Baker & McKenzie is the winner of the esteemed ‘Best Global Use of IT’ award in recognition of its strong business driven approach and success in the use of Information Technology throughout its extensive global operations. The award sponsored by Perot Systems was presented at the Legal IT Forum 2003 held October 15th and 16th in Gleneagles, Scotland.
Commenting on the award, Christine Lagarde, Chairman of Baker & McKenzie’s Executive Committee said, “The vision and investment of our Partners and the significant achievements of our IT team have positioned the Firm as a leader in technology, this to the benefit of best servicing our global clientele. It is with great pleasure that I congratulate the Firm on the accomplishment of this prestigious award.”
Craig Courter, Baker & McKenzie’s Chief Technology Officer added, “A truly global organization such as Baker & McKenzie requires round-the-clock availability of systems and first-rate support services. The Best Global Use of IT award highlights our success in enabling the Firm to drive service improvements and control costs, furthering Baker & McKenzie’s integrated legal capability and supporting seamless service to every client worldwide.”
Baker & McKenzie’s global IT achievements were highlighted by its establishment of five ‘shared service centers of excellence’ positioned in locations in North America and Asia to control costs while providing high quality, 24-hour service availability:
1) A Network Operations Center in Manila has increased
reliability and effectiveness of its technology by centralizing information on Firm systems and proactively identifying problems.
2) Co-located in Jakarta and Manila, the Global Systems
Development Center (GSDC) provides development services by leveraging local developers for Firm projects. It has already delivered a new global financial reporting system and saved 1% of the Firm’s entire technology budget in its first year of operation.
3) The Global Call Center located in Indianapolis, Indiana
provides 24/7 phone support to clients and attorneys.
4) The Document Support Center based in Manila provides
transcription services to lawyers using digital dictation technology. The Center also provides desktop publishing and data processing services to attorneys and staff around the world regardless of time zones.
5) The newest shared service center, the Global Data Center in
Chicago, Illinois with a secondary center in Dallas, Texas is responsible for architectural and operational activities in support of the Firm’s centralized computing environment. It has already provided significant real-time back-up systems and increased global performance, availability and dependability through application of industry ‘best practices’.
Baker & McKenzie also won The Best Global Use of IT at the Legal IT awards in 2001, in recognition of its implementation of the legal industry’s first truly global practice management system, which integrated 8,000 users onto a global network to share and access information, improve workflow and facilitate improved cross-jurisdictional collaboration. The system improved global efficiencies including standardizing billing and accounting systems and automating the interoffice billing process.
