Let’s start by defining proactive IT and reactive IT.
Proactive IT: Agile IT service that takes pre-emptive measures to ensure your security and productivity, preventing issues and considering changes to your technology or business. Following a technology roadmap that accounts for future goals and success down the road.
Reactive IT: IT service that lags behind, addressing issues only as they come and taking the bare minimum approach to issue prevention and resolution. Service that only accounts for today—not for past issues or future goals.
A proactive MSP takes the initiative to prevent issues that affect your productivity, profitability, and safety. This approach saves you time and money both short and long-term, and can help you build an IT foundation that can support your law firm’s goals.
On the other hand, a reactive MSP is prone to making mistakes and oversights that cost your law firm. By taking a “break-fix” approach—which means simply fixing things when they break and not planning ahead—your MSP fails to prevent issues that are expensive to fix, and doesn’t stop those same costly issues from recurring in the future.
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The technology industry changes rapidly. Every day, new solutions enter and exit the market, vendors change their terms and offerings, best practices and guidelines are issued or tweaked, and M&A changes the talent and solutions pool.
Most of this may not affect your law firm right away—your computers will still turn on and work, your vendor will continue to honor your contract, and your firm continues to hum along as usual.
But, many of these changes can affect your technology in the future, and it’s up to your MSP to do their due diligence to learn about these changes and to inform your law firm about those which will affect you.
For example, oftentimes manufacturers and vendors will “sunset” legacy solutions—AKA, they stop providing support or security updates for solutions they’re hoping to phase out. In October of 2025, Microsoft’s Windows 10 reached its end-of-life, and support and software updates ceased for the over 40 million users still on the program. This opened the floor to increasing levels of risk, and put law firms who failed to update prior to the deadline on a downward trajectory toward inefficiencies and issues with their technology.
Our company reached out to the legal community with educational resources to help raise awareness about these changes and educate law firms on how to move forward. Some of our conversations with the community were a bit shocking: while many of the law firms we spoke to had already upgraded, some had not—and more alarmingly, some didn’t know which operating system they were currently using, let alone that they may need to make a huge change.
If your MSP doesn’t alert you to changes like this, they’re putting you at a disadvantage. Withholding or failing to share this information, even if they have already taken care of potential issues, keeps your firm from being able to fairly explore options, increase your understanding of the technology you’re paying for, and grow your IT prowess in an increasingly digital world.
Poor communication by your MSP isn’t just an annoyance—it's a mission critical issue that fails your law firm down the line.
In the event of changes like the aforementioned Windows 10 end-of-life, active communication and planning make all the difference between a measured, sustainable approach to change versus a highly disruptive, urgent matter down the line. If your MSP isn’t communicating clearly and proactively with your firm, they’re taking away your valuable preparation time and setting you up for urgent issues in the future.
Some urgent issues are unavoidable—like newly-discovered Zero Day vulnerabilities, cybersecurity incidents, or system outages. But, many urgent issues can be prevented.
For example, let’s say your law firm has an on-premises document management server. Your access to all of your documents is run through that server, which lives in a closet inside of your firm’s physical office.
You mention to your MSP that you are increasing your hybrid work options in a few months, so at that time, more folks will be working from home more frequently. They tell you, “No problem!”
On a weekday afternoon, a thunderstorm takes out the power line leading to your office, and that document management server goes offline. Now, your attorneys working from home can’t retrieve the documents they need, and the folks in the office can’t simply go work from home, where there’s power. Now, you’re unable to salvage your billable hours for the day, and you’re stuck waiting for your power provider to fix the downed line.
Your MSP may not be a meteorologist or a fortune-teller, but here’s one thing they did know: in the event of an outage, and for remote work in general, a cloud-based document management system is the most resilient and reliable option for preventing mission-critical outages like this one. With months to prepare, they should have (and could have!) explained this to you and transitioned you to a cloud-based solution that would’ve prevented this frustration and the monetary cost of the outage.
Communication is key—and poor communication can cost your law firm dividends.
Outsized bills are one of the most common complaints about law firm MSPs. These bills don’t match the much more conservative quote you were given, and the aforementioned lack of communication led to a surprise once the final invoice was received. How does a modest quote turn into a massive project seemingly overnight?
The answer lies in a lack of transparency—both in your conversations regarding the project and in the breakdown of your bill.
Your MSP may fail to ask you the right questions before scoping out your project. Maybe they base the quote on similar projects they’ve done or what work they assume will need to be completed. They fail to address your unique pain points, concerns, and requirements. They conveniently leave out an additional service required to make your desired solution work for you—kind of like buying a printer and forgetting you’ll need to pick up the expensive ink that makes it run. Or, perhaps they simply let scope creep happen—the project takes longer than they expected it to, and whether it’s their doing or yours that causes this delay, you’re the one left paying for the additional time and work.
