Duane Morris Lays Down the Law on Their IT Environment

Industry

Legal

Challenge

A sprawling multi-site, multi-carrier network across 29+ locations and 800+ devices meant handling 150+ invoices a month by hand — one person spent five days monthly just processing bills, with no real visibility into spend or inventory.

Results

vCom consolidated 150+ invoices into one, automated GL coding and A/P posting, and gave Duane Morris full visibility into spend and inventory across the firm.

Key Product

Network Lifecycle Management, Mobile Lifecycle Management, Expense Management

www.duanemorris.com

$100K

Saved Annually

92%

Reduction in bill-processing time

130

Circuits under management

542

Devices under management

vCom helps us greatly streamline our own process and handle far more work with the same resources.

John Sroka

Former CIO, Duane Morris

Duane Morris

Duane Morris, one of the U.S.'s top 100 law firms with over 900 attorneys globally, has tripled in size over a decade. Renowned for leveraging technology effectively, the firm maintains its collegial culture amid global expansion, supported by a robust technology infrastructure crucial to its success.

The Challenge

Before partnering with vCom, Duane Morris grappled with a sprawling technology landscape spread across multiple offices, encompassing diverse technology products and a multitude of carriers. The firm's network infrastructure — a multi-site, multi-carrier setup — underwent continuous expansion driven by both acquisitions and organic growth, with the organization now spanning over 29 locations and 800+ devices. Managing this complex environment meant handling over 150 invoices each month, including GL coding and Accounts Payable posting. One person spent five days a month just processing bills.

Additionally, obtaining visibility into technology spend and inventory was a challenge, requiring coordination with various support teams for troubleshooting and order management.

The Solution

Duane Morris began a strategic partnership with vCom in 2004 to streamline their telecommunications and IT infrastructure. Initially, vCom conducted a comprehensive review of Duane Morris' carrier invoices, reducing over 150 invoices to a single one and significantly simplifying the firm's billing process.

In 2014, vCom partnered with Duane Morris' IT team to migrate all TDM-based infrastructure to SIP trunking as part of a global Unified Communications initiative, and integrated Duane Morris' GL codes into vManager, automating cost allocation, chargebacks, and A/P posting directly into the firm's accounting software. vCom also brought mobile expenditures into vManager, automating optimization reports, and helped manage network infrastructure and circuits enterprise-wide.

The Results

Rather than dealing with multiple carriers, Duane Morris now works with one team for design, procurement, implementation, and the consolidation of hundreds of bills into a single invoice for the entire enterprise. Bill processing time dropped from 5 days to 3 hours a month.

"We also know exactly what services we have across the enterprise, and what our cost truly is," adds Sroka. "This capability helps the firm run more efficiently on a daily basis, and provides needed simplicity and support for expansion projects to new offices and locations."

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