In March we prepared a short article highlighting some of the considerations when selecting an IT supplier, the article was intended to highlight a few key areas. Following on from this, we thought it would be useful to offer a second instalment, listing a few additional areas to consider. This is still not a complete list of the areas to consider but together with the original article provides a starting point to build upon with your own specific requirements.

Additional areas to consider when selecting an IT supplier:

• Contractual considerations – We always advise having your contracts reviewed by a lawyer with knowledge in dealing with IT contracts; they will be able to use their experience to ensure the contract is fair. We regularly see examples of extremely one-sided contracts. Key areas such as data protection, the payment terms (upfront, staged or on go live), how to manage a breach of service (and what needs to happen for you to exit if needed) and the process for a managed exit at the end of the contract are just some of the considerations needed. 
• People – At 3Kites we often say “it all comes down to people in the end”, and it’s likely that the people you have dealt with in the sales process will not be the people you interact with on a daily basis when the contract is live. Ask to meet with the people with whom you will deal with on a day-to-day basis and those you will escalate any issues to. In the same way if you were recruiting someone to join your firm, make sure that the supplier you are looking to partner with is compatible with members of your IT team.
• Ownership of solutions – We are seeing a move away from private data centres towards hosting solutions in Azure/AWS or using software as a service (SaaS) products. The latter, if set up correctly, gives firms the power to change their IT suppliers without moving the IT environment, which is extremely valuable. However, we have seen examples where the way that cloud environments are set up is unnecessarily complicated and firms become justly concerned about the ownership of (and access to) their data. A SaaS solution provides a number of benefits but does leave the firm in the hands of the IT supplier, so consider data exports and the moving of services when selecting a SaaS solution.
• Process and service level agreements (SLAs) – We are seeing suppliers taking different approaches to the traditional SLAs with varying success. Ensure you understand the process to raise issues and how these will be managed. One key failing we see repeatedly is a lack of supplier management and service issues being ignored, building to a crescendo rather than routinely and regularly reviewed and managed. Communication, or the lack of, is the most common complaint.
• Supplier changes – There is a large amount of change (including restructures, business acquisition and mergers) taking place with IT suppliers. Ensure you ask questions about suppliers’ future business structures, any roadmaps that may be available, changes to the systems they use and upgrades they may be making such as moving from on prem solutions to cloud. Consider adding into the contract break clauses which optionally come into effect if key changes occur which you are not comfortable with. 

It is worth saying that with any IT supplier contract, the firm cannot pass risk management onto the supplier. It is still the firm’s responsibility to ensure business risks are being managed properly and this requires regular contact, cooperation and management of a firm’s IT suppliers.

If you would like further information about 3Kites IT supplier selection, help with managing an existing supplier or any of the other 3Kites’ services, please contact Jon Howells on 07917 367872 or email [email protected] or via https://www.3kites.com/contact-us

Jon Howells is a director of 3Kites. This is the 40th article in the series Navigating Legaltech. 

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About 3Kites and Kemp IT Law  
3Kites is an independent consultancy, which is to say that we have no ties or arrangements with any suppliers so that we can provide our clients with unfettered advice. We have been operating since 2006 and our consultants include former law firm partners (one a managing partner), a GC, two law firm IT directors and an owner of a practice management company. This blend of skills and experience puts us in a unique position when providing advice on IT strategy, fractional IT management, knowledge management, product selections, process review (including the legal process) and more besides. 3Kites often works closely with Kemp IT Law (KITL), a boutique law firm offering its clients advice on IT services and related areas such as GDPR. Where relevant (eg when discussing cloud computing in a future article) this column may include content from the team at KITL to provide readers with a broader perspective including any regulatory considerations.