“The great thing with Helpdesk is that it puts a team behind me. This gives me greater flexibility and cover whenever I am out of office. With the growth we are experiencing, I need to be able to focus on the bigger picture and prioritise some of my other responsibilities. Helpdesk allows me to do this.”

James Pierse, IT Manager
Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors

Our Story

Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors has been providing legal services of the highest quality since 1975. Based in Listowel, Co. Kerry, the firm provides legal assistance nationwide. Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors has always upheld to the highest standards of business conduct and are one of the few law firms that have received ISO 27001 certification. This accreditation demonstrates that a company is following information-security best practices.

The Challenge

One of the reasons behind Pierse Fitzgibbon’s longevity has been their ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment. In order to keep to their high standards, Pierse Fitzgibbon wanted to be a future thinking, tech savvy operation. A partnership with a modern MSP was an essential step in their digital development.

For Pierse Fitzgibbon to augment their IT infrastructure, there were a few areas that needed upgrading. As a law firm operating nationwide, mobility took on great importance. Partners needed to be able to work securely from anywhere. IT Security was also a major concern, as is generally the case with law firms dealing with highly confidential documents.

The Solution

IT Mobility

With a more robust mobility strategy in place, employees can securely access critical information across any network, on any mobile device. All Laptops and Smartphones were encrypted from end-to-end to ensure data security. SSL VPNs were also installed to allow partners to open a secure connection from anywhere.

IT Maintenance and Proactive Monitoring

At Pierse Fitzgibbon, IT Manager James Pierse is a one-man IT team. In a dynamic, forward-thinking legal practice, a sudden increase in workload would have seriously hampered his productivity. However, with ActionPoint’s assistance, the one-man IT team can thrive. ActionPoint provides ongoing IT maintenance, repairs and proactive monitoring. Ongoing reporting also ensures that everything is running as it should.

Since 2015, ActionPoint’s Helpdesk has also been in place. This service offers James greater flexibility and freedom. “The great thing with Helpdesk is that it puts a team behind me. A basic level of maintenance and reporting is now in place. This gives me greater flexibility and cover whenever I am out of office. With the growth we are experiencing, I need to be able to focus on the bigger picture and prioritise some of my other responsibilities. Helpdesk allows me to do this.”

IT Security

As a firm that processes large volumes of financial transactions, Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors is bound by regulations upheld within the PCI (Payment Card Industry). As such, Pierse Fitzgibbon must work within strict confines in the management and administration of card payments. PCI Compliance means mandatory auditing at least once a year, having a robust data and information security system in place is critical.

PCI adds to the already heavy IT security burden placed on legal firms. From the outset, ActionPoint’s senior IT team carried out a full IT security assessment. This gave us a detailed picture of the environment Pierse Fitzgibbon was operating in. ActionPoint was then able to identify potential risks and areas of vulnerability. ActionPoint implemented a multi-layered security system which included FWaaS (Firewall as a Service), patching, VPN redundancy, spam filtering, end-to-end encryption and ongoing security monitoring.

Network Segmentation

Different business processes need to be kept separate in the organisation. But completely siloing processes such as email is not an option for Pierse Fitzgibbon. As a result, ActionPoint had the challenge of keeping the many strands of Pierse Fitzgibbon’s network both secure and practical. This complex separation between the e-flow system and day to day legal practice was helped using a secure, high-availability cloud environment.

The Result

Throughout this partnership, there has been a firm emphasis on compliance and following strict codes of practice. PCI compliance holds great significance and up-to-date reporting is stringently implemented. Auditing can be meticulous and demanding for a one-man IT department. Having ActionPoint on board, however, means that James and the Pierse Fitzgibbon team can focus their energy elsewhere.

In 2018, Pierse Fitzgibbon is a more robust, dynamic, secure, and future-focused law firm. Having a proper mobility strategy has strengthened Pierse Fitzgibbon’s operations nationwide. While continued monitoring, maintenance and security means that, from an IT perspective, this progressive law firm has never been in better standing.

Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors

Approx. 45 Staff

2006

Helpdesk, Monitoring and Alerting,

Maintenance and Support, IT Security, IT Mobility,

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