This afternoon, in conjunction with our annual International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) vendor education program, we presented the findings of the 7th annual ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey. The 2012 survey results include IT budgets, technology spending and purchasing, purchase influences, IT challenges, and cloud & mobile computing trends for law firms.
The 2012 Survey, focused on feedback from ILTA member law firms with 50 or more attorneys, includes detailed technology budget data; updated information on firms’ social media and publication preferences; an in-depth analysis of cloud computing and mobile trends; and expansive sections on current and future legal technology purchases.
2012 Survey highlights include:
- Overall firm technology spending - as a percentage of firm revenue and based on per attorney spend - is still down from pre-2009 economic downturn figures.
- 63% of all responding firms spend between 2-4% of total firm revenue on technology establishing a new law firm technology budget ‘normal’.
- 52% of surveyed respondents cited increased technology budgets in 2012, up 2% from 2011.
- 46% spend $8K-$17K on technology per attorney. Firms spending $26K or more per attorney is up to 9% from 6% in 2011.
- The top purchases within the last 12 months included desktop/hardware; laptops/notebooks; network/server upgrades; and storage area networks.
- Popular technology purchases based on survey write-ins include desktops/laptops/notebooks, Microsoft Office upgrades, wireless devices, remote access, VoIP and Operating System upgrades.
- 81% of surveyed law firms use outside technology consultants. Of those, 90% hire a third party to assist with implementations.
- Six of the top 10 favorite publications mentioned by respondents are non-legal, general technology publications.
- 32% indicated they are currently using or implementing a cloud solution.
- Beyond security, primary cloud computing concerns include service reliability, control of data, performance/speed, cost and vendor longevity.
- 61% of surveyed firms provide IT support for employees that purchase/bring their own tablet devices.
- 49% indicated buying BlackBerry devices; 48% Apple iPhones; and 10% Android.
- 66% of all respondents indicated purchasing Apple iPads.
- 74% of law firm IT departments provide support for employees’ tablet use whether purchased by the firm or via ‘BYOD’ policy.
- 35% of firms have a formal tablet security policy in place.
- 61% of firms do not reimburse apps for tablets purchased by its employees.
The 37 question web-based survey was distributed to approximately 697 law firms, ranging from 50 to 4,200 attorneys, and yielded 114 unique firm responses. 88% of all participating firms came from the U.S., with the remaining 12% originating from Canada, the UK and the rest of Europe, and Brazil. 85% of all survey respondents are director-level or C-Level executives, and 89% have direct purchasing or purchasing committee responsibility.
The complete survey can be downloaded here. For more information on the survey results, methodology and other legal market research initiatives, contact Jobst Elster at elster@InsideLegal.com.
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