Managed IT contracts often come with reports full of charts. Tickets opened, tickets closed, average handle time, satisfaction scores. Some of these numbers are useful. Others make a provider look busy without telling you whether your attorneys are better served.
If you are the person responsible for evaluating your IT provider, here are the measures worth tracking, how to read them and what questions they should prompt.
Start With What the Firm Cares About
Attorneys and staff do not care about ticket counts. They care about whether problems get fixed quickly, whether the same problems keep coming back and whether the systems they need are working during court deadlines and client calls. Good metrics reflect that.
The Core Measures
Time to first response
How long between a request and a human acknowledging it? This is a measure of responsiveness. Ask for it separated by priority level, since a locked-out attorney before a hearing should not wait in the same queue as a request for a new monitor.
Time to resolution
How long does it take to actually fix problems? Look at the median and also at the slowest cases. An average can hide a handful of tickets that dragged on for weeks.
First-contact resolution
What portion of issues are solved on the first interaction? A higher rate generally means skilled technicians and good documentation. A low rate may mean frequent hand-offs.
Reopened tickets
How often does a ticket close and then return for the same issue? A high number suggests that problems are being patched rather than fixed.
Recurring issues
Does the same device, application or person generate repeated requests? Patterns point to root causes, such as aging hardware, a misconfigured printer or a training gap.
Backlog age
How many requests are open, and how old are they? A growing backlog of aged tickets is an early warning sign.
Security and Maintenance Measures
Help desk metrics alone miss the proactive side of managed IT. Ask for regular reporting on:
- Patch status. What percentage of devices are fully current, and which are not, and why.
- Endpoint protection coverage. Whether every device has protection installed and reporting.
- Backup success and restore tests. Not just job status, but evidence that restores work.
- Multi-factor authentication coverage. Which accounts are not enrolled.
- Security alerts. What was detected, what was investigated and what was done.
- Devices at end of life. Hardware or software nearing end of support, so budgeting is planned.
Satisfaction Matters, But Read It Carefully
Survey scores are helpful, though low response rates can distort them. Read the comments, not only the score. Informal check-ins with a few attorneys and staff often reveal more than a dashboard.
Meeting Cadence
A monthly report and a quarterly business review is a common rhythm. The monthly report covers operations. The quarterly review looks ahead: upcoming projects, budget, risks, and any changes in the firm's needs. A provider who proposes such meetings is behaving like a partner.
Questions to Ask When You Review Reports
- Which of these numbers are getting better or worse, and why?
- What are the top recurring issues, and what is the plan to eliminate them?
- Are any metrics missing a target? Do we have agreed service levels in writing?
- Which of our systems are closest to end of life?
- What security events occurred, and what did you do?
Pitfalls to Avoid
- Judging only by volume. A quiet month might mean things are healthy or that people stopped asking.
- Accepting reports with no context.
- Letting service levels exist only in the sales proposal rather than the contract.
- Ignoring informal feedback from lawyers.
Linking Metrics to Duties
The ABA's Model Rules 5.1 and 5.3 address supervisory responsibility for lawyers and nonlawyer assistance, which can include outside providers. Reviewing provider performance regularly is a practical way to show that supervision is real. Confirm specifics with your state bar.
How Counsel Cyber Reports
Counsel Cyber provides law firm clients with plain-English monthly reporting and quarterly reviews covering service quality and security posture. If your current reports leave you guessing, we would be happy to show you what a useful one looks like.