ulaw tco (total cost of ownership) whitepaper

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Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – A comparative study of uLaw with the traditional practice management software vendors

Abstract: This white paper discusses the total cost that a lawyer or a paralegal has to incur in order to setup a practice management software solution. The analysis of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is very important for legal practice because it not only looks at the initial cost of setting up the software but also estimates the cost for sustaining that model over the lifeline of the solution. TCO calculates the total cost that the practice incurs holistically. Total ownership costs for traditional practice management software include the purchase price of software, purchase price of the computing hardware and operating system, hardware and software installation, annual software maintenance fees, data storage facility, data backup facility and costs of operation (power, fire protection, disaster recovery and other such considerations). With the uLaw solution you incur only a single cost – the monthly subscription price. Elimination of all other costs incurred by traditional software ownership translates to direct and immediate savings for the practitioner. This paper calculates how Solicitors and Paralegals will be able to realize a cost savings of about 7-9 times the traditional practice management software solution thereby saving $2500 to $3000 per year over a 3-year period.


What is TCO? Setting up practice management software for your Legal Practice is more than just the purchase of the software & annual license. Total cost of acquiring and managing software is expensive and recurring. The cost of software is about 1/3 of the whole cost. You need to assess the rest of the ecosystem. TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is the financial estimate of getting such a system setup and running for your law office. Why TCO is important for lawyers and paralegals? Lawyers and Paralegals want to actively reduce annual and recurring operations cost. Traditional practice management software can be very expensive, initial setup and renewal license costs thousands of dollars per year per user. Add to that the IT overhead of buying & operating the server & the networking hardware, IT consultation hours for maintaining the computing asset, data backup, anti-virus protection and OS license, and then add an annual cost of maintaining the asset. You end up with locked-in software that provides NO mobility & flexibility to the end user.

Figure 1. TCO Components and Cost.

Figure 2. uLaw Subscription @29$/month. uLaw Delivers practice management software at fixed annual cost. While the ownership of traditional practice management software attracts ongoing annual maintenance, support and management cost. • uLaw delivers the same service at a low

fixed annual cost, 7 times less expensive than the software ownership model.

• uLaw delivers software with NO hassle

(Let Backup, Anti-virus and IT services charges be our responsibility).

• uLaw delivers software with 256 bit

highest level browser encryption. • uLaw delivers you access from

ANYWhere and ANYDevice (Laptop, iPad & iPhone).

• uLaw delivers Disaster Recovery, with

all the content in the datacenter backed up securely at different geographical sites.

Figure 3. uLaw via REST -TCO.

uLaw delivers a significant cost advantage from day one and over every year. As outlined in the comparison table below, the savings grow exponentially. uLaw subscription will also remove concern about managing an IT environment in-house, replacing this with a worryfree service.

Table 1. TCO Comparison table. • Register today for a free 30-day trial @$29/month • Request a free demo (send email to [email protected]) • We have NO contracts or hidden fees • See how you can save between $2500-$3000/year per user About Us uLawPractice software was built for sole practitioners, paralegals and small law firms that need a simple, easy to use practice management app available for mobile and Internet-ready devices. Our aim is to help practitioners turn nonbillable time into billable time by giving them the means to stay on top of client matters, time docking and tasks scheduling from anywhere, at any time.

uLawPractice is a benefit partner of the Carleton County Law Association.
