Jackson McDonald invests in data analytics and hybrid cloud

Western Australia’s largest law firm has invested in data analytics and hybrid cloud computing.

Using the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS, the firm has launched new systems, including a new HR information system and a data warehouse, and has reduced the risk of its system going down.

The technology has allowed Jackson McDonald to launch data analytics services, said Asfar Sadewa, an IT manager with the firm.

“For example, our DevOps team has launched a new HR information system that compiles and analyses data from a variety of sources to give us a more effective hiring process,” Sadewa said. “We’ve also created a data warehouse that can crunch data such as profitability over many years in a raw form to provide vital information to help the board make informed business decisions. We simply couldn’t develop these kinds of resources with our old environment.”

Jackson McDonald has also launched a client login platform, which is a new digital workspace for lawyer-client collaboration via audio, video, and messaging.

In addition to systems that its staff uses, the firm is also investing in public cloud services. It plans to use Nutanix Calm. The technology is an application management system that automates and coordinates multiple apps across public cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

All of the technologies being used by the firm has also reduced its IT outage risk. “Nutanix lets us see minor issues before they cause a real problem – then we can make decisions quickly that stop outages from happening altogether,” Sadewa said.

The firm has reduced its infrastructure team from three to just one, assigning the staff to more business-focused tasks, including software development and new digital initiatives. Jackson McDonald has also tasked Nutanix to manage the firm’s Microsoft applications such as SQL and Office.

“One of the notable traits about law firms is that workloads tend to be flexible or elastic – they ramp up and down regularly,” said Matt Young, SVP and head of Asia Pacific and Japan at Nutanix. “As technology plays a wider role in how these firms deliver their services, it’s important that IT infrastructure can match this and scale up or down as needed.”