e-know.net gives firms an easyStart along managed service road
Professional services specialist e-know.net is offering a helping hand to those law firms keen to take advantage of managed services but worried by the initial economic considerations of such a switch.
While managed service is typically based on a per user per month payment model, most projects also incur upfront costs in the form of consultancy and implementation fees. As part of its easyStart offering, e-know.net will eliminate any immediate outlay as well as look to help cash-flow and boost general affordability.
In all, easyStart will give customers:
> A 20% reduction in consultancy rates for the duration of the deployment
> The ability to roll these consultancy costs into the standard contract, amortising them over a 36-month period
> Discounts on hardware, peripherals and mobile handsets for the first 12 months of the contract.
> One day of free strategic or technical IT consultancy in the first year post-implementation
easyStart is aimed primarily at small-to-medium sized organisations who are looking for more cost-effective, time-efficient ways of running their IT provision or those wanting to exploit new applications but lacking the necessary in-house expertise, capital or confidence.
Law firm customers who have already made the switch typically run a familiar suite of software including Microsoft Office, Outlook and Exchange, Internet Explorer and Acrobat plus legal-specific solutions such as practice and case management systems, electronic forms, digital dictation and document management systems.
Nigel Redwood, e-know.net’s managing director, is hopeful that easyStart will encourage more to take advantage of what managed service has to offer:
“There’s an obvious attraction to a monthly pay-as-you-use pricing model but in today’s unprecedented trading conditions those looking to switch can be deterred even by the relatively small capital outlay that a migration project demands. The fact is that there’s no appetite to spend anything at the initial stage – owners and managers are focused solely on the monthly payments, these are the only thing they’re factoring into their budgets.
With easyStart we’ve made it possible for them to do just that and not to have to worry about any upfront costs. We’re conscious that we need to do all we can as a service provider to help firms battle the credit crunch and to come out stronger down the line – we see this as a very pragmatic first step.
It’s about ‘survive and thrive’ for clients – using managed services as a means to strip out cost and waste but even more importantly, to allow them to work more efficiently, compete more effectively and grow more confidently.”
For more information, please contact the sales team on 01952 236 236 or email michael.pickford@e-know.net
