IT
Support – Jonathan Woodhouse , director of Freers Askew Bunting Solicitors , and Cornerstone Business Solutions sales director Chris Bibby .
THE PERFECT BRIEF
Award-winning IT firm has the solutions for law firm
When solicitors are working around the clock on complex and confidential cases , the last thing they need is their computer systems to crash .
Lost hours waiting for IT issues to be dealt with and concerns over cybersecurity are potentially “ catastrophic ” for a law firm .
So to counteract that , Middlesbroughbased solicitors Freers Askew Bunting have joined forces with Cornerstone Business Solutions .
The award-winning provider of business solutions has cornered the market of Teesside-based law firms looking for problem-free IT hardware and software .
And the Stockton-based network and IT support specialist is so busy , it has recently taken on two engineers , taking its total number of staff members to 30 .
Chris Bibby , sales director of Cornerstone Business Solutions , said : “ We place a high value on the relationship we have with our clients and we pride ourselves on being very knowledgeable about our industry .
“ If you do a really good job then , especially as Teesside is a small place , people will talk about it . We were recommended to Jonathan and he has since recommended us to others .”
Jonathan Woodhouse , director of
Freers Askew Bunting Solicitors , said : “ I heard about Cornerstone through a friend who ’ s the MD of an engineering firm and recommended them . We started talking in December and started working with them in April .
“ It ’ s reassuring to know that we ’ re working with someone who knows our systems and what ’ s coming down the road .”
Having IT issues can mean lost hours of work - and money - through not being able to access case files and work on caseloads .
“ If the system went down , that would be catastrophic ,” said Jonathan .
Freers Askew Bunting employs 80 staff members across its five offices - two in Middlesbrough , on Borough Road and Baker Street , and also in Guisborough , Hartlepool and Stokesley .
The company , which has 70 years ’ experience in the region , offers a range of services including conveyancing , commercial property , family law , wills and probate , and childcare law .
“ We had an account manager who was doing our IT , who knew the system really well and had some remote IT back-up for any larger issues ,” said Jonathan .
However , its expansion to secure offices in Hartlepool in May last year and in Stokesley last December led to the firm looking at outsourcing its IT support .
For more information , visit cornerstonebs . co . uk and fabsolicitors . co . uk
WORDS : SARAH DALE PICTURE : DOUG MOODY
“ Having 80 members of staff , that ’ s a lot of computers that need to be operating all day ,” said Jonathan .
“ It ’ s an unlimited package , so any issues are dealt with remotely and on site ,” said Chris .
Charging per job or by the hour can mean small issues can be ignored by companies trying to save time and money , but smaller issues can lead to bigger things , added Chris .
The IT firm has conducted a full audit of the solicitor ’ s IT system as well as working on future-proofing the software .
The full site survey is carried out by an experienced sales engineer who can identify infrastructure issues , such as network cabling , workstations , servers , switches and all internet devices , as well as system equipment redundancy .
“ We take a proactive approach , which is more beneficial to the client ,” said Chris .
“ Because of the nature of this company ’ s work and the importance of cybersecurity , this company already had a lot of things in place , but now having a company purely employed to look at cybersecurity can make their system exceptional , and we can keep them upto-date so they are as protected as they can be .”
Award-winning Cornerstone Business Solutions has offices in Preston Farm , Stockton , and Newton Aycliffe .
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