IT Support for Professional Offices
IT support for law firms, architecture studios, consultancies and small practices across Greater Boston. Client confidentiality, reliable systems, no jargon.
Law firms, architecture studios, consultancies, design practices and small medical offices share a set of problems that generic IT support tends to miss: the work product is confidential, the files are often enormous, the deadlines are immovable, and the person who has to explain a system failure to a client is you.
What tends to be true in these offices
Confidentiality is professional, not just contractual. For attorneys, the duty of confidentiality and the duty of technology competence under the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct extend to how client information is stored and who can reach it. Choosing a provider that treats your systems casually is itself a professional risk.
The files are large and getting larger. Architecture and design practices routinely work with files that make cloud-first storage frustrating and backup windows long. This single fact should drive the infrastructure decision, and it is usually ignored.
Deadlines do not move. A filing date, a bid submission, a permit deadline. The tolerable downtime on those days is effectively zero, and it is worth planning for rather than discovering.
Nobody has time to be the IT person. In a firm of this size, the person who is “good with computers” is a partner or a senior associate. Every hour they spend on the network is an hour not billed.
What we do
Storage designed around your actual files. For large working files, a properly specified local server with fast networking and solid backup often beats cloud storage on both performance and cost. For document-heavy but small-file practices, cloud is usually the better answer. We measure before recommending.
Backup with a real recovery time. Not just “it is backed up” but how long it takes to be working again, tested and written down. For a firm with a filing deadline, that number is the one that matters.
Remote access that is secure and usable. Both words. Access so cumbersome that people work around it is worse than none, because the workarounds involve personal accounts and unmanaged devices.
Confidentiality in practice. A signed agreement, access limited to what a task requires, and no browsing of client matter.
Plain language. You get told what happened and what we did, without jargon. If an explanation requires you to already understand it, it is a bad explanation.
Small medical and dental practices
If you handle patient records you are under HIPAA, which brings its own requirements: a security risk analysis, access controls, audit logging, encryption and business associate agreements with vendors who can reach protected health information — including your IT provider.
We will be direct about scope. We can put the technical safeguards in place and sign a BAA. A full HIPAA compliance program also involves policies, training and documentation that go beyond IT, and if you need that we will say so rather than implying our work covers everything.
Massachusetts data law applies to you too
201 CMR 17.00 covers any business holding personal information about a Massachusetts resident. Your client list and your employee records both qualify. The written program it requires is something we build with you — see cybersecurity.
Related
Frequently asked questions
- We are a five-person office. Are we too small for this?
- No. Below about eight people, ad-hoc support usually makes more financial sense than a monthly plan, and we will tell you that rather than selling you something you do not need. Either way you get the same person and the same response.
- Does client confidentiality change how you work?
- Yes. We sign a confidentiality agreement, we do not browse client files, and where possible we work with you present. For law firms in particular, your duty of technology competence and confidentiality under the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct extends to the vendors you choose.
- Our files are enormous. Is that a problem?
- It is the defining constraint for architecture and design practices, and it changes the answer to almost every question. Large CAD and rendering files make cloud-only storage painful, backup windows long, and network speed the thing that determines whether people are productive. We design around file size instead of pretending it does not matter.
- Can you help us move to the cloud?
- When it is right, yes. It is not always right — for firms with very large working files, a well-run local server with proper backup often outperforms cloud storage and costs less. We will give you the honest comparison for your situation rather than a default recommendation.
- What about staff working from home?
- Secure remote access to what they need, without exposing the whole network. That means VPN or a properly configured remote access solution, MFA, and encrypted laptops — because a laptop left on the Red Line should be an inconvenience, not a notification obligation.
Tell us what stopped working
Text or email is usually faster than a call. We serve Boston and everything within 20 miles — and remote support has no radius.