier III data center space for replacement hardware and network connections, and a robust network that allows remote users to connect to the replacement servers. These servers are yours and yours alone – not shared with multiple customers. Technical expertise is maintained at our hot sites by personnel who monitor your systems around the clock.
In addition, our Service Level Agreements (SLAs) ensure the security and performance that your operations require.
Managed Services
Demands on IT systems are on the increase. They must be reliable, secure and flexible in equal measure. But operating the technology to manage your firm’s IT infrastructure can be a drain on valuable resources. GramTel provides you with advanced IT capabilities for a complete range of managed services that keep your data always available to you, regardless of any on-site problems you may experience.
- Monitoring and Reporting. Affordable 24/7 monitoring and incident management for your infrastructure (network, facilities, systems).
- Data Storage Management. Replication and storage infrastructure to minimize exposure to risk and with rapid recovery access. Our safe site offers a Storage Area Network (SAN), Media Vaulting to house media tapes, and our proprietary G-Vault methodology where data is encrypted and transferred to a vaulting location.
- Network Infrastructure. Includes the procurement and professional management of your routers, firewalls and switches. We provide a single point of contact to track, resolve, maintain and manage your network, including designing, deploying and operating.
In the end, having your business-critical data safe and available is paramount. Beyond that, however, is the professional service and attention to detail that you will experience with GramTel. As one satisfied law firm manager testified,
They [GramTel] set up our site and were with us the entire time, answering questions and helping us troubleshoot problems we had. They just got the work done. We’ve often commented about their integrity. If we had gone with IBM or SunGard, we know we would not have received the attention of the president and other top-level personnel that we got from GramTel. It just wouldn’t have happened. We’re happy to talk about them to anyone who will listen.
Contact us today for a free consultation.