Industry Solutions 8 Communications Considerations for Canadian Legal Firms August 31, 2021July 6, 2022 With Unified Communication for teams becoming a top priority for many office and remote-based businesses, especially in industries focused on client-facing activities, it is no surprise that so many small- and medium-sized Canadian legal firms and law teams are adopting new applications that allow staff, clients and programs to integrate together under one umbrella. Recently, popular UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) programs such as Microsoft Teams have developed a budget-friendly, easy-to-use (and train!) platform to unify, centralize and simplify the communications aspect of any organization. While some of the add-ons can be challenging or costly, Telecom Metric Inc can help provide your legal firm with a unified solution for your video conferencing, chats, file sharing and existing voice telephony systems. Has your legal firm considered adopting a Unified Communications Service program for your team? We’ve compiled a list of (#) questions and considerations for your UCaaS provider or solution below; Is your UCaaS Reliable? Microsoft Teams comes built-in to the MS 365 subscription, and is considered to be an incredibly user-friendly, highly-reliable, internet-based application that offers a wide, all-encompassing communication system solution. By integrating your phone lines, internal chat, file sharing and more into Teams, staff can more effectively focus on providing top notch client support, rather than spending time managing call transfers and finding information. Are your Communications Secure? Voice is data, and with the pandemic opening up a whole new world of digital communication-based technologies for businesses to implement and utilize in their day-to-day operations also means more data, increasing your organization’s risk of a malicious attack or security breach. Using enhanced security systems, Telecom Metric provides a wide array of standard security features including: Network Firewalling End-to-End Encryption Active Monitoring & Fraud Detection DOS & DDOS Protection Anti-Flood and Anti-Brute-forcing Are your Communications Compliant with Canadian Legislation? Communications, whether between the organization and clients or internally amongst staff, Canadian companies and organizations, including law firms and legal offices, that work with sensitive or private information are subject to Canadian data privacy laws. In order to ensure that your organization is compliant with these requirements, be sure to ask your UCaaS or SIP Trunking provider about where and how your data is being stored and backed up. A 100% Canadian owned and operated organization, Telecom Metric Inc. is able to provide fully compliant cloud-based and SIP solutions to ensure that your business and client data is stored, backed-up, and retained on Canadian soil. Are your Communications Accessible and User-Friendly for Staff? Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, many organizations have implemented more remote, accessible alternatives to teams, staff and contractors in an effort to continue business operations while reducing communications barriers or need for additional hardware. Microsoft Teams, among other popular UCaaS programs, allows your team to take calls or conferences from home or on the go. Using web-based, desktop, and mobile application options teams can stay in touch via phone call, chat, or video conference. Are your Communications Accessible to Clients? Being able to communicate with your organization’s clientele is an integral part of the legal process, and so it should be considered a top-priority for any client-based legal firms to ensure that not only do their clients have simplified access to communicate with their legal team or advisor, but that these communications are universal and secure. This could include video conferencing, online chat, phone calls, file sharing among others. Can we integrate our existing phone numbers? Or do we have to buy new ones? Whether a new or established business, Canadian legal firms small or large often have multiple phone lines for partners, programs, staff or administration (ie fax lines) that are either public or privately-published for clients, external organizations and other individuals can contact your business. Microsoft Teams offers an option to retain and port your organizations existing DIDs, but this route can be expensive, and it is challenging to set up outbound rules. By working with a Canadian SIP Trunk provider, your organization can implement a direct routing strategy to retain and easily route all of your existing numbers. Do you Track and Analyze Client/Staff Communications? Tracking, analyzing and understanding client and staff-based communications reports are an important part of developing a practical, functional and comprehensive platform for your organization. Understand how callers are directed through the call flow What are the average wait times? How often are calls dropped? Are there segments of my business communication where there may be gaps in service? How many leads or potential clients or partners are lost in the ‘Contact: phase? How effectively is my team handling calls? What is the Cost of your Communication Platform and/or Software? Providing your organization with a custom, state-of-the-art unified communications system can be daunting – many new, highly competitive online platforms have come into the market recently with similar features, benefits, and price-points, and it can be difficult to determine which platform is the best for your team. Microsoft 365’s Teams application, which comes as a standard add-on for most MS subscription/user licenses, has been hailed as a budget-friendly, comprehensive solution for many small- and medium-sized legal firms and other organizations. However, Microsoft’s Team-based calling plans are limited and expensive, with minimal support from MS Teams staff, as well as integration of other applications and other important software. With Telecom Metric’s team of expert technical staff, you can ensure that your organization has a budget-friendly, custom and comprehensive MS Teams communications systems for your staff and clients using Canadian Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) Trunking and incorporating Direct Routing to can save money on licenses, calling plans, reporting, and technical support. Has your organization considered the next steps to ensuring that you remain competitive with other more digital-oriented legal firms? Telecom Metric’s team of SIP Trunking experts are trusted by Canadian legal firms and law organizations, as we provide custom communication solutions that allow businesses access to comprehensive MS-teams based communications for staff and clients, while ensuring all organizational and client-based data is kept safe, secure, and 100% compliant with Canadian privacy laws. 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