You hope that when you receive a final bill for a project, you’ll be able to clearly review any additional charges and their justifications—but for many, that’s not the case. The final bill may be confusing or incomplete, signaling a lack of transparency from your MSP.
Transparency, from the pre-project planning phase, the work itself, and the final billing process helps your law firm avoid paying for additional labor, time, and materials costs. You deserve a bill you can understand and justify to stakeholders—are you getting that today?
A dripping sink doesn’t bother you much every day. Sure, the sound is a little bit annoying, and it’s frustrating to have an issue you can’t fix yourself. But, you may not call the plumber right away... until you get your water bill. Now, that little leak is a pretty big problem!
And if you let that leak go for a year... well, you’ve probably paid the water company much more than you would have paid a plumber for a quick fix.
A large portion of wasted IT spend comes from small, nagging issues that accumulate over time—just like that dripping sink, you don’t realize how much of your budget is chipped away by small issues like:
These “leaks” in your IT budget are one of the top ways that some MSPs profit off of their clients. IT industry folks call it a “break fix” model—something breaks, and you get charged to fix it... even if you should’ve replaced it or upgraded it a long, long time ago.
A proactive MSP keeps on top of their client accounts, noticing recurring issues in ticket submissions and review meetings and flagging them to your law firm. They notice that your printer is on the fritz frequently, so they suggest an upgrade. They see that your lawyer has asked for help with their desktop a few times this year, so they offer to hop on a call or come into the office and look at it. They know how important document access is at your law firm, so they’re willing to escalate a complaint with your DMS provider to help you find and implement a solution ASAP.
If your IT provider isn’t among those proactive few, they may repeatedly fix these issues—and charge you for them—without addressing the root cause of the issue: outdated equipment, unpatched software, human error, or something else that causes that recurring drip.
When it comes to your IT, you can’t put a bucket under these leaks and hope for the best... unless you want to pay for it later. Proactivity is key to remediating issues, eliminating the root cause, and saving your law firm money long-term.
The worst part of a reactive or non-proactive MSP? The lack of insight into your firm’s future—and the lack of opportunities to improve and grow toward your long-term goals.
Many law firms unfortunately don’t have a strong roadmapping and planning process with their MSP. They view technology as a chore, not a tool to help them achieve more and become the law firm they want to be months, years, or decades down the line. In the modern world that relies so heavily on technology, not having these discussions with your IT partner signifies a huge missed opportunity.
If your IT partner is proactive, they’re having these conversations with you several times per year, documenting your goals and the performance indicators that prove your technology is helping work toward them. They’re consulting with you about these goals on a deep level and presenting you with a long-term plan that helps you know what to expect, eliminate assumptions, and navigate the path forward toward your definition of success.
If the only time you talk to your MSP is when something goes wrong, that’s not a proactive relationship—and it’s not helping you achieve your goals any time soon.
If your MSP scored 5 points or less on this quiz, chances are, they’re very proactive. They stay ahead of the curve on projects, make your law firm’s future a priority, and keep you in the loop when changes affect you.
Your MSP is probably proactive most of the time, but they may drop the ball from time to time—which can present costs to your law firm. You should consider this as you continue to assess the working relationship and evaluate your partnership. There may be room for improvement in your professional partnership!
When a critical alert or big red flag comes up, your MSP likely lets you know. But, the other things they let slip by are too costly to ignore—and it doesn’t seem like they have a holistic picture of your short-term and long-term future. This is an important issue to bring to their attention, and it may be costing you time and money as we speak.
Uh... does your MSP know that you’re their client? It may be time to re-evaluate this partnership and seek help ASAP! Your MSP seems far behind the curve, and you’re likely experiencing very poor service.
If you’re finding the hallmarks of a reactive MSP all too familiar, and you’re tired of receiving bare minimum service and less-than-ideal results, it’s time to create a new partnership.
That may mean discussing your concerns with your MSP and giving them an opportunity to change. It could require an upgrade to your contract or additional third-party help, which may constitute adding in pre-planning, road -mapping, or consulting services.
You may even want to seek out a new IT partner altogether—if you’re fed up with your service, or feel that your MSP simply isn’t the right fit, this can be a good way to set your IT journey up for success.
Whatever path you choose, remember to prioritize proactivity—your law firm pays a premium for poor planning, and you deserve a predictable, methodical partner who truly cares about your needs, wants, and goals.
As an exclusively legal-industry focused IT MSP, Strategic Technology Solutions knows the value of proactive IT for law firms. You can’t afford poor service, slow response times, expensive downtime and outages, or security breaches that result from bad planning.
We provide proactive service to hundreds of legal professionals, which includes:
To learn more and consult with our experts, click the button below or visit us here to send a message to STS.