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HP Smart Finance -TSMP

When it comes to IT, law firms in Singapore have traditionally been slow adopters. Corporate lawyer Stefanie Yuen-Thio still recalls the mid to late 90s, when law firms were struggling to keep up with IT. In those days, law firms did not believe in hiring full-time IT staff, she reminisced. So when her current firm, TSMP Law Corporation, was formed in 1998 with seven lawyers from various leading law firms, she was put in charge of IT. “I still recall those days. We were switching from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word, and the biggest challenge was to get the s taff to use the mou se,”
quipped Ms Yuen-Thio, who is now the Joint Managing
Director of TSMP.

IT was quite basic then, she recalled. Data files were stored on individual PCs and were shared over a simple PC network using Network Neighbourhood. Servers simply did not exist. But a few years ago, her firm moved to a new office and took the opportunity to build a new and modern IT system. Servers, broadband access, corporate firewalls and other state-of-the art IT components were installed. Ever since then, TSMP has been proactively taking steps to upgrade its IT systems to ensure that it runs with clockwork precision.

Today, law firms can no longer afford to be complacent about IT as it has become integral to the business. “It’s all about delivery of service to our customers. The firm is only as strong as its weakest link. Whether it is a secretary, the office manager or our most brilliant lawyer, we are all just as important. It’s the same with IT. Our IT must be up-to-date and strong, so that we can deliver value to our c ustomers,” said Ms Yuen-Thio.

Recently, the firm did its latest round of technology refresh, upgrading its legacy servers and old PCs to keep pace with the huge increase of transactions. It found that its older servers and PCs were simply too slow and needed a ramp-up. But this time round, the upgrade process was rather different. Firstly, it found a capable IT services provider that took a different approach from the others it had met previously. “In the past, we always felt that we had to tailor our problems to fit the IT product. But with Stone Forest IT, it was very different. Stone Forest spent the time to understand our
systems and our needs, before it came up with a comprehensive solution that catered to our needs. They
were giving us a solution, instead of selling us a product.”

The second difference was the way they “purchased” the IT products. In the past, acquisition was done on a piecemeal basis, as and when the products were required. But this time round, TSMP took advantage of HP Smart Finance and Stone Forest’s expertise to get everything it needed at the same time. This ensures compatibility between the various components and minimises risks of IT downtime.

Previously, the firm made use of commercial hire-purchase companies to fund their IT purchase. Now, Ms Yuen-Thio gives a firm thumbs up to HP Smart Finance. “In the past, the finance institution was basically helping you to buy a product. But with HP, it is helping us to acquire a complete packaged solution. HP sees the deal as a comprehensive deal, and therefore even funds components that are from other brands”, added Ms Yuen-Thio.

With HP Smart Finance, TSMP does not have to worry about a high upfront capital expenditure and the monthly costs are predictable, making it easy to do budget planning. In addition, when the lease period ends, TSMP gets the opportunity to do a technology refresh and not be bogged down with legacy equipment.

For this technology upgrade round, TSMP is replacing its ageing servers with three new HP ProLiant ML 350, and its Pentium 2 PCs with 26 new HP Compaq d240 Business Desktops.

TSMP is no stranger to HP, having used HP desktops, printers and tape drives. While TSMP have been using different brands for the various products in the past, it has always stuck to HP for its printing. Why? “Because HP printers are the be st. They don’t break down,” said Ms Yuen-Thio. Although TSMP has upgraded its printers several times, its original HP black-and-white laser printers are still in use. “They can’t remove staples automatically and don’t have all the modern nifty functions. But they are still very handy, still very good and still working after 7 years.”

Challenges

• Constantly keeping services up-to-date and delivering value to customers
• Current PCs were too slow to keep up with huge increase in transactions

Solutions

• 3 HP ProLiant ML 350
• 26 HP Compaq d240 Business Desktops
• HP Smart Finance

Benefits

• Business IT needs are met
• HP Smart Finance reduces upfront capital expenditure
  and makes budget planning easy as monthly costs are
  predictable
• Technology refresh after lease period keeps TSMP
  equipment updated