The global economy is causing many firms to explore inbound and outbound international practices as rich growth areas. Victims of our own success, it is no wonder that the lawyers demand the same level of technology and service whether in Kabul or Kuala Lumpur. However, these foreign offices present particular challenges for the firm’s IT staff, especially when it comes to roll-outs and enhancements. While the technical issues are not insignificant – latency, bandwidth – there are management aspects to consider when supporting and upgrading technologies in far-flung locations.
Managing expectations: lawyers and staff expect IT services in foreign offices to be nearly identical to what is available domestically. This is especially true of those who travel frequently around the firm, may be based in a domestic office but spend significant amounts of time in a foreign one. It may not be realistic to assume that things will be “the same as at the home office” unless the foreign office has a sufficiently large presence to warrant the necessary infrastructure (e.g., regional data center, on-site servers). Thin client solutions can help, although laptop users, some of the most frequent travelers to these offices, may not find them to be very satisfactory.
Support: just as smaller domestic offices may not warrant full- or even part-time IT support, neither may smaller foreign ones. However, it is time-consuming, costly, and not always feasible for the home-based IT staff to travel to locations around the world, especially on short notice. Yet there are frequently not the kinds of service providers available in certain countries that we have come to expect even in the smallest domestic locations (no Geek Squad!).
Disenfranchisement: both domestic and foreign offices can suffer from the “outpost” syndrome: we’re not the “mother ship” and no one truly understands or cares about our needs. Complicate this with cultural differences – different workdays, holidays, schedules, customs – and, hard as the staff in domestic offices try, it is very difficult to make those in “outposts” feel that their needs are being considered. Especially with rollouts, many of the tools, customizations, and parameters will be designed for the bulk of the firm and may not adequately consider the needs of foreign offices. For a large firm, this makes economic sense, but leads to an increased sense of “they just don’t get it.”
So what is an IT department supposed to do? Visit. Listen. Don’t assume. And don’t take a cookie cutter approach unless it is absolutely required and you know it will work. The rollout plans and desktop upgrades may be absolutely perfect for domestic offices, but not for the foreign ones. All those forms and macros may not be needed in the foreign office yet require a level of support and customization that is not readily available. Think in terms of a pool of remote users who all happen to work in one place. Peel back everything that is unnecessary and provide what is needed in the simplest, most self-sufficient way possible.