Can Your Law Firm in Chicago Benefit from Using Office 365?
Microsoft Office 365 has become a favorite tool for law firms in Chicago. It can give your staff all the tools they need to be productive. You can create documents, build spreadsheets or create an amazing PowerPoint presentation. Microsoft continually adds to its suite of Office programs. For instance, MS Teams is a great chat app that law firms can benefit from using. Whatever the size of your law firm, Office 365 has all the resources necessary for your staff to be efficient and productive each day.
Office 365 is available as a cloud-based online suite where your firm is charged on a per-user basis. This model includes customer service, upgrades, patches, and even training for your employees. Office is also available as a stand-alone software product. You make a one-time purchase and you own the software. Though some upgrades are included, you may pay extra for training and support.
If you work with a local managed IT service company like Outsource IT Solutions, you can also take advantage of the Software as a service (SaaS) model. This is a software distribution model where Outsource IT Solutions will host the application, providing support and upgrades as needed.
Microsoft Office 365 Offers So Much to Law Firms
Office 365 provides online document storage options that give your law firm in Chicago all the space necessary to store confidential data securely. That includes email. Migrating your email server to the cloud-based Office 365 environment lets you securely move your mailboxes and archives to a protected environment. There are several different Office 365 versions for large and small firms and each provides a different layer of services and security. For instance, Enterprise 3 provides the compliance and legal hold license requirements you need, along with unlimited storage.
Office 365 comes with built-in privacy settings that, once enabled, allow you to set the sensitivity of email to “private.” This ensures that even those people with access to your inbox won’t be able to see these emails unless you allow it. It also comes with native encryption, end-to-end security, and multi-factor authentication options.
Does Your Law Firm Need Email Encryption?
One question we get a lot at Outsource IT Solutions Group concerns email encryption. Email encryption is a great way to protect the contents of your emails from intruders. Once an email is encrypted, cyber crooks can no longer read the contents. It’s protected and you’ll need the encryption key to unlock and decrypt the files.
Email encryption utilizes public-key cryptography. When you send an email, it’s encrypted by the computer using the public key. This transforms the email into complex, scrambled content that’s difficult to hack. Only someone with the proper corresponding private key can decrypt the email and read it. Even if emails are intercepted by cyber thieves, they cannot be read, so your important communications will remain safe.
Office 365 comes with native encryption, end-to-end security, and multi-factor authentication options to secure and protect your email and data, so it’s only accessible to you or those you authorize. Some of these features will need to be set up by an IT professional, but once this has been done, it can save your employees a lot of time and work, plus it further ensures compliance to industry regulations.
Save Time & Increase Productivity with Office 365 Apps
Office 365 is an excellent productivity tool for lawyers. It comes with applications like Planner, Bookings, Flow, Groups, Delve and Sway. Once you learn how to use these apps, you’ll be impressed by their versatility and great potential to help you save time and increase your productivity.
Useful Plug-ins for Legal Field in Microsoft Office 365
If you’re looking for useful plug-ins, you’ll appreciate Rocket Matter and Boomerang. Rocket Matter released an extensive Office 365 integration with its Outlook plug-in. Now you can easily associate emails with matters. Add your billable time and attach attachments right from within Outlook on Office 365. This is a feature most attorneys love.
Boomerang is a free application. It lets you write an email and schedule when you would like it to be sent. This is great if you’re working over the weekend or late at night and you don’t want to disturb a client or co-worker during these times. You just click “Send Later” and choose from the options Boomerang presents. Set it and forget it — Boomerang does the rest. The email will remain in your draft email folder until it’s sent (just in case you want to change something). Your computer doesn’t need to be left on, either. Boomerang does everything from the Office 365 server.
Can’t Decide?
Outsource IT Solutions Group can help you decide which Microsoft Office program will work best for your law firm in Chicago. We offer a wide range of great managed IT services to law firms just like yours. From 24/7 Remote Monitoring and Management to a strong Business Continuity plan, we’ve got you covered.
There’s a whole lot more to Managed IT Services than most people think. If you believe Microsoft Office 365 could benefit your law firm, please give us a call. We can set up a no-obligation consultation where we come out to your office and answer all your questions.
Contact us and we’ll be happy to visit your office and explain more.
